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Picture this. It's mid-July. You open one invoice from your kid's OT, and it's not just a number anymore. It's a number jungle. Worse, it's alphabet soup. Little line items everywhere with codes like _PT and _NF and _RR, each one for a different slice of the same appointment.
Send your plan managers wine now. They're going to need it.
Your first thought is, "Am I being overcharged?"
Your second thought is, "I do not have the energy for this."
I get it. The NDIS has changed its pricing for the 2026-27 financial year, effective 1 July 2026, and a few of the changes are going to land squarely on your kitchen table in the form of invoices that look busier than you're used to.
Now, before anyone panics: separate line items aren't actually new. Your providers could already claim travel, reports and cancellations as their own things. What's changed for 2026-27 is that it's all been spelled out into explicit, dedicated codes, so the same appointment that used to sit quietly on one or two lines now sprawls across five or six. Same work. Far more alphabet.
So let's do what we always do here. Strip out the jargon, tell you what's actually going on, and tell you what (if anything) you need to do about it.
Here's the good news up front, the sky has not fallen. Most of these changes are about presentation and indexation, not some great upheaval in what your child can access. A handful are worth knowing.
In this article, I'll cover:
- The new name and shape of the NDIS price guide (and the bit that's missing)
- The new price limits from 1 July, in plain English
- Why your therapy invoices are about to look so different
- The three therapy prices that actually moved
- Short term accommodation getting unbundled
- What's happening (and not happening) with plan management fees
- One change to put in your calendar for January 2027
Let's go.
The price guide got a new name and a haircut
For years, the document that set out what NDIS providers can charge was called the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, or the PAPL. Most people just called it the price guide.
For 2026-27, it's been renamed. It's now just the "Pricing Schedule."
A name change I can live with. The bigger change is what's in it.
The new Pricing Schedule is price tables only. That's it. The rest of it, all the operational fine print that used to live in the same document, has been pulled out.
I'm talking about the rules for things like short notice cancellations, provider travel, establishment fees, and all those worked examples that showed you exactly how and when a certain line item could be used. That detail used to sit inside the one document. Now it doesn't.
And here's the bit no one is being especially clear about.
The bit that's doing my head in, where did the rules go?
I'll be straight with you, because pretending I have all the answers when I don't isn't my style.
I still don't know exactly where the cancellation rules, the travel rules and the establishment fee rules now officially live.
The substance of those rules hasn't changed. A short notice cancellation still works the way it always has. Provider travel is still claimable the way it always has been. The mechanisms still exist and the line items are still in the tables. What's changed is where the rules are written down, and right now that's genuinely murky.
I'm not the only one scratching my head, either. People across the sector are saying the same thing. What most of us still think of as "the price guide" is now spread across more than one document, and families and providers Googling for a clear, single answer aren't finding one. The NDIS Support Catalogue still tells you which claim types apply to each support item, so you can see that travel or cancellation is allowed on a given item. But the actual written rules, the how and the worked examples, don't have a confirmed single home I can point you to yet.
Here's what this means for you in real life.
To the best of my knowledge, nothing has changed about whether a provider can charge you for a short notice cancellation. They still can, under the same conditions as before, and only if it's in your service agreement. Same with travel. If you're worried an invoice doesn't look right, the answer hasn't moved even if the rulebook has. Check your service agreement, because that's where the specific cancellation and travel terms for your arrangement are spelled out, and ask the provider to explain anything that doesn't add up.
And if you're plan managed, this is exactly the kind of thing your plan manager is wading through so you don't have to. Working out which rule applies, where it now lives, and whether a claim is legitimate is literally the job. More on that later.
New price limits from 1 July, the short version
Every year on 1 July, the NDIA updates the maximum prices providers are allowed to charge. This year is no different.
Two main movements to know about.
Disability support worker supports, which covers a lot of your everyday core supports like self-care and community access, went up by roughly 4.8 percent. That tracks the Fair Work Commission's annual wage decision, because support worker pay rises flow through to support worker prices.
