Six months of the 2025-26 NDIS Pricing Arrangements: what changed in practice

The PAPL is the single most consequential NDIS document for day-to-day spending. It sets the dollar amount a registered provider can charge for any given support, defines the loadings for evenings and weekends, governs cancellation and travel billing, and tells a plan manager which invoices to pay and which to bounce. The 2025-26 edition came into effect 24 November 2025, incorporating the 2024-25 Annual Pricing Review recommendations and the 1 July 2025 disability support worker cost model update.

Six months in, we've seen which changes actually landed in participants' budgets, which got absorbed without comment, and which keep surfacing in claim disputes. This is a practitioner's-eye view, not a comprehensive PAPL summary — for the full breakdown, see our 2025-26 PAPL guide.

1. Support worker rates: the headline numbers held, the weekend loadings hurt

Standard weekday daytime support (6am-8pm, Level 1) settled at $68.06/hour. That's the rate plan-managed and agency-managed participants pay registered providers; self-managed participants can negotiate above. Most participants didn't notice this rate directly — it's similar enough to the prior year that monthly support-worker spend stayed within plan ranges.

What did surface in complaints: the weekend loadings. Saturday support sits at $96.41/hour (~42% loading), Sunday at $124.07/hour (~82% loading), and public holiday at $151.74/hour (~123% loading). Participants who book weekend shifts as a routine — particularly those with regular Saturday community access or Sunday family supports — saw 4-8% higher quarterly Core Supports spend than the same quarter a year earlier. Not catastrophic, but enough to push some participants into a mid-plan pacing conversation.

The loadings reflect the higher worker wages providers must pay under the SCHADS Award (Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award). Provider margins on weekends are thinner, not fatter, than weekday work — the loadings cover worker wages, not provider profit. This matters because it explains why "cheaper providers offering Sunday support" don't really exist at scale; the rates are anchored to a wage floor.

High-intensity rates ($80.85/hour weekday Level 1) apply when a participant has documented complex behavioural or medical support needs requiring additional worker training. Plan managers continue to reject invoices that bill high-intensity without supporting documentation — the most common claim-rejection reason we've heard from participants this quarter.

2. Plan management at $104.45/month: where the value sits

The plan management portfolio fee is set nationally by the NDIA at $104.45 per month, plus per-claim processing fees. All plan managers across Australia charge the same. The whole package is funded as a separate Capacity Building line item that does not reduce a participant's other supports — the fee is on top of the funded plan, not extracted from it.

At $104.45/month a plan manager has to deliver: invoice review against PAPL limits, claim submission to the NDIA, budget tracking and reporting, dispute support, and (informally) plan-review preparation help. Some are excellent at all of this. Others run a thin operation where invoices sit for 1-2 weeks before payment, irritating providers and burning participant relationships.

What we've seen in the last six months:

• Payment cycles tightened. Most plan managers we hear about pay invoices in 3 business days or less. A handful still run 5-10 days, and providers are increasingly vocal about it.
• Budget portals improved. Several major plan managers added live budget-by-line-item visibility and mobile apps. Participants who still get only monthly statements are visibly underserved.
• PAPL enforcement varied. A diligent plan manager catches above-cap invoicing before payment and queries the provider. A less-diligent one pays and leaves the participant to discover the over-charge at plan review.

If you're plan-managed and your manager isn't catching above-PAPL charges, that's a real reason to consider switching. See our how to choose a plan manager guide for the comparison framework.

3. Transport: the "uncapped Level 3" myth

One of the cleaner clarifications in the 2025-26 PAPL was the formal documentation of transport funding levels. The headline numbers:

Transport level	Annual funding	Typical participant
Level 1	~$1,784/yr	Not working/studying; access support workers via informal transport mostly
Level 2	~$2,676/yr	Some part-time work/study; regular community access trips
Level 3	~$3,456/yr	Full-time work/study; substantial regular transport needs

The older framing in some sector documents that "Level 3 is uncapped" is wrong. Level 3 funding sits around $3,456/year. Additional transport funding above Level 3 is available only in exceptional circumstances with documented evidence (specific worksites, medical appointments without alternatives, geographic isolation), and requires an explicit NDIA approval — not an automatic grant.

