Should You Accept an NDIS Plan Rollover?
When an automatic extension is fine, and when to ask for a reassessment
An NDIS plan rollover, which the NDIA calls an automatic plan extension, continues your current plan when it reaches its end date before a new one is ready. Your funding carries on, up to 12 months, with the same core and capacity building funding, so there's no gap in support.
What is an NDIS plan rollover?
A rollover is what most families mean when they say their plan was extended. The NDIS calls it an automatic plan extension. If your plan reaches its end date and your next plan isn't finalised yet, your current plan is extended for up to 12 months so your supports keep running.
An extended plan keeps the same core and capacity building funding as your previous plan, with any unspent funds from those budgets carried across too. There's no gap between plans. The NDIA contacts you before the extension ends to start your reassessment.
Source: NDIS, What happens on your plan's end date.
When accepting the rollover makes sense
For a lot of families, letting the plan roll over is the right call. If the plan is still working, a rollover saves you a meeting and a round of fresh reports for supports you already have in place.
- Your child's supports are working and their needs feel steady
- The funding has been enough, and you're not running short
- Nothing major has changed at home, school, or in your child's therapy
When to ask for a reassessment instead
Children grow and their needs move, sometimes faster than a plan written a year ago can keep up with. You don't have to wait for a scheduled check-in: if your child's support needs have changed, meaning they need more, less, or different supports, you can tell the NDIA. These are the signs it's worth asking rather than coasting.
- The funding is running out before the plan does
- Your child's needs have grown, or a new need has appeared
- A big change has landed, like starting school or a new diagnosis
- The informal support around your child, from family or friends, has shifted
Accepting a rollover doesn't close this door. You can take the extension now and still request a reassessment when you're ready, so there's no rush to decide everything at once.
How to ask for a reassessment
A quick note on words first. What used to be called a plan review request is now a participant reassessment request, made under section 48 of the NDIS Act, so you may hear both terms for the same thing. When you ask, you'll need new information and evidence, such as reports from your child's treating professionals, that show how their needs have changed.
Plan variations and reassessments take 28 days to complete once the NDIA has the information and evidence it needs, so the reports you gather are the part most within your control. How to prepare for an NDIS plan reassessment walks through what reviewers look for and how to lead the conversation, and what evidence you need for an NDIS plan covers the reports and observations that carry weight.
Sources: NDIS, Guide to changing your plan and NDIS Act 2013, section 48.
What to capture with indi
The hardest part of asking for a reassessment is showing that your child's needs have actually changed. That case is easier to make when you've been noting the everyday details as they happen, rather than trying to remember a year of them in one sitting.
Worth noting
- • New needs, or supports that no longer stretch far enough
- • When funding runs short, and what it ran short on
- • How your child is going at school, therapy, and home
- • Changes in the help family and friends can give
Why it helps
- • A clear before-and-after picture of your child's needs
- • Evidence ready the moment you decide to ask
- • Less scrambling for reports at the last minute
- • A calmer, better-prepared reassessment
Whether you accept the rollover or ask for a reassessment, the picture you've kept is what makes the next step feel manageable instead of daunting.