NDIS Impairment Notices: What Participants Need to Know

From 1 January 2025, the NDIA is rolling out impairment notices for all NDIS participants, and there are a few important things to know.

🧾 What’s an Impairment Notice?

An impairment notice is a new document that confirms you have a permanent disability or significant impairment. It outlines the specific types of impairments you experience, which helps the NDIA match your plan and funding to your actual support needs.

This is part of a broader move away from diagnosis-based access and toward recognising how your disability actually impacts your daily life.

👋 Who Will Receive an Impairment Notice?

• New participants joining the NDIS from 1 January 2025 will receive an impairment notice when they are granted access.

• For participants who applied before 1 January 2025, the NDIS says the rules for when you'll receive this information are still being developed. In the meantime, you can request your access information (see below).

🔍 What’s Included in the Impairment Notice?

Your impairment notice will explain:

• Whether you qualify through the disability or early intervention pathway

• Which of the 6 impairment categories you fall under

The categories are:

1. Intellectual

2. Cognitive

3. Neurological

4. Sensory

5. Physical

6. Psychosocial

You might fall under more than one category, for example, someone could have both physical and intellectual impairments, and need supports that match both.

🧭 Why Is This Changing?

The NDIA is moving away from basing access and support purely on diagnosis, because two people with the same diagnosis can have very different support needs.

By focusing on functional impairments, the system aims to better match supports with the actual help a person needs in daily life.

💡 What Does This Mean for Your Plan?

NDIS funding decisions are already linked to your impairments. NDIS supports must relate directly to the impairments that met the access requirements, so any supports you use your NDIS funds for need to match the impairments in your notice.

📝 Can You Request a Change?

Yes. If you receive a notice and feel something’s missing or incorrect, you can request to add or remove impairments through a variation process.

🧾 Haven’t Received Yours Yet?

If you’re an existing participant and want to understand what the NDIA used to grant your access, you can submit a Participant Information Access Request. You’ll receive:

• Your original Access Request Form

• Any Evidence of Disability

• Any Supporting Evidence

• Your original Access Decision and the reasons for it

This isn’t the new impairment notice, but it might give you a clearer picture while you wait.

💬 We’ll Keep You Updated

We know this is a big change. You can keep up to date on the NDIS page Summary of legislation changes.

📍 Based on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast

📝 If you have questions about your plan or what this means for your supports, feel free to get in touch. We are always here to help.