NDIS Assistance with Daily Life is the part of your plan that pays for help with everyday tasks, like personal care, cooking, cleaning and yard maintenance. This guide explains where it sits in your plan, what it can and can’t pay for, how it differs from SIL and from capacity building, and what the October 2026 budget changes mean for it.
NDIS Assistance with Daily Life: quick summary
- NDIS Assistance with Daily Life is a support category inside the core supports budget of a plan.
- Your plan has funding in it if you need help with daily life tasks and activities.
- It can pay support workers to help with tasks like cleaning, yard maintenance, cooking and personal care.
- Core supports funding is flexible, so you can use it across and within the core categories, in line with your plan.
- It does not pay day-to-day living costs such as rent, groceries, utilities, phone or internet.
- Improved daily living is a different category: it sits in capacity building and pays for things like assessments, training and therapy.
- The NDIA says essential day-to-day supports are not affected by the support budget changes that started on 1 October 2026.
What NDIS Assistance with Daily Life is
Every NDIS plan has 4 support budgets, though you might not have funding in all of them. One of them is core supports, which the NDIA describes as help with everyday activities and getting involved in your community. The core supports page lists up to 3 categories in this budget: Assistance with daily life, Consumables, and Assistance with social and community participation.
Assistance with daily life will have funding if you need help with daily life tasks and activities. Depending on your goals, you might use it to hire support workers who help with everyday tasks. At Goaldis, this kind of everyday support is what we call home care and help at home.
The NDIA also lists Assistance with daily life (ADL) as the first of its home and living options. It helps with everyday tasks in your home so you can live as independently as possible. Help is usually provided within your home, and it is often in a plan when you only need very targeted support or don’t need support all the time.
What it can pay for
The official list of supports that are NDIS supports has 37 categories. Three of them describe everyday help with personal and household tasks.
| Category on the NDIS supports list | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Daily personal activities | Supervision or help with personal daily living tasks, such as eating and drinking, dressing and toileting, personal hygiene (showering, bathing, hair washing and drying, nail care), and moving and positioning. |
| Household tasks | Help with essential household tasks you are not able to do yourself because of your disability, such as meal preparation and delivery, house or yard maintenance, and cleaning and laundry. |
| Assistance with daily life tasks in a group or shared living arrangement | Help with or supervision of daily living tasks in a shared living environment, including supports for short term accommodation and respite. |
A support doesn’t need to be listed as a specific example to count. According to the NDIA, it must fit one of the categories, match the overall description, and not appear on the list of supports that are not NDIS supports. It must also relate to your disability and be in line with your plan.
The third row matters if you take short breaks away from home. That support has its own category, and you can read how it works on our respite and short term accommodation page. Our guide to short term accommodation (STA) explains the funding rules.
What it doesn’t pay for
NDIS Assistance with Daily Life funding, like all NDIS funding, can’t be spent on day-to-day living costs. The NDIA’s home and living guide says you are responsible for rent, groceries, utilities, telephone and internet. In most cases you also pay for general household items, such as a bed, a fridge or cooking utensils.
There are some exceptions. The NDIA gives modified cooking utensils, an adjustable bed and a pressure care mattress as examples of items it may contribute to. The guide points to its assistive technology information for these items.
Transport is separate too. Travel to work, study and community activities is paid from its own budget, and our guide explains why transport sits in a separate budget.
How flexible NDIS Assistance with Daily Life funding is
Core supports funding is flexible. The NDIA says you can use the total amount in the core budget to buy NDIS supports across and within its categories, as long as they are NDIS supports and in line with your plan. The home and living guide adds that ADL funding is flexible with other core supports, and that funding for other supports can be added to your ADL budget.
You can also choose to direct, plan and roster your own support workers. The NDIA calls this self-directed supports, and it sits within your ADL budget.
On price, the NDIS pricing arrangements set maximum prices. They apply to NDIA-managed and plan-managed participants, providers can’t charge more than the maximum, and you and your provider can agree a reasonable price up to that limit.
Assistance with Daily Life, SIL and capacity building
Three names in an NDIS plan sound alike, but they pay for different things.
- Assistance with daily life (core supports). Help with everyday tasks, usually provided within your home.
- Supported independent living (SIL). The NDIA describes SIL as funding for a support worker to help or supervise you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Self-directed supports are not SIL; they sit within ADL. Read more on our Supported Independent Living page.
