Everyday activities such as showering, dressing, preparing meals, cleaning the home, and attending appointments can become difficult for people living with disability. NDIS Assistance with Daily Life provides funding to help participants receive the support they need to live safely, independently, and confidently.
This guide explains what Assistance with Daily Life covers, what it does not pay for, current pricing, eligibility requirements, and how to secure funding under your NDIS plan.
What Is NDIS Assistance with Daily Life?
NDIS Assistance with Daily Life is a Core Supports funding category that helps participants with disability-related everyday activities they cannot safely complete on their own. It can fund personal care, household tasks, meal preparation, Supported Independent Living (SIL), Short Term Accommodation (STA), Individualised Living Options (ILO), disability-related health supports, and other daily living assistance that helps participants live more independently. Funding only applies to supports that meet the NDIA’s “reasonable and necessary” criteria.
Who Is Eligible for NDIS Assistance with Daily Life?
You may be eligible for NDIS Assistance with Daily Life if your disability makes it difficult to complete everyday tasks safely or independently. The NDIA will only fund these supports if they are reasonable and necessary, directly related to your disability, and aligned with the goals in your NDIS plan.
You may qualify for funding if you:
- Need assistance with personal care, such as showering, dressing, grooming, eating, or mobility.
- Require support with household tasks like cleaning, laundry, or meal preparation.
- Need Supported Independent Living (SIL), Short Term Accommodation (STA), Individualised Living Options (ILO), or high-intensity daily supports.
- Have functional limitations that affect your ability to manage daily activities independently.
To support your application, the NDIA may consider evidence such as a Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) and reports from Occupational Therapists, GPs, or other allied health professionals. These assessments help demonstrate how your disability affects your daily life and the level of support you need.
What Does NDIS Assistance with Daily Life Pay For?
The funding can cover several types of support depending on the participant’s needs and approved plan.
1. Personal care and self-care activities
One of the most common supports is assistance with everyday personal care tasks, including:
- Showering and personal hygiene
- Dressing and grooming
- Toileting support
- Mobility assistance
- Eating and drinking support
- Support with daily routines
These supports may be delivered during weekday daytime hours, evenings, nights, weekends, or public holidays, with different pricing limits applying depending on when the service is provided.
2. High Intensity Daily Personal Activities
Participants with complex support needs may receive funding for high-intensity supports. These require workers with specialised training and may include:
- Complex bowel care
- Tracheostomy support
- Ventilator assistance
- Complex wound management
- Other specialised disability-related health needs
These supports are generally funded at higher rates because of the additional skills and responsibilities involved.
3. Household tasks and domestic assistance
Funding may also be used for essential household activities that a participant cannot complete independently. This can include:
- House cleaning
- Laundry
- Yard maintenance
- Basic home maintenance
- Meal preparation assistance
The support is intended to address disability-related needs rather than general household responsibilities.
4. Preparation and delivery of meals
Where meal preparation has been approved as a reasonable and necessary support, the NDIS can contribute to the preparation and delivery component of meals.
Important: the NDIS does not pay for the actual food or groceries.
5. Supported Independent Living (SIL)
SIL funding supports participants who need regular assistance to live in a shared home environment. It can cover:
- Personal care support
- Development of daily living skills
- Household routines
- Community participation
- Night-time sleepover support
SIL can be claimed either weekly or hourly, depending on the participant’s plan.
6. Short Term Accommodation (STA) and Respite
STA provides temporary accommodation and support for short periods, often up to 14 days. It typically includes:
- Accommodation
- Personal care
- Meals
- Activities
- Community access support
It can also provide carers with a temporary break from their usual caring responsibilities.
7. Medium Term Accommodation (MTA)
MTA helps participants who need temporary accommodation while waiting for a longer-term housing solution, such as after a hospital discharge or during a housing transition.
Note: MTA generally covers accommodation costs only. Daily support services are claimed separately.
8. Individualised Living Options (ILO)
ILO allows participants to design a personalised living arrangement that combines formal supports, informal supports, family assistance, and community connections.
Funding may cover both the exploration and design phase and the ongoing support model if approved in the participant’s plan.
9. Disability-related health supports
Where health-related supports are not the responsibility of the mainstream health system, the NDIS may fund:
- Nursing supports delivered by enrolled nurses, registered nurses, clinical nurses, or nurse practitioners
- Allied health therapy supports such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech pathology, psychology, dietetics, and podiatry
These supports can be particularly important for participants with complex disability-related health needs.
Understanding the Assistance with Daily Life NDIS Code and Pricing
Every funded support under the NDIS has a unique support item number, often referred to as an Assistance with daily life NDIS code. These codes help providers claim payments correctly based on the support delivered.
The amount a provider can charge is determined by the Assistance with daily life NDIS price guide, officially known as the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits. These price limits are reviewed periodically by the NDIA and vary depending on:
Below are some of the current National maximum price limits for commonly used Assistance with Daily Life supports.