Nursing and other non-support-worker labour went up by around 3.6 percent.
Why does this matter for you? If you're plan managed or agency managed, providers can't bill above the cap. So a higher cap doesn't mean you'll automatically be charged more, but it does mean a provider is allowed to charge more than they could last year. A provider can also still charge less. Someone billing the old 2025-26 rate after 1 July is billing below the cap, which is completely fine. Someone billing above the new cap is not.
The one practical thing worth knowing is that your child's plan funding is being indexed to account for these price rises, so the higher prices and the higher funding are designed to move together rather than quietly eat your budget.
However! Any provider who wishes to update their prices, cannot do it without your permission. You need a new service agreement and you need to agree to these price increases.
Why your therapy invoices are about to look completely different
This is the change most likely to make you do a double take, so let me explain it properly.
Your therapist hasn't suddenly started charging for new stuff. Travel, report writing, non-face-to-face work and cancellations were already claimable separately. That's not new.
What's new for 2026-27 is that each therapy profession now has its own explicit, dedicated codes for each of those pieces, instead of them being claimed more quietly under the same item. So the same appointment, billed the same way, now shows up as a longer list. Welcome to NDIS nerd territory.
Your invoice can now carry separate lines for:
- The actual session, called Direct Service
- Cancellations, marked with _CA
- Non-face-to-face work like report writing or notes, marked with _NF
- Provider travel, marked with _PT
- Reports the NDIA has specifically requested, marked with _RR
- Telehealth, marked with _TH
So the travel your therapist does, and the report writing they do, now show up as their own clearly labelled lines rather than sitting less visibly against the session item.
I want to be really clear about this, because it's the part that worries families most. Those extra lines are not double dipping. They're not your therapist sneaking in extra charges. It's the same work, just itemised differently so you can see what you're paying for. A _PT line and a _RR line sitting under a therapy session are correct and claimable, not duplicates of the session itself.
It will, however, mean more lines to read, more to understand, and more chances to second-guess yourself. If you self-manage, that's more to check on your own. If you're plan managed, it's more for your plan manager to verify before a cent leaves your child's budget.
The three therapy prices that actually moved
Most therapy prices didn't change at all. Occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech pathology, podiatry, and counselling, art and music therapy all held steady.
Three moved, and one is brand new.
Psychologists went up. The cap rose by twenty dollars to $252.99 an hour. A claim at the old $232.99 is still fine. Anything above $252.99 is over the cap.
Dietitians came down. The cap dropped by ten dollars to $178.99 an hour.
Exercise physiologists came down too. The cap dropped by five dollars to $161.99 an hour.
That last pair matters for a reason that's easy to miss. Because those two caps went down, a provider who keeps billing last year's higher rate after 1 July would now be charging over the cap. So if your child sees a dietitian or an exercise physiologist, it's worth a quick glance at the rate on invoices from July onwards.
There's also a new item on the list. Orientation and mobility specialists, the people who help kids with vision impairment learn to move safely and independently through the world, now have their own line item at $156.16 an hour. Previously this work was billed under other professionals (which has also decreased to $156.16 an hour).
Short term respite got unbundled too
If your family uses short term respite, until recently, called STA, brace yourself for the same multiple-line-items experience.
STA used to be one bundled daily rate that covered everything: the accommodation, the food, the utilities and the support worker time, all in one number.
For 2026-27 it's been split apart. There's now a separate accommodation component, plus separate support items for self-care and community access, structured by the day and time they're delivered. If your child is funded for high intensity or behaviour support loadings, those can still be claimed where they apply.
What it means on the ground: an STR invoice that used to be one figure will now arrive as several line items. Again, not more expensive by default, just broken out into parts.
Plan management fees haven't changed, and here's what that means for you
The monthly plan management fee is holding steady at $104.45 a month for the second year running. Nothing changes in what a plan manager claims for managing your child's plan.
