Life in care

Does the NDIS cover aged care?

Q: What will replace the NDIS for autism?

Nothing replaces the NDIS for autism. [Thriving Kids](https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/thriving-kids/about-thriving-kids) is a foundational support sitting outside the NDIS, and it starts from October 2026. Thriving Kids covers children aged 8 and under who have developmental delay, autism, or both, at low to moderate support needs. Combined government investment reaches $4 billion across 5 years from mid-2026. The rollout grows in stages and completes by 1 January 2028. How people access the NDIS does not change until 1 January 2028. {{CTA_WIZARD}}

Updated 24 August 2026

No. The NDIS and the aged care system are two separate Australian Government systems that work differently. The NDIS funds people whose disability is permanent or significant, and it takes them on only before they turn 65. The funding goes straight to the participant, who buys the supports listed in their plan. The aged care system serves people over 65 whose care costs come from ageing, and it pays providers instead of the person. The two systems meet in one place. An NDIS participant under 65 who lives in a residential aged care home keeps their plan, and the NDIS helps pay several fees on that resident's aged care account. The NDIS never pays the daily fee covering meals, cleaning and heating. A person who enters permanent residential aged care for the first time after turning 65 leaves the NDIS, and the aged care system takes over.

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What is the difference between the NDIS and My Aged Care?

The NDIS and the aged care system differ on three attributes: who the system serves, the age rule at entry, and who receives the money.

Attribute	NDIS	Aged care system (My Aged Care)
Who it serves	People with permanent or significant disability, taken on before 65	People over 65 whose care needs come from ageing
Age rule at entry	Application complete and received before the 65th birthday	Assessment from 65, with an earlier age of 50 for some groups
Who receives the money	The participant, who buys the supports in their plan	The provider, paid directly

The NDIS states that an applicant must be younger than 65 on the day the application is made. The application has to be complete, in the format the National Disability Insurance Agency asks for, and in that agency's hands before the applicant's 65th birthday. My Aged Care sets its assessment age at 65. The assessment age drops to 50 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Two published lists set what the NDIS will and will not fund. The NDIS counts 37 categories of goods and services as NDIS supports, and 15 categories as supports that are not. The second list gathers costs tied to day-to-day living, plus anything another government system, or a community service, should fund. The reasonable and necessary criteria point the same way. NDIS supports cannot cover day-to-day living costs, and cannot repeat what family, mainstream services or community services already provide. Daily living inside an aged care home therefore sits on the aged care side of the line.

What happens to your NDIS after you turn 65?

Turning 65 does not end NDIS participation. Someone who became a participant before their 65th birthday stays on the scheme afterwards, and both the NDIS and My Aged Care confirm it. Entries into aged care after turning 65 end participation:

A permanent move into an aged care home after 65. The NDIS states that a participant who moves permanently into a residential aged care facility once past 65 must leave the scheme. The NDIS calls this a legal requirement and rules out any internal review of the decision. My Aged Care states the rule from its own side. A first entry into an aged care home past that birthday ends NDIS participation.
Permanent home care started after 65. The NDIS states that a participant who starts permanent home care once past 65 also leaves the scheme. The trigger is the permanent home care service itself. A participant past 65 who uses no aged care service keeps their plan.

Home-based aged care and the NDIS cannot run together. My Aged Care states that someone still receiving NDIS services cannot take up Support at Home. The same bar applies to the Commonwealth Home Support Program.

The switch can also be a choice. A participant over 65 can request an aged care assessment once their ageing needs outweigh their disability needs. An eligible participant may then move into the aged care system and leave the NDIS. The NDIS suggests looking at My Aged Care before turning 65: what services exist, how the application runs, how the assessment works. The timing of the move then belongs to the participant.

What does the NDIS pay for in an aged care home?

The NDIS helps pay part of a younger aged care resident's fees, and the resident pays the rest. A younger aged care resident is a participant under 65 who lives in residential aged care. The health.gov.au guidance on fees and payments sets out which side of that resident's aged care account each fee falls on. The NDIS helps with these items:

Daily Accommodation Contribution. A resident assessed as low means qualifies for government help with accommodation costs. That resident may be asked to contribute towards accommodation through a Daily Accommodation Contribution, and the NDIS helps with the payment.
Daily Accommodation Payment. A resident who is not low means may face a Daily Accommodation Payment. The NDIS covers part of it, capped at the eligible maximum accommodation supplement. The schedule of residential care fees and charges, in force from 20 March 2026, puts that supplement at $72.30 a day. Anything above the cap falls to the resident, and the NDIS does not fund it.
Means tested care fee. A younger resident charged a means tested care fee may receive NDIS assistance towards it.
Income tested fee and accommodation charge. A resident on the pre-1 July 2014 fee arrangements holds two further items. The NDIS supports the income tested fee. The NDIS also helps with the accommodation charge, which applies where the person entered aged care with high-level care needs.
Cross billing payments. A younger resident's NDIS plan carries an item covering residential aged care subsidies and supplements. That item holds what the government pays in subsidies and supplements for residents of aged care homes. The National Disability Insurance Agency manages it, and the resident does nothing with it.

