Cancellation fees are one of the fastest ways to lose NDIS funding without receiving any support. A missed physio session here, a cancelled support worker shift there, and hundreds of dollars leave your plan for services that never happened.

The rules changed on 1 July 2025, and most guides online still describe the old system. This guide covers the current cancellation windows, what providers can and cannot charge, and what to do if you think a cancellation fee is wrong.

Key Points

  • Providers can claim up to 100% of the agreed fee for short-notice cancellations, but only if your service agreement allows it.
  • Since 1 July 2025 there are two notice windows: less than 7 clear days for disability support worker services, and less than 2 clear business days for most other supports, including therapy.
  • Cancel outside the notice window and the provider cannot charge anything.
  • Fees come out of your plan budget, never your personal bank account.
  • There is no cap on how many cancellation fees can be claimed, so patterns get expensive fast.
  • Providers can only charge if they could not redeploy the worker to other billable work.

What Is the NDIS Cancellation Policy?

The NDIS cancellation policy is set out in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (the document participants used to call the Price Guide). It controls when a registered or unregistered provider can charge your plan for a support you cancelled or did not attend.

The core principle: if you cancel with enough notice, you pay nothing. If you cancel at short notice or do not show up, the provider may claim up to 100% of the agreed fee, because they have usually rostered a worker who must still be paid.

For the 2026-27 year the NDIA has split the old combined document into a Pricing Schedule (price tables, already published) and a separate claiming rules document covering cancellations, travel, and non-face-to-face time. Until the new claiming rules are released, the 2025-26 cancellation rules continue to apply. That is what this guide describes.

The Two Notice Windows

Before 1 July 2025 there was a single 7-day rule for everything. Now the window depends on who delivers the support.

Support typeShort notice meansExamples
Disability support worker servicesLess than 7 clear daysPersonal care, community access, in-home support, support worker shifts
Most other supportsLess than 2 clear business daysPhysiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, psychology, other therapy appointments

“Clear” days do not include the day you give notice or the day of the appointment. Business days also exclude weekends and public holidays.

Example (7 clear days): Your support worker shift is on Friday 17 July. To avoid a cancellation fee you need to cancel before end of Thursday 9 July.

Example (2 clear business days): Your physio appointment is at 10am on Tuesday, and Monday is a public holiday. Notice must be given before 10am the previous Thursday. Friday counts as one clear business day, and the weekend and public holiday count for nothing.

If you are ever unsure which window applies, ask the provider to point to the cancellation clause in your service agreement and the support item they would claim against.

What Providers Can Charge

A provider can claim a short-notice cancellation fee only when all of these are true:

  1. Your service agreement allows it. No cancellation clause, no fee. Read the agreement before signing and check the notice period it specifies. Our guide on how to read an NDIS service agreement covers what to look for.
  2. The cancellation was short notice under the windows above, or you did not attend at all.
  3. They could not find other billable work for the worker and were required to pay them anyway. A sole-trader therapist who fills your slot with another client cannot also charge you.

When those conditions are met, the provider may claim up to 100% of the agreed fee, using the same support item and price limit as the cancelled service, marked as a cancellation claim. They cannot add an admin surcharge on top, and they cannot claim more than the session would have cost.

A provider can never:

  • Invoice you personally for a cancelled NDIS support.
  • Charge a cancellation fee that is not in your signed service agreement.
  • Claim travel costs for a trip they did not make.
  • Keep claiming for sessions after you have ended the service agreement itself.

Is There a Limit on Cancellation Fees?

No. The old cap of 8 short-notice cancellations per year was removed in 2020, and no limit has replaced it. Every short-notice cancellation can be charged at up to 100%.

Providers do have a duty of care: if you cancel repeatedly, they are expected to talk to you about whether the support schedule still suits you, rather than silently billing your plan down. If a provider has charged a long run of cancellations without ever raising it, that is worth a conversation, and potentially a complaint.

For group programs, slightly different rules apply. A provider running a program of supports (an agreed block of group sessions up to 12 weeks) can charge for sessions you miss without any notice window, but you can exit the program with 2 weeks’ notice, after which nothing further can be charged beyond the notice period.

