Written by the Provider360 team. Provider360 is Australia’s leading NDIS provider registration and compliance solution, supporting 3,000+ disability service providers nationally. Pages like this are built from that work: where pricing and registration changes actually land on a provider’s desk.
Key takeaways
- The NDIA’s Pricing Schedule 2026-27, in force 1 July 2026, replaces the PAPL: price tables only, with claiming rules and Support Catalogue still unpublished.
- Winners: support workers and SIL up 4.8%, psychology up 8.6%, nursing up 3.6%. Frozen: OT, speech, physio, support coordination, plan management.
- Losers: dietetics (−5.3%), exercise physiology (−3.0%) and Other Professionals (−19.5%). Unregistered community-participation providers lose 10% from 1 January 2027.
What is the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, and what happened to the PAPL?
A renamed, slimmed-down pricing document
There is no new PAPL this year. The document providers bill against from 1 July 2026 is the National Disability Insurance Scheme Pricing Schedule 2026-27, published by the NDIA on 22 June 2026 alongside the Annual Pricing Review. It is the third name for the same instrument: the NDIS Price Guide became the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, which has now become the Pricing Schedule.
The bigger change is what the document contains. The Pricing Schedule is price tables only, now grouped by provider type so you can find your support items without reading the whole document. The operational rules that used to live inside the PAPL, including claiming rules and worked examples, have been pulled out, and neither a new rules document nor an updated Support Catalogue has been released yet. Until they are, keep the 2025-26 guidance handy and watch the NDIA’s pricing arrangements page for updates.
Why prices moved: the APR and the wage decision
The Annual Pricing Review (APR) is the NDIA’s yearly assessment of what it considers appropriate prices for NDIS supports. The 2026-27 schedule was “published following the release of the Annual Pricing Review and the Fair Work Commission’s Annual Wage Review decision”. Two forces drove this year’s numbers. First, the Fair Work Commission’s 4.75% wage increase and the superannuation guarantee rise to 12% flow directly through the disability support worker cost model, lifting every DSW-related price limit by 4.8%. Second, the NDIA benchmarked therapy prices against comparable health markets, and moved each discipline to its own price rather than one near-uniform therapy rate. Psychology rose because “the previous rates did not reflect market rates for psychologists”; dietetics and exercise physiology fell because prior rates sat above market levels.
When it applies, and what the limits actually mean
The schedule is effective 1 July 2026, and every price in it is a ceiling, not a target. Price limits cap what you can claim for price-controlled supports funded from NDIA-managed and plan-managed budgets; you can always charge less. The new rates apply to services delivered on or after 1 July, but claiming them under an existing service agreement is not automatic: the NDIA requires participant agreement first. One structural change also lands with the document: Short Term Accommodation is no longer claimed as a bundled daily rate. The old all-inclusive day items ended on 30 June 2026, replaced by hourly support items by time of day plus a sleepover item, with accommodation claimed separately in line with the Medium Term Accommodation (MTA) rate of $162.85.
What do the NDIA’s pricing documents actually say?
The Pricing Schedule states its own purpose plainly: it “sets out information from the NDIA regarding what it considers to be the appropriate and reasonable maximum prices for all NDIS supports”.
On existing clients, the Background section is explicit, and this is the sentence to build your July admin around:
“Providers must discuss proposed changes to existing service agreements with participants and participants must agree to the changes.”
The document also names the legislative context. It is published against the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026, introduced into Parliament on 14 May 2026. If passed, the Bill would give the Minister for the NDIS the power to make a formal pricing determination, with the NDIA’s published prices informing that advice. In practice, the 2026-27 prices apply now; the Bill changes who sets them in future, not what you can claim today.
Professional bodies have confirmed the headline moves from their side. The Australian Psychological Society reports the psychology increase as $20 an hour nationally, with larger rises for remote ($354.19) and very remote ($379.49) participants, alongside new dedicated line items for travel, cancellations, telehealth, non-face-to-face work and NDIA-requested reports.
What does the 2026-27 Pricing Schedule mean for your provider type?
Find your row. The dollar figures are national standard weekday rates; remote and very remote loadings sit above them in the schedule.
| If you deliver… | What changed on 1 July 2026 | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Core supports (self-care, community access, daily life) | Every DSW price limit rose 4.8%: the base weekday hour is now $73.58, and the establishment fee is $735.80 | Update service agreements and re-issue rates; the increase is claimable only once participants agree |
| Supported Independent Living (SIL) | SIL items moved with the DSW model: the standard weekday hour is $73.58 | Re-quote rosters at the new limits. Registering for SIL? Mandatory registration is in force; see our SIL registration and transition pathways guide |
| Short Term Accommodation | Bundled daily rates ended 30 June. Support is now claimed hourly by time of day (weekday day $73.58, Saturday $103.54, Sunday $133.50), sleepover $311.79, accommodation separately at the MTA rate | Rebuild STA quoting from bundled days to itemised hours plus accommodation |
| Therapy | Profession-specific pricing arrived: psychology and specialist behavioural intervention rose to $252.99; occupational therapy, speech pathology, physiotherapy, podiatry and counselling held; dietetics ($178.99) and exercise physiology ($161.99) were cut; the Other Professional rate dropped 19.5% to $156.16 | Check your discipline’s row, then set up the six new line items per discipline before billing |
| Support coordination or plan management | Nothing moved: Support Connection $80.06, Coordination of Supports $100.14, Specialist Support Coordination $190.54, plan management $104.45 a month, all unchanged | The caps did not move but wages did; re-run your caseload numbers for the year ahead |
| Community participation as an unregistered provider | Nothing yet, but the APR sets a 10% lower price limit for unregistered social, community and civic participation providers from 1 January 2027, with the limit then frozen | You have a six-month lead time. Registration keeps full price limits and future indexation; certification typically runs 8 to 12 months, so the window is tighter than it looks — see what NDIS registration costs |
Who are the winners and losers of the 2026-27 NDIS price changes?