These costs stay with the resident:

The basic daily fee. This fee covers everyday running costs in the home: meals, cleaning, laundry and facilities management. The resident must pay this fee. The NDIS excludes daily living costs from its funding, so it does not help pay the basic daily fee. The maximum is $66.80 a day under the 20 March 2026 schedule, which My Aged Care also states as $24,382 a year on current rates. The maximum equals 85% of the basic age pension at the single person rate, and the government re-indexes it every 20 March and 20 September. The fee applies to permanent residential care and to residential respite care.
Additional service fees. These fees, often called hotel-type services, belong to the resident who chooses to take those services. The NDIS does not assist with them.
Lump sum accommodation deposits. The NDIS does not fund refundable lump sum deposits. A resident who wants to pay a lump sum towards accommodation may still do so. The provider refunds that lump sum when the resident leaves the aged care home.

Which residential aged care fee arrangement applies?

Two residential aged care fee arrangements now run side by side, and the entry date decides which one covers a resident. My Aged Care states that one of two fee arrangement types applies for anyone entering residential aged care from 1 November 2025 onwards. A resident whose permanent move happened by 31 October 2025 keeps the fees and accommodation costs they already had, for as long as they stay in care. That resident can opt in to the newer arrangements.

Under the 1 November 2025 arrangements, My Aged Care states that the non-clinical care contribution leaves out the cost of clinical care and stops at $107.32 a day. A lifetime cap ends the contribution for good once a resident has paid $137,917.01 in total, or has contributed across four cumulative years, whichever comes first. Both caps apply from 20 March 2026, and My Aged Care notes that indexation moves them in March and September.

Under the 1 July 2014 arrangements, the two sources disagree on the maximum daily means tested care fee. That figure matters here, because the NDIS may assist a younger resident with the fee. My Aged Care gives a range of $0 to $372.03 a day and states no as-at date. The 20 March 2026 schedule lists two dated rates: $403.80 from 1 October 2025 and $370.39 from 1 April 2026. A family budgeting for this fee reads the current amount from the My Aged Care fees page.

The two sources also differ on the income level that triggers full government payment of a resident's accommodation costs. My Aged Care puts the income line at $35,521.20 a year and the asset line at $64,500.00, and notes that indexation moves both amounts. The 20 March 2026 schedule sets the single-person income free area at $35,313.20, with the same asset figure of $64,500.00.

Can a younger person stay in an aged care home on the NDIS?

Yes, and the participant's own preference governs the decision. The NDIS states that a participant under 65 already living in residential aged care can stay where they are, and can still access their plan for NDIS supports. Policy pushes the other way. The National Disability Insurance Agency states a commitment that no participant under 65 lives in residential aged care, with exceptions only for exceptional circumstances or the participant's own will and preference. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission states the same Australian Government commitment for younger people under 65, absent exceptional circumstances.

A younger person or NDIS participant in residential aged care holds the same rights as any other aged care resident under the Aged Care Act, including the right to dignity and respect. Complaints split by system. Concerns about the care and services an aged care provider delivers go to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. Concerns about an NDIS plan, about services funded through the NDIS, or about being asked to leave the NDIS because of where the person lives go to the NDIS Commission.

What is the alternative to the NDIS for people over 65?

The aged care system is the alternative, and My Aged Care is where the application and the assessment sit. A person who reaches 65 without a completed NDIS access application cannot enter the scheme afterwards. Support for ageing and disability needs then comes through an aged care assessment.

One older program still exists, and it is closed to newcomers. Disability Support for Older Australians supports older people with disability whom the in-home aged care system cannot support, and who missed NDIS eligibility when the scheme rolled out in their region. Disability Support for Older Australians took over from the Commonwealth Continuity of Support Programme, a change dated 1 July 2021. The program takes no new clients. An older person seeking disability support who is not an existing Disability Support for Older Australians client should contact My Aged Care instead.

A person moving into residential care chooses from a large field. The Elderberry directory lists 2,590 aged care homes run by 708 providers, holding 224,493 places between them, pulled in August 2026.

Common questions

What are the key changes to the NDIS in 2026?

The changes running through 2026 come from the Getting the NDIS Back on Track amendment, which became law on 3 October 2024. That amendment altered how people get into the scheme, how plans get managed, and where funding may be spent. Changes already in effect include a new definition of NDIS supports, funding periods inside new and reassessed plans, and impairment information for participants who entered in 2025. The larger redesign lands later. The NDIS states it is introducing support needs assessments and new framework planning from April 2027, and that the new planning rules are not yet in effect. That NDIS page was current as of 11 August 2026.

What are the new NDIS rules?

The new NDIS rules set two conditions on funding, and a support has to clear both before the NDIS pays for it in a plan. The first condition is the supports lists. A good or service has to sit on the list of NDIS supports. The second list sets out what the NDIS does not fund. The second condition is the reasonable and necessary criteria, which every listed support still has to meet before the NDIS funds it in a plan. The rules covering which supports the NDIS funds are in effect now.

What will replace the NDIS for autism?

Nothing replaces the NDIS for autism. Thriving Kids is a foundational support sitting outside the NDIS, and it starts from October 2026. Thriving Kids covers children aged 8 and under who have developmental delay, autism, or both, at low to moderate support needs. Combined government investment reaches $4 billion across 5 years from mid-2026. The rollout grows in stages and completes by 1 January 2028. How people access the NDIS does not change until 1 January 2028.

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Tell us the area and care needs; we match you with rated aged care homes and real availability.

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