A couple of things worth remembering, because they're the bits families forget.
Plan management is funded separately in your child's plan. It does not come out of your therapy budget, your core budget, or any of your child's actual supports. It sits in its own little pot.
And it costs you nothing out of pocket. The fee is paid from that separate funding, not from your bank account.
The one thing to keep half an eye on is that the NDIA has flagged a broader review of plan management pricing for the year ahead. Nothing is happening today, and there's nothing for you to do about it. But it's on the radar, and I'll keep you posted as that develops, because if it moves, it's the kind of thing I'd want you to hear about from someone who'll explain it honestly rather than from a panicked Facebook post.
One to diarise: January 2027
Most of these changes hit on 1 July 2026. One doesn't, and I want it on your radar early so it isn't a surprise.
From 1 January 2027, the prices for social, community and civic participation supports delivered by unregistered providers are dropping by 10 percent, and the annual indexation on those items is stopping. Prices for the same supports delivered by registered providers aren't changing.
This one does not apply yet. Not on 1 July, not in September, not until 1 January 2027. So if anyone tries to apply that reduction early, that's not right. Put a note in your calendar for the new year and we'll talk about it properly closer to the time.
So, is this going to be a nightmare to navigate?
Honest answer? For a lot of families, the next few months are going to feel harder than they should.
Not because your child's supports have changed. They mostly haven't. But because the price guide got renamed and gutted of its rules, the invoices are about to fragment into more line items than ever, and the one document everyone used to point to no longer holds the answers. That's a lot of new mental load dropped on people who are already carrying plenty.
This is the bit where I'd usually tell you about plan management, so I will, but gently.
The whole point of a plan manager is that this becomes their problem, not yours. When your therapist's invoice suddenly arrives as five line items, your plan manager is the one checking each one against the new caps and the rules, wherever those rules have ended up living. When a dietitian bills the old rate after the price decrease, your plan manager should catch it. When you're not sure whether a travel charge is legitimate, you ask one human and get one answer.
Not all plan management is created equal, mind you. If your current plan manager leaves you more confused after every interaction, you're allowed to leave. But good plan management, in a year where the rules just got harder to find, is worth its weight in gold. So I'll just drop a cheeky link here for Kindship Plan Management because… we are legends.
Frequently asked questions
Are the new NDIS prices law?
Sort of. The 2026-27 prices are being applied from 1 July 2026 and plans are being indexed to match. But the legal power to set binding NDIS prices is tied up in a Bill currently before Parliament, so the formal status is still settling. For your day-to-day purposes, treat the new caps as the rates that apply from 1 July.
Will I pay more for my child's supports now?
Not automatically. Higher caps mean a provider is allowed to charge more, not that they must. On plan-managed and agency-managed plans, providers can't bill above the cap, and your plan funding is being indexed to account for the price rises (and decreases).
Why does my therapy invoice suddenly have so many line items?
Because travel, report writing, non-face-to-face work, cancellations and telehealth now have their own explicit codes alongside the session, rather than being claimed less visibly against the one item. It's the same work you were always able to be charged for, just itemised more clearly. Extra lines aren't extra charges or double dipping.
Where are the short notice cancellation and travel rules now?
Good question, and an annoying one. They've been pulled out of the main pricing document and their exact new home isn't clearly confirmed. The rules themselves haven't changed. Your service agreement spells out the cancellation and travel terms for your arrangement, so start there, and ask your plan manager if something looks off.
A final word
You don't need to memorise any of this. You don't need to become a part-time NDIS pricing analyst on top of everything else you do.
What you need to know is that your child's supports are essentially intact, the scary-looking invoices are mostly just a new format, and the genuinely messy bit, the disappearing rulebook, is something the sector is working through, not something you've failed to understand.
If your invoices have started looking like algebra and you'd rather hand the decoding to someone who lives and breathes this, that's exactly what we do. Because you've got enough to carry. Reading price tables shouldn't be on the list.
Book a chat with us — we'd love to help
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