Your NDIS planning meeting: how to prepare
It’s natural to feel nervous before this meeting. The planner sees your paperwork, and the meeting is your chance to show them your actual week. Here’s how to prepare, what to bring and the questions worth asking before your plan is approved.
- Goals, a typical week and informal supports
- The three ways to manage your plan
- Free PDF with a printable checklist
General information only — check ndis.gov.au for your situation. Image is illustrative.
What the planning meeting is
The meeting is with an NDIA planner. They show you the plan they’ve created, explain how they used your information and evidence, and check they understand your situation. You can have it in person, by phone or on Microsoft Teams, and you can bring a family member, friend, support coordinator or recovery coach.
If you give new information or evidence in the meeting that means you need more, less or different supports, the planner may change your plan then and there. They aim to approve it during the meeting or soon after.
Who decides
NDIS partners, including early childhood partners, don’t approve plans, decide supports or allocate funding. That’s the NDIA planner’s role.
Five things to prepare
Your goals
You need at least one goal, in your own words. Small and short-term is fine. ‘Cook dinner for myself twice a week’ is the kind of example the NDIA uses.
A typical week
Map Monday to Sunday, morning to night: what you do, who helps, how long it takes and what’s hard. Include the harder days, not only the good ones.
Your informal supports
Who helps now, with what, and how often? Is that help sustainable? Your plan records your situation and who supports you.
Recent evidence
Bring recent reports, assessments and any quotes for equipment. The planner may not be able to fund a support without enough information.
How you want it managed
Self-managed, plan-managed, NDIA-managed, or a mix. Have a preference ready. See the three options below.
One thing to know about goals: they help inform what’s in your plan, but they don’t link directly to funding. Setting more or bigger goals doesn’t mean more funding. How to set goals, from the NDIA.
Three ways to manage your plan
This decides who pays your providers and keeps the financial records. You can mix them across your plan, and ask to change later.
You manage it
You, your nominee or representative pay providers and keep the records. It gives the most flexibility and choice. Self-managed participants can use registered or unregistered providers.
A plan manager manages it
A registered plan manager pays your providers, keeps records and reports on spending. Funding for the plan manager is included separately in your plan. You can use registered or unregistered providers.
The NDIA manages it
The NDIA pays your providers and keeps the records. You can choose your providers, but they must be registered NDIS providers.
Changes coming
From 1 October 2027, plan managers will need to come from a government-approved panel. If yours isn’t on it, you’ll have 6 months to move. And from 1 December 2026, participants or their plan managers need to make claims within 90 days of a support being delivered. Read the details.
Questions worth asking
Write these down and take them with you. It’s fine to ask the planner to slow down or explain again.
- How did you work out the funding in each budget?
- Which supports are flexible and which are stated?
- What are my funding periods, and how much becomes available in each?
- Have budget reductions been applied to any of my supports?
- What evidence would you need to fund the support I’ve asked for?
- When is my plan reassessment date, and when will my check-in be?
- Who is my my NDIS contact, and how do I reach them?
- Can I have a plan implementation meeting to get started?
Planners talk you through your budgets, how your plan will be managed, recording your providers, consent for providers to see your plan, and using the my NDIS portal and app.
After the meeting
Find it in the portal and app
Once approved, your plan appears in the participant portal and the my NDIS app, and you can start using it straight away.
Plan implementation meeting
The NDIA offers one within 7 days of approving your plan, to help you start using it. You can ask for one later too.
If you disagree
Ask the NDIA to explain the decision. If you still disagree, ask for an internal review within 3 months of receiving it.
Changing your plan →Your planning meeting checklist
Work through this in the week before your meeting. The PDF prints it with tick boxes.
- Write at least one goal in your own words, plus a short-term step towards it
- Map a typical week, morning to night, including harder days
- List the help family and friends give, how often, and whether it can continue
- Gather recent reports, assessments and any equipment quotes
- Decide how you’d like your plan managed: self, plan or NDIA, or a mix
- Write down the providers you already use
- Write your questions for the planner
- Choose a support person to come with you, if you’d like one
- Choose in person, phone or Microsoft Teams
- After the meeting: book your plan implementation meeting
How Kinship can help you with this
We understand how much can feel like it rides on one conversation. You may have an hour to explain years of daily life, and the hardest days are often the ones you least want to talk about.
We don’t attend planning meetings on the NDIA’s behalf or decide anything about your plan. What we can do is talk with you beforehand about what different supports look like day to day, so it’s easier to describe what you need. If you already use Kinship, we’ll talk with you about how your current supports are going, so you go in with a clear picture of your week.