Every figure below is the national standard hourly limit (weekday daytime for time-based items), taken from the two official documents.
| Support | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychology | $232.99 | $252.99 | +8.6% |
| Specialist behavioural intervention support | $232.99 | $252.99 | +8.6% |
| Disability support worker (base, weekday day) | $70.23 | $73.58 | +4.8% |
| SIL (standard, weekday day) | $70.23 | $73.58 | +4.8% |
| Establishment fee (personal care/participation) | $702.30 | $735.80 | +4.8% |
| Psychosocial recovery coaching | moved with DSW model | $110.44 | up |
| Registered nurse (community nursing) | $123.65 | $128.05 | +3.6% |
| Occupational therapy | $193.99 | $193.99 | frozen |
| Speech pathology | $193.99 | $193.99 | frozen |
| Physiotherapy | $183.99 | $183.99 | frozen |
| Podiatry | $188.99 | $188.99 | frozen |
| Counselling | $156.16 | $156.16 | frozen |
| Support coordination (all three levels) | $80.06 / $100.14 / $190.54 | unchanged | frozen |
| Plan management (monthly fee) | $104.45 | $104.45 | frozen |
| Dietetics | $188.99 | $178.99 | −5.3% |
| Exercise physiology | $166.99 | $161.99 | −3.0% |
| Other Professional | $193.99 | $156.16 | −19.5% |
| Orientation and mobility specialists | claimed at $193.99 (Other Professional) | $156.16, own line items | new item, lower cap |
| Unregistered community participation (SCCP) | full limit | −10% from 1 January 2027, then frozen | APR measure |
The pattern is deliberate. Wage-driven supports rose with the award; therapies were re-priced discipline by discipline against market benchmarks; administrative supports were held flat; and from January 2027, one price limit will depend on whether the provider is registered.
Key dates:
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 22 June 2026 | NDIA releases the APR 2026-27 and the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 |
| 30 June 2026 | Old bundled STA daily rates end |
| 1 July 2026 | New price limits apply to services delivered from this date |
| 1 January 2027 | 10% lower limit begins for unregistered SCCP providers |
What should providers do before claiming the new rates?
The uplift is real money. The base support worker price limit rose by $3.35 an hour, from $70.23 to $73.58; on a 30-hour weekly roster that is roughly $5,226 a year in additional claimable revenue per participant with that roster (simple arithmetic on the two schedules’ base rates). Capturing it cleanly takes five steps:
- Pull the rates for your registration groups. The schedule is now grouped by provider type, so your items sit together.
- Update service agreements first. Participants must agree to changed prices before you claim them.
- Rebuild your billing codes. Each therapy discipline now carries six line items (direct service, cancellation, non-face-to-face, provider travel, NDIA-requested reports, telehealth), and 25 support items were removed and 33 added against the 2025-26 catalogue.
- Re-model margins where caps froze. Flat-capped supports carry 2026-27 wage costs on 2025-26 revenue.
- Watch for the missing rules. The claiming rules and Support Catalogue for 2026-27 are still unpublished; subscribe to NDIA provider updates so nothing lands unseen.
We see the stakes from the registration side. Across the 3,000+ providers Provider360 has supported, SIL has been our highest-volume source of enquiries since mandatory registration took effect on 1 July 2026, and the application surge at the NDIS Commission is extending processing queues. Pricing decisions and registration decisions are landing on providers’ desks at the same time, and moving early on both is what keeps a provider ahead of the queue.
Where do your services land under the new schedule?
The winners map tells you what the market pays from 1 July. The free NDIS Registration Roadmap tells you what it takes to serve it registered: your eligibility, your audit pathway, the Practice Standards that apply, and your estimated timeline and costs, in a personalised report from a 60-second assessment. No credit card, no obligation.
Get your free NDIS Registration Roadmap →What else do providers ask about the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27?
When did the 2026-27 NDIS price changes start?
On 1 July 2026. The NDIA published the Pricing Schedule and the Annual Pricing Review on 22 June 2026, and the new price limits apply to supports delivered on or after 1 July 2026.
Can I charge more than the NDIS price limits?
No. For price-controlled supports billed to NDIA-managed or plan-managed funding, the schedule’s prices are maximums; you can charge less, never more. What you charge within the limits depends on your service type, qualifications and location, so check the current schedule before setting rates.
Do the new prices differ for unregistered providers?
Not yet, with one dated exception coming. From 1 January 2027, the APR sets a price limit 10% lower for unregistered providers delivering social, community and civic participation supports, and that lower limit is then frozen. Registered providers keep the full limit and future indexation.