How to Avoid Cancellation Fees

  • Know your two windows. Seven clear days for support workers, two clear business days for therapy. Put reminders a day or two ahead of each deadline for regular appointments.
  • Cancel in writing. A text or email creates a timestamp. If a fee is later disputed, the timestamp decides it.
  • Check every service agreement before signing. The notice period and fee amount must be written there. If an agreement demands more notice than the NDIS windows (for example 14 days), you can negotiate before signing.
  • Ask about waivers. Many providers waive the first short-notice cancellation, or fees for genuine emergencies like hospital admission. They are allowed to charge less than 100%; the price limit is a ceiling, not a floor.
  • Reschedule instead of cancelling. Many providers will move an appointment within the same week without charging, since their worker stays billable.

Disputing a Cancellation Fee

If a cancellation charge looks wrong, work through it in this order:

  1. Check the maths. Was your notice actually inside the short-notice window, counting clear days correctly? Public holidays and weekends often flip the answer for the 2-business-day window.
  2. Check the agreement. If the signed service agreement has no cancellation clause, or specifies a shorter notice window than the provider applied, the claim is not valid.
  3. Raise it with the provider first. Most billing errors are fixed with one email. Ask them to identify the support item claimed and the notice they recorded.
  4. Escalate if needed. If the provider will not correct an invalid claim, complain to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (1800 035 544). Wrongly claimed cancellation fees are a payment integrity issue the Commission takes seriously.

If your plan is plan managed, your plan manager checks each cancellation claim against your service agreement and the current rules before paying it. That checking is exactly what they are funded to do. If you are handling this yourself and would rather not, plan management is free to add to your plan.

Cancellations and Your Budget

Cancellation fees come from the same support category as the cancelled service. A cancelled physio session draws from Improved Daily Living; a cancelled support worker shift draws from Core. That means a run of cancellations quietly shortens how long your plan lasts, without a single extra support delivered.

Two habits protect you here. First, review your monthly statement (or plan manager dashboard) for claims marked as cancellations, so nothing is charged without you noticing. Second, if a recurring support keeps getting cancelled, change the schedule rather than absorbing the fees. Our guide on making your NDIS budget last the full plan covers the wider budget habits.

You can check the current price limit for any support item, which is also the ceiling for its cancellation fee, with our free NDIS Price Guide lookup.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a short-notice cancellation?

A cancellation with less than 7 clear days’ notice for supports delivered by a disability support worker, or less than 2 clear business days for most other supports such as therapy. A no-show with no notice counts as a short-notice cancellation.

Can a provider charge 100% for a cancelled session?

Yes, up to 100% of the agreed fee, but only if the service agreement allows it, the cancellation was short notice, and the provider could not redeploy the worker to other billable work. Providers can choose to charge less.

Do cancellation fees come out of my own money?

No. They are claimed from your NDIS plan budget, from the same category as the cancelled support. A provider cannot send you a personal invoice for a cancelled NDIS service.

How many cancellations can be charged per year?

There is no limit. The former cap of 8 per year was removed in 2020. Each short-notice cancellation can be claimed at up to 100%, which is why repeated cancellations drain plans quickly.

What if I cancel because I am sick or in hospital?

The rules still technically allow the provider to charge, but many waive fees for genuine emergencies. Tell the provider as early as possible and ask for a waiver. For longer hospital stays, pause the service agreement so nothing further can be claimed.

Does the provider have to tell me about cancellation charges?

Yes. Cancellation terms must be set out in your service agreement before you sign, and each claim should appear on your statement identified as a cancellation. If fees appear that were never agreed, dispute them.

Are the rules different for group programs?

Yes. In a program of supports (group sessions agreed for up to 12 weeks), missed sessions can be charged without a notice window, but you can exit the whole program with 2 weeks’ notice.

Key Resources

Get Help With the Financial Side

If checking notice windows and auditing statements is not how you want to spend your energy, a plan manager does it for you, funded separately by the NDIS at no cost to your other supports. Carevo connects you with dedicated, NDIS registered plan managers who check every claim, including cancellations, before it is paid.

Find an NDIS plan manager near you, or call Carevo on 1800 953 253.