NDIS Therapy Funding: What Allied Health Costs in 2026-27

Therapy funding is one of the harder parts of an NDIS plan to check. You get a dollar figure. You do not get told how many hours that buys, or what else is allowed to come out of it.

What counts as allied health on the NDIS?

"Allied health" is the umbrella term for the health professionals who are not doctors or nurses. On the NDIS, that is the people who assess you, write reports, and work with you on a specific skill or need:

• Occupational therapists (daily tasks, equipment, home setup)
• Speech pathologists (talking, understanding, swallowing)
• Physiotherapists (movement, strength, pain)
• Psychologists and counsellors
• Dietitians, podiatrists, exercise physiologists
• Social workers, developmental educators, art and music therapists

In the pricing rules these sit under registration group 0128, Therapeutic Supports. You will see that number on quotes and invoices.

What does an hour cost?

These are the national price limits from 1 July 2026 for an hour of direct service. A registered provider cannot charge above them.

• Psychologist: $252.99
• Occupational therapist: $193.99
• Speech pathologist: $193.99
• Social worker: $193.99
• Developmental educator: $193.99
• Audiologist: $193.99
• Podiatrist: $188.99
• Physiotherapist: $183.99
• Dietitian: $178.99
• Exercise physiologist: $161.99
• Counsellor, art therapist, music therapist, orientation and mobility specialist: $156.16

Unlike support work, therapy has no evening, weekend or public holiday loading. A Sunday hour of OT costs the same as a Tuesday hour. That is useful to know if weekdays are hard for you.

To turn your budget into hours, divide. $10,000 of OT funding at $193.99 an hour is about 51 hours across the plan, before travel or report time comes out of it.

Which budget pays for it?

Most therapy sits in capacity building, under a support category called Improved Daily Living. That is the money for building skills and capability, and it is the budget most people mean when they say "my therapy funding".

Some therapy is funded from other categories.

• Exercise physiology often sits somewhere else. It can be funded under Improved Health and Wellbeing instead. The hourly rate is the same, but the money comes from a different budget, and you cannot spend one on the other.
• Some therapy is funded from core. A handful of therapy items sit under Assistance with Daily Life, which is a core support category. If a therapist is working on something that keeps a daily routine functioning, that is where it can land.

Capacity building budgets are the least flexible money in your plan. Core funding generally moves between core categories. Capacity building usually does not. If your OT funding runs out, you cannot quietly top it up from your community access budget.

What else comes out of your therapy budget

Face-to-face sessions are not the only thing billed against therapy funding, and the extra items are often why a budget runs out before the plan ends.

• Provider travel, at half the hourly rate. An OT travelling to you bills $97 an hour of travel time. A psychologist bills $126.50. There are limits on how much travel can be claimed, but it is real money out of your budget.
• Telehealth, at the full rate. A video session costs exactly the same as an in-person one. No travel, though, which is often the saving.
• Report writing and non-face-to-face work, at the full hourly rate. Assessments, letters, reports for your plan review. A thorough OT functional capacity assessment can absorb several hours of writing on top of the time spent with you.
• Short notice cancellations, at the full rate. If you cancel late, the provider can claim the session.

Before you start, ask the provider for an estimate that includes all four, not just the session rate.

Can a therapy assistant do some of the work?

A therapy assistant carries out a program that a qualified therapist has designed and supervises. For repetitive practice work, that is often the right person for the job, and it costs a fraction of the therapist's hour:

• Therapy assistant, level 1: $56.16 an hour
• Therapy assistant, level 2: $86.79 an hour

Against $193.99 for the OT, that is roughly three and a half assistant hours for one therapist hour at level 1. If your therapist has set a home program and the work is practice rather than assessment, ask whether an assistant can deliver part of it.

Does the therapist have to be registered?

It depends entirely on how your plan is managed.

• NDIA-managed: yes. You can only use providers registered with the NDIS Commission, and registered for 0128.
• Plan-managed: no. Your plan manager can pay any therapist who meets the rules, registered or not.
• Self-managed: no. You choose, and you pay.

InLife does not deliver therapy. We withdrew therapeutic supports from our registration during our audit, so we cannot claim under 0128 and we do not pretend otherwise. We are a Registered NDIS Provider for daily living support, community participation, high intensity personal care and behaviour support implementation.

What we do around therapy is allied health coordination. That means helping you shortlist practitioners who fit your language and location, getting appointments to actually happen, and running therapist-designed programs inside your everyday supports. The therapists are independent and the choice is always yours.

Frequently asked questions

Does the NDIS cover physio?

Yes, where it relates to your disability rather than a general health condition. The 2026-27 limit is $183.99 an hour. Physio for a sporting injury or a short-term illness is a health system matter, not an NDIS one.

How many therapy sessions will my funding cover?

Divide your budget by the hourly rate, then allow for travel, report writing and any late cancellations, because they come out of the same budget. $10,000 of OT funding is about 51 hours at $193.99, so expect fewer sessions than that.

Can I change therapists mid-plan?

Yes, at any time, whatever your plan management. Check the notice period in your service agreement first so you are not paying out a cancellation.

Why did my therapist charge me for a report I did not ask for?

Report writing is a claimable support at the full hourly rate, and reports are often needed for your plan review. It should still be agreed in advance. If it was not, raise it with the provider, and with your plan manager if the invoice is already in.

Can therapy funding be used for a group program?

The 2026-27 support catalogue has no therapy items described as group sessions. If a practice offers a group program, ask which support item it is claimed under and check it against your plan before you commit.

What if my therapy budget runs out?

Capacity building funding generally cannot be topped up from other budgets. Your options are to slow the sessions down, move some work to a therapy assistant, or ask for a plan reassessment with evidence of why more is needed. Start that conversation early, not in the last month.

Want a second read on your plan?

Bring it to a free Plan Health Check. Fifteen minutes, in English, Farsi, Urdu, Hindi or Punjabi. We will turn your therapy budget into hours, flag anything that looks mispriced, and tell you what we would ask your therapist. We will not try to sell you therapy, because we do not provide it.

Related reading: Development of Daily Living and Life Skills and Assist Life Stage Transition. Or see how our daily living support works.

Sources: NDIA, NDIS Support Catalogue 2026-27 v1.1, current support items, captured 10 July 2026. Hourly figures are national price limits for direct service items effective 1 July 2026 (occupational therapist 15_617_0128_1_3 and 01_661_0128_1_3; psychologist 15_054_0128_1_3; physiotherapist 15_055_0128_1_3; speech pathologist 15_622_0128_1_3; podiatrist 15_619_0128_1_3; dietitian 15_062_0128_3_3; exercise physiologist 15_200_0128_1_3 and 12_027_0126_3_3; counsellor 15_043_0128_1_3; therapy assistant 15_052_0128_1_3 and 15_053_0128_1_3). Provider travel figures are the corresponding _PT items at 50 per cent of the direct rate. Remote and very remote loadings apply outside metropolitan Victoria. InLife registration scope from the NDIS Commission public register, captured 6 July 2026. Check the current NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits before relying on any figure here.