For participants whose transport allocation isn't covering the actual cost of getting to work or appointments, the path is: (a) document the gap with receipts and dated trip logs, (b) raise it at the next plan review or as a plan reassessment with documented change in circumstances, (c) be prepared to make the case under the reasonable-and-necessary criteria rather than expecting an automatic uplift.

4. The cancellation rule that still bites participants

The 2025-26 PAPL retained the short-notice cancellation rule: a provider can charge up to 100% of the shift cost if a participant cancels with less than 7 calendar days notice. The exact notice window must be in the service agreement; some providers use a shorter window (2 days, 24 hours), but 7 days is the default.

In practice, the rule is most often triggered when a participant becomes unwell, has a hospital admission, or has a routine medical appointment that conflicts with the regular shift. Most reputable providers waive the fee for genuine illness or hospitalisation, but they are not required to. The 2025-26 PAPL update was explicit that the cancellation rule is intended to protect workers' rostered income, not to penalise participants — but the policy doesn't make the distinction; the service agreement does.

If you're routinely paying short-notice cancellation fees that wouldn't apply for a non-disability reason, raise it with your provider, your plan manager, or — if it's a pattern — your support coordinator. The pattern is often a sign of a deeper roster fit issue rather than just notice-period bad luck.

5. Travel charges: clearer rules, ongoing disputes

Provider travel charging is one of the most-disputed areas in NDIS billing. The 2025-26 PAPL clarifies (without dramatically changing) the rules:

• Travel time from a worker's previous shift or base to your shift is billable at the hourly rate, up to a per-shift cap and a daily maximum.
• Travel costs (fuel and per-kilometre) are billable as a separate line at a published per-km rate.
• Travel within your immediate area (suburb level, walking distance) is generally not billable.
• Inter-suburb travel for therapy or specialist visits is billable where the participant's stated need or therapy goal requires the specific provider's specialist skill.

Disputes typically arise when a provider invoices an amount of travel time that doesn't match what was discussed at signing. The right defence is the service agreement: travel charging policy must be disclosed up-front, in writing, before services start. Plan managers can refuse to pay travel charges that exceed what's documented in the service agreement.

6. What's pending — the July 2026 rollover and the 2026-27 PAPL

The next PAPL update — the 2026-27 PAPL — is expected around 1 July 2026. The 2025-26 Annual Pricing Review consultation is open through mid-2026 and sector submissions point to specific pressure points:

• Allied health rates. OT, speech, physio, and psychology rates haven't moved in real terms in several years. Sector advocacy argues a real increase is overdue to retain workforce, particularly in regional areas where waitlists are longest.
• Behaviour support rates. Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioner registrations have grown but rates haven't tracked the rising training and clinical-supervision costs. The Quality and Safeguards Commission's tightening of restrictive practice authorisation requirements compounds the supervision overhead.
• Community nursing. AHPRA-registered nurse hourly rates have lagged the broader nursing wage market; this is the most-quoted argument for the next pricing review.
• Plan management. The $104.45/month fee was set when invoice-volume per portfolio was lower. Higher claim counts per participant (more providers, more frequent invoicing) have squeezed margins. Some plan managers have publicly argued for a per-invoice fee adjustment.

None of these are guaranteed changes. The Annual Pricing Review process consults, the NDIA modelles, and the final rates appear in the new PAPL document. We'll cover the July 2026 release on this page when it lands.

7. How to verify your invoices against the PAPL

Three practical checks any participant can do, in order of useful effort:

1. Get a single invoice and read it line-by-line. Each line should have: date, support code (10-digit), unit price, units, total. Compare the unit price to the PAPL limit for that code at the Support Catalogue. If above, query the provider.
2. Spot-check a Saturday or Sunday shift. Saturday should bill at $96.41/hour (Level 1 standard) or $114.86/hour (Level 1 high-intensity). Sunday $124.07 / $147.43. Public holiday $151.74 / $180.32. If yours is materially higher, something is wrong.
3. Check the cancellation fee on any cancelled shift. If you cancelled with less than 7 calendar days notice and the provider charged 100%, that's within the rule. If they charged 100% for a 14-day-notice cancellation, that's outside the rule unless your service agreement specifies otherwise.

For a deeper walkthrough including how to challenge an above-PAPL invoice with a plan manager, see our PAPL guide and how to choose a plan manager.