| Item Number | Item Name and Operational Notes | Unit | National Rate |
| 01_011_0107_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities – Standard – Weekday Daytime | Hour | $70.23 |
| 01_400_0104_1_1 | Assistance With Self-Care Activities – High Intensity – Weekday Daytime | Hour | $75.98 |
| 01_010_0107_1_1 | Assistance with Self-Care – Night-Time Sleepover | Each | $297.60 |
| 01_004_0107_1_1 | Assistance with Personal Domestic Activities | Hour | $59.06 |
| 01_020_0120_1_1 | House Cleaning and Other Household Activities | Hour | $58.03 |
| 01_019_0120_1_1 | House or Yard Maintenance | Hour | $56.98 |
| 01_023_0120_1_1 | Assistance with the cost of the preparation and delivery of meals | Each | $1.00 |
| 01_801_0115_1_1 A | Assistance in Supported Independent Living – Standard – Weekday Daytime | Hour | $70.23 |
| 01_059_0115_1_1 | STA And Assistance (Inc. Respite) – 1:1 – Weekday | Day | $2,178.57 |
| 01_082_0115_1_1 | Medium Term Accommodation (MTA Costs Only) | Day | $155.68 |
| 01_066_0115_1_1 | Onsite Shared Supports in Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) | Week | $1,542.71 |
| 01_850_0106_1_1 | Individualised Living Options – Exploration and Design | Hour | $100.14 |
| 01_134_0117_8_1 | Capacity Building and Training in Self-Management and Plan Management | Hour | $80.06 |
| 01_600_0114_1_1 | Delivery of Health Supports by an Enrolled Nurse – Weekday Daytime | Hour | $99.88 |
| 01_606_0114_1_1 | Health Supports Delivered by a Registered Nurse (Daytime) | Hour | $123.65 |
| 01_661_0128_1_3 | Assessment Recommendation Therapy or Training Supports – Occupational Therapist | Hour | $193.99 |
What Does NDIS Assistance with Daily Life NOT Pay For?
While Core Support funding is flexible, it must adhere to strict regulatory boundaries. The NDIS explicitly will not pay for items that fall outside the “reasonable and necessary” criteria or duplicate general community standards. Key exclusions include:
| Covered | Not Covered |
| Personal Care | Rent |
| Meal Preparation | Groceries |
| Household Cleaning | Electricity |
| SIL | Mortgage |
| STA | Entertainment |
| Nursing Supports | Everyday Living Costs |
Example: the NDIS may fund a support worker to help prepare a meal, but it will not fund the ingredients purchased from the supermarket.
How to Get Assistance with Daily Life Funding: A Step-by-Step Guide
Securing NDIS Assistance with Daily Life funding requires a clear strategy, whether you are preparing for your first NDIS planning meeting or requesting a plan reassessment. Here is how you can successfully navigate the process.
Step 1: Align Support Requests with Your Goals
The NDIA will only fund daily living supports if they directly link to the goals listed in your NDIS plan.
- If your goal is “To live more independently in my own home,” you can justify funding for house cleaning, meal preparation, or personal care.
- If your goal is “To secure a stable long-term living arrangement,” you can request funding to explore SIL or ILO options.
Action Tip: Review your current goals. If they do not explicitly mention independence, home management, or daily routines, work with your Local Area Coordinator (LAC) to reword them.
Step 2: Satisfy the “Reasonable and Necessary” Criteria
To grant you a budget for daily activities, the NDIA planner must check off the “Reasonable and Necessary” requirements (Section 34 of the NDIS Act). You must be prepared to prove that the support:
- Reduces functional impact: It directly mitigates the functional limitations caused by your disability.
- Represents value for money: The cost of the support is reasonable compared to the long-term benefits it provides.
- Is distinct from informal care: It does not replace the normal emotional or practical support that family, friends, or a community network would reasonably provide without funding.
Step 3: Gather Strong Professional Evidence
Verbal requests are rarely enough; the NDIA relies heavily on written clinical evidence. You should collect:
- Functional Capacity Assessments (FCAs): Usually completed by an Occupational Therapist (OT). An FCA formally documents exactly what you can and cannot do independently, scoring your limitations in self-care, mobility, and domestic tasks.
- Letters from Specialists: Reports from your GP, physiotherapist, or psychologist stating why a support worker is required for your safety and well-being.
- Incident Reports or Logs: If applicable, a log showing instances of falls, missed meals, or safety hazards encountered while attempting daily tasks without support.
Step 4: Map Out a Typical Week (The Impact Diary)
During your planning meeting, describe your daily routine. Keeping an “Impact Diary” for two weeks before your meeting can be incredibly powerful. Document:
- What time do you wake up, and what challenges do you face getting out of bed or showering?
- How long does it take you to prepare a basic meal, or are you skipping meals entirely?
- What tasks are currently neglected (e.g., house cleaning, laundry, yard maintenance) due to a lack of physical or cognitive capacity?
Step 5: Articulate the Right Details in Your Planning Meeting
When speaking with your LAC or NDIA Planner, avoid generic statements like “I need help around the house.” Instead, use specific, descriptive language:
- Specify Intensity: “Because of my physical disability, I require standard assistance from one support worker for 2 hours every morning to assist with showering and dressing safely.”
- Specify Complexity: “Due to my complex health needs, I require a worker with high-intensity training to manage my bowel care routine.”
- Highlight Safety Risks: “Without a support worker assisting with my weekly domestic cleaning, my home environment becomes an immediate trip and hygiene hazard.”
Choosing the Right NDIS Provider for Daily Support
Securing your funding is only half the battle; the actual impact on your quality of life depends entirely on choosing the right provider to deliver it.
Look for a provider that ticks the following boxes:
- Values your independence and strikes a healthy balance between their duty of care and your dignity of risk.
- Possesses proven experience managing your specific level of care, whether standard or complex high-intensity needs.
- Offers clear pricing structures with absolutely no hidden administrative or out-of-pocket costs.
- Demonstrates the ability to adapt and scale rosters as your lifestyle, routines, and goals evolve.
- Welcomes open communication and prioritises a compatibility-based matching process between you and your support workers to build an authentic, trust-based relationship.
Partner with a Trusted Brisbane NDIS Provider
Navigating NDIS price limits, support item codes, and service agreements is easier with an experienced and compassionate provider by your side. As a trusted NDIS provider in Brisbane, AAYDS specialises in delivering personalised, compliant, and effective NDIS Assistance with Daily Life supports tailored to your lifestyle, goals, and approved plan budget.
If you need personalised disability support or guidance in understanding your daily living funding, contact AAYDS to discuss your care needs and
