Key Points:

  • Computer-generated NDIS plans using the I-CAN tool roll out from mid-2026 under New Framework Planning
  • Assessors (APS Level 6 staff, allied health background “desirable but not mandatory”) conduct 1-3 hour assessments
  • The I-CAN tool generates budgets automatically with no human ability to modify the output
  • Appeal rights change: the Administrative Review Tribunal can no longer directly alter plan funding