Who you’d be working with
- Registered NDIS provider, registration number 4-GWVHCEY. You can check it on the NDIS Commission’s Provider Register
- We work with NDIA-managed, plan-managed and self-managed participants
- Operating in disability and aged care since 2017
- The same support worker every visit, with carer updates as standard
- Registered to deliver Supported Independent Living (SIL)
Here’s how we can help
Daily living and personal care
Help with the routines that make a day work, at home, with the same support worker every visit.
Daily living support →Community participation and life skills
Getting out, trying things and building skills, from our base in Colebee across Western Sydney.
Community participation →Supported Independent Living (SIL)
If living more independently is one of your goals, we’re registered to deliver SIL. Call us to talk about current availability.
Supported Independent Living →Respite for the people who care
If family do a lot of the caring, it’s worth raising at your meeting. We provide in-home and community respite with a familiar support worker, funded through an NDIS plan or booked privately.
Respite care →High intensity support
Complex bowel care, catheter care, wound care, PEG feeding, medication management, and dementia and behaviour support.
High intensity support →Come and talk to us
If you’d like us to help with this, call 0437 733 744 and we’ll talk it through. Prefer to write? Send us a message through our website and we’ll get back to you.
Questions people ask
Can I bring someone to my planning meeting?
Yes. The NDIA says you can bring a family member, friend, support coordinator or recovery coach.
Is my plan approved at the meeting?
The planner will approve your plan in the meeting if the supports fit your situation, or soon after. It can take longer if they need more information or an assessment.
Do bigger goals mean more funding?
No. Goals help the planner understand what supports you might need, but they don’t link directly to funding, and setting more or bigger goals doesn’t mean more funding.
Can I change my goals later?
Yes. The NDIA can change the goals in your plan without creating a new plan.
Can I change how my plan is managed later?
Yes. You can ask to change your management type at any time. You don’t have to wait for a new plan.
Can I use unregistered providers?
If your funding is self-managed or plan-managed, you can use registered or unregistered providers. NDIA-managed funding can only be used with registered providers. From 1 July 2027, registration becomes mandatory for providers of some higher-risk supports, such as personal care and daily living supports, rolling out to the end of 2030.
Can Kinship help me prepare for my planning meeting?
We don’t attend planning meetings on the NDIA’s behalf or decide anything about your plan. We can talk with you beforehand about what supports like daily living, community participation, SIL or respite look like day to day, so it’s easier to describe what you need. Call 0437 733 744.
More plain-English guides
Each one has a free PDF you can print, save or send to family. Swipe to see them all.
How to apply for the NDIS
Who can apply, the evidence that counts and the five steps to lodge an application.
Read the guide →After you apply for the NDIS
Decision timeframes, your first plan, and what to do if the answer is no.
Read the guide →Understanding your NDIS plan
Support budgets, flexible and stated funding, and the 2026–27 rule changes.
Read the guide →Changing your NDIS plan
Variations, reassessments, reviews and where complaints go.
Read the guide →Choosing an NDIS provider
What to ask, how to check registration and what a service agreement should cover.
Read the guide →Aged care help at home
How government-funded aged care at home works, starting with My Aged Care.
Read the guide →Continence support
Plain-English information on continence support and products.
Read the guide →Complaints and your rights
How to raise a concern with a provider, the NDIA or the NDIS Commission.
Read the guide →Looking after yourself as a carer
Practical ideas and where carers can find support of their own.
Read the guide →Sources
Every rule, timeframe and phone number on this page was checked against these official pages in October 2026. NDIS rules are changing under the Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act 2026, and some ndis.gov.au pages are still being updated. If anything here differs from what the NDIA tells you, the NDIA’s advice for your situation wins.
- NDIS: What is a plan meeting
- NDIS: Guide to your first plan
- NDIS: What are goals
- NDIS: How to set goals
- NDIS: What is an NDIS partner
- NDIS: Guide to your management options
- NDIS: What is self-managed funding
- NDIS: What is plan-managed funding
- NDIS: What is NDIA-managed funding
- NDIS: Guide to NDIS support budgets
- NDIS: What is a decision review
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: About the changes to the NDIS (updated 2 October 2026)
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Securing the NDIS for future generations timeline (updated 15 September 2026)
- NDIS: Summary of legislation changes
Meeting coming up?
Call us and we’ll talk it through. Plain answers, no sales pitch.
Registered NDIS provider 4-GWVHCEY. General information only — check ndis.gov.au for your situation. How to check any provider’s registration.