- Improved daily living (capacity building). Supports that build your living skills and independence, such as assessments, training or therapies like speech therapy and occupational therapy. Capacity building funding is stated, so you can’t move it between categories.
In short, NDIS Assistance with Daily Life pays for someone to help with the task, while Improved daily living pays for building the skill. Your plan may include one, both or neither.
NDIS Assistance with Daily Life and the October 2026 changes
On 1 October 2026 the NDIA announced changes to support budgets under the new NDIS laws. Budgets for two categories will be reduced: Social, Economic and Community Participation, and Improved Daily Living Skills. The reductions apply as plans are created or reassessed from 1 October 2026, or renewed from 1 February 2027.
The NDIA also says essential day-to-day supports won’t be affected. Its examples include help with eating, drinking, dressing, toileting, laundry and cleaning. This change isn’t a reviewable decision. However, you can still ask for a plan change if there has been a significant and ongoing change to your ability to do daily activities, your living arrangements, your work or study, or the informal support around you.
How to check this yourself
- Open your plan and find the core supports budget. Look for funding listed under Assistance with daily life.
- Check whether your plan also has capacity building funding under Improved daily living. That money is stated, so it can only buy the supports described for it.
- Download the NDIA’s list of what are and aren’t NDIS supports and read the Daily personal activities and Household tasks categories.
- Read the guide to your NDIS home and living options to compare ADL with the other options.
- If anything is unclear, ask your my NDIS contact for a plan implementation meeting, or call the NDIA on 1800 800 110.
Frequently asked questions
What is Assistance with Daily Life in the NDIS?
NDIS Assistance with Daily Life is a support category in the core supports budget. It funds help with daily life tasks and activities, such as personal care, cooking, cleaning and yard maintenance, so you can live as independently as possible.
Is Assistance with Daily Life the same as core supports?
Not quite. Core supports is the budget, and Assistance with daily life is one of up to 3 categories inside it. The others are Consumables and Assistance with social and community participation.
Can I use Assistance with Daily Life funding for cleaning?
Cleaning is one of the NDIA’s own examples for this category. The supports list also includes cleaning and laundry under Household tasks, for essential tasks you are not able to do yourself because of your disability. The support must be in line with your plan.
Does Assistance with Daily Life pay for groceries or rent?
No. Rent, groceries, utilities, telephone and internet are day-to-day living costs, and the NDIA says you pay for them yourself.
What is the difference between Assistance with Daily Life and Improved Daily Living?
Assistance with daily life is in core supports and pays for help with tasks. Improved daily living is in capacity building and pays for supports that build your skills, such as assessments, training and therapy.
Is Assistance with Daily Life the same as SIL?
No. SIL is funding for a support worker to help or supervise you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Assistance with daily life is often included in a plan when you only need targeted help or don’t need support all the time.
Will the October 2026 budget changes cut my daily life support?
The NDIA says essential day-to-day supports, like help with eating, drinking, dressing, toileting, laundry and cleaning, won’t be affected. The reductions apply to Social, Economic and Community Participation and to Improved Daily Living Skills.
Can I manage my own support workers with this funding?
Yes. The NDIA calls this self-directed supports: you direct, plan and roster your own support workers, and it sits within your ADL budget.
How Goaldis can help
Goaldis Community Services is a registered NDIS provider. If your plan has NDIS Assistance with Daily Life funding, our home care service can help with everyday tasks at home: personal care, help to plan and prepare meals, and cleaning and laundry. We build a support plan with you and your family and update it as things change. Our home care is not nursing; for clinical care, talk to your doctor.
We support people in Greater Western Sydney, Ryde and Macquarie Park, and The Hills. If you would like to talk about help at home, call 1300 212 035, send us a message, or ask your support coordinator to refer you.
Related reading
- NDIS transport funding: how it works and how to use it
- Social and community participation with Goaldis
- NDIS help: how the NDIS works
Disclaimer: This article is general information only and is not personal, financial or legal advice. It is current as at 19 October 2026 and reflects the NDIS pages named above as they read on that date (core supports, current as of 7 May 2026; capacity building supports, 16 July 2026; the guide to home and living options, 17 August 2026; What are NDIS supports and its supports list, 24 August 2026; pricing arrangements, 24 September 2026; and the NDIA news item of 1 October 2026). Examples are illustrative, not entitlements: what your plan funds depends on your own needs and plan. NDIS rules change, so always confirm with the NDIA at ndis.gov.au or on 1800 800 110.