Last updated: July 2026
The NDIS is part-way through its biggest reform since the scheme began, and one question keeps coming up from providers, support coordinators and allied health professionals: is the new NDIA needs assessment replacing Functional Capacity Assessments?
The short answer is still no — but the detail has changed significantly over the past year, including the name of the assessment, the tool behind it, and the start date. If you read guidance on this topic written in 2025, much of it is now out of date. Here is where things actually stand.
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What the new assessment actually is: the Support Needs Assessment (I-CAN v6)
Under new framework planning, participant budgets will be built from a Support Needs Assessment conducted by a trained NDIA assessor. The assessment is based on the I-CAN v6 (Instrument for the Classification and Assessment of Support Needs), an Australian-developed, strengths-based tool selected by the NDIA in partnership with the University of Melbourne and the Centre for Disability Studies, used alongside a personal and environmental circumstances questionnaire.
In practice it is a semi-structured interview — around three hours, at a time and place that suits the participant, with family or a support person welcome — covering daily life across twelve domains. The assessor’s report is then used to build the participant’s plan budget. Initial rollout applies to participants aged 16 and over.
For a deeper look at the tool itself, see our guide: I-CAN and Functional Capacity Assessments: What Changes, What Doesn’t.
The timeline has moved — twice
Earlier guidance pointed to a late-2025 start, then mid-2026. The NDIA has since confirmed that new framework planning will now begin from 1 April 2027, following further consultation with the disability community, with existing participants transitioning progressively from 1 April 2027 to 31 December 2030. As of early 2026, only a small initial testing group of participants had been through the assessment process, and consultation on the supporting rules continues through 2026.
Translation for providers: no participant you support is being budget-set by an I-CAN assessment this year. Current plans continue under current rules until the NDIA contacts participants directly.
The 2026 dates that actually matter right now
While the needs assessment start date moved out, several other reform dates land much sooner — and these are the ones providers should be acting on today:
- 1 July 2026 — mandatory NDIS registration begins for Supported Independent Living (SIL) and platform providers.
- 1 October 2026 — funding adjustments begin for some supports: social, civic and community participation, and capacity building daily activities, applied to existing (old framework) plans through support determinations. The Thriving Kids pathway also begins for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay or autism with low-to-moderate support needs.
- 1 December 2026 — the provider claiming window reduces from two years to 90 days.
- 1 February 2027 — changes to plan reassessments and renewals begin for existing participants.
- 1 January 2028 — access assessment changes take effect for new applicants: standardised, functional-capacity-based assessment, with diagnosis-based access lists removed.
Are FCAs being replaced? No — and the NDIA has said why
Functional Capacity Assessments are not being replaced. The NDIA’s own guidance on the new framework states that the I-CAN-based assessment will be used alongside questionnaires, and that further targeted assessments will be used for people with more complex disability support needs.
That sentence matters. It is the NDIA acknowledging that a standardised, interview-based tool cannot on its own carry the evidentiary weight required for complex decisions. Clinician-led functional assessment remains essential where:
- a participant is pursuing home and living supports — SIL, SDA or ILO — where the evidence must address 24-hour support needs, supervision, risk and housing suitability in depth
- specific supports need clinical justification — therapy intensity, assistive technology, home modifications
- a participant or their supporters disagree with an NDIA assessment or decision and need independent clinical evidence for review
- presentations are complex, episodic or fluctuating — psychosocial disability and other conditions that a single point-in-time interview may not capture
- evidence is needed for plan reassessments, reviews and appeals under the current framework, which continues to apply to most participants until at least 2027 and for many until 2030.
There is also a longer-term shift worth noting: from 2028, access to the scheme itself moves to a functional-capacity basis, with diagnosis lists removed. The whole system is moving toward functional impact as the currency of decision-making — which makes high-quality functional evidence more central to the NDIS, not less, even as the NDIA takes plan budgeting in-house.
Support Needs Assessment vs Functional Capacity Assessment
| NDIA Support Needs Assessment | Functional Capacity Assessment | |
|---|---|---|
| Conducted by | Trained NDIA assessor | Participant’s chosen allied health clinician (commonly OT-led) |
| Tool | I-CAN v6 + circumstances questionnaire | Clinically selected standardised tools (WHODAS 2.0, CANS, COPM, Vineland and others) |
| Purpose | Build the plan budget under new framework planning | Evidence for specific supports, complex needs, home and living decisions, reviews and appeals |
| Format | Semi-structured interview (~3 hours) | Multi-source clinical assessment: documents, interviews, observation, standardised testing |
| Funding | Funded and conducted by the NDIA | Claimed from Capacity Building where available, or privately funded |
| Status (July 2026) | In testing; begins from 1 April 2027 | In use now, and continuing under the new framework for targeted and complex assessment |
What providers and support coordinators should do now
1. Correct the timeline with participants. Many participants have heard “big assessment changes in 2026” and are anxious. The accurate message: budget-setting assessments begin from April 2027, phased to 2030, and current plans continue unchanged until the NDIA makes direct contact. The nearer-term changes participants will actually feel in 2026 are the October funding adjustments to certain support categories.
2. Get evidence in order before the transition, not during it. Participants with complex needs, home and living goals, or plans that under-represent their needs are better served entering the new framework with strong, recent functional evidence on file. A current FCA is considerably more useful before a transition assessment than a scramble for evidence after a disappointing budget.
3. Prepare for the dispute-and-review workload. Every major assessment reform produces a wave of participants who disagree with their new budgets. Independent, clinician-led functional evidence is the instrument of review and appeal — coordinators should know their referral pathways for it now.
4. SIL providers: registration is no longer optional. As of 1 July 2026, SIL and platform providers must be registered. If that transition is still in progress in your network, it is now the most urgent compliance item on the list.
5. Watch the rules consultation. The rules governing new framework planning are still being finalised through consultation during 2026. Details — including exactly how targeted assessments interact with the Support Needs Assessment — may continue to evolve, and we will update this guide as they do.
Final thoughts
The Support Needs Assessment will change how plan budgets are built — from April 2027, gradually, for participants the NDIA contacts directly. It does not replace clinician-led functional assessment; the NDIA has explicitly preserved targeted assessment for complex needs, and the scheme’s overall direction makes functional evidence more decisive, not less. The providers who navigate this well will be the ones who understood the real timeline, prepared their participants’ evidence early, and stayed across the rules as they finalise.
This information is general in nature and does not constitute clinical, legal or financial advice. NDIS reform details continue to evolve; no funding outcome is guaranteed, and NDIA decisions are made independently. For the latest official information see ndis.gov.au.
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