Whether you’re applying to join the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for the first time, going through a plan reassessment, or seeking funding for a specific support, one thing’s certain – the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) will need evidence.
Letters of recommendation, functional capacity assessments, and provider reports are three documents that offer critical insights and help Agency staff make funding decisions. But they’re costly, and they take time to produce.
If you want to add weight to your argument for NDIS funding and show the Agency the value funded supports will deliver, there are some simple things you can do to tip the balance.
Here are 10 free ways to create a compelling case for NDIS funding.
Ever wished you could just tell the NDIA what it’s like to live a day in your life? That way, the Agency would understand what it’s like to be you, right?
Well, there is a way to share your story, and that’s through a lived experience statement.
When considering a request for NDIS funding, the NDIA looks through a mountain of evidence about you – everything from allied health assessments to provider reports – but reading your story, in your words, can really help staff at the Agency to learn about your disability and its impact on your daily life.
Your voice matters, and if you’re looking for supports to help you remain as independent as possible, a lived experience statement can be powerful.
We explain how to write a lived experience statement here.
A carer statement is a letter written by a person who cares for someone with disability. It provides the carer’s perspective on the impact of disability on the individual and those around them.
There’s no right or wrong way to craft a carer statement, but here are some basics to consider.
When you’re gathering information to support a request for NDIS funding, you could ask a family member or someone in your informal support network to write a carer statement to help the NDIA build a fuller picture of your needs.
This handy tool – which can be as simple as a page in a daily diary – can help you record your assistance needs over a typical day or week. You can use it to note down every time you need support with something, so you can provide the NDIA with a snapshot of your needs.
A ‘day in the life’ support calendar can cover everything from getting ready in the morning, doing chores, and going to appointments, to attending social and community events, participating in therapy sessions, and preparing meals. It's important to include not just the support you get from friends and family, but any paid supports you rely on as well.
It's okay to focus your calendar on the times when things are tough – as well as when they’re a little simpler. Sharing the whole picture of your life provides a better understanding of the breadth of supports you need.
Notes from providers offer valuable evidence that can add weight to an NDIS funding request. These gems of information might include what your support workers do for you, how long they're with you, and observations they make about your specific needs or preferences.
You can request notes from provider organisations or the workers themselves, and you can also extend the range of information you give to the NDIA to include notes from providers of other types of paid assistance, like cleaning, gardening, and transport.
Provider notes are handy if you're seeking NDIS funding for the first time or if you need more support than you’re currently funded for.
Case notes are records kept by your health and allied health professionals about things like diagnoses, treatments, and ongoing health and disability concerns. Adding these notes to your request for NDIS funding can help the NDIA understand how your disability impacts your life.
Getting reports from doctors can be expensive, but asking for your case notes shouldn't cost you much (if anything). Most professionals have processes in place to give patients access to their records upon request.
When sharing information with the NDIA and other organisations and individuals, it's important to protect your privacy, so only include relevant case notes.
A good timeline of events should combine information from medical records, notes from formal and informal supports. and your own observations into one streamlined document that summarises key events related to your disability.
It can create compelling evidence for an NDIS funding request by providing a big picture of your disability and how it's progressed over time.
To create a timeline of events, start by gathering the documents you have and organising them in date order. Write down key events and milestones like your diagnosis date, when treatment began, the dates of any surgeries or medical interventions, and the time when you started needing assistance with certain tasks. Be sure to focus on major events that relate to your disability.
If you have a child with disability, sharing valuable observations based on experience can be powerful evidence to support a request for NDIS funding.
A letter from your child’s teacher, coach or tutor can explain what their needs are and what support they may require to help them live a more independent life. It can talk about your child's strengths and challenges, whether they struggle with learning or behave in a certain way, how they interact with others, and whether they need support in a group environment.
This is a formal document your general practitioner fills out which talks about your disability, health conditions, and support needs. It can be helpful when asking for NDIS funding, but keep in mind you may have to pay for it if your doctor doesn't bulk bill.
Before you get a general practitioner statement of evidence, ask your doctor about their fees. Sometimes Medicare helps with part of the cost, so you may only need to pay a gap. Be sure to book a long appointment and let your doctor know you need the form filled out.
Here’s a link to a comprehensive general practitioner statement of evidence form.
A more creative way to provide evidence to the NDIA is by adding scholarly articles, research papers or studies from trusted academic journals. When the Agency looks at requests for certain supports, it wants to know if those supports will actually work and academic source material can provide solid evidence about how different supports have made a difference for people with a disability like yours.
Using academic sources can also show you've done your homework, and you understand what kind of supports might help. Just make sure the sources are legitimate, meaning they’ve been peer reviewed by other experts in the field.
You can find academic sources online by looking up your disability or the supports you’re requesting in places like Google Scholar, university libraries, or academic journals. It might take a bit of effort to find, but it’s a valuable resource that can strengthen a request.
Assessments of you that may already have been completed by government departments in areas including health, education, housing, and justice can provide convincing evidence to back an NDIS funding request and add the weight of expertise.
Government assessments are typically completed by professionals who’ve reviewed your personal circumstances, so they can provide a good overview of what supports you may need in different areas of your life.
Letters of recommendation and provider reports are undeniably important when it comes to NDIS funding requests, but not everyone has access to them. Fortunately, there are lots of ways you can support your request without spending a tonne of money.
By using things like your own story, notes from those who support you, a timeline of events, and more, you can build a strong case that can result in a positive outcome.
1 September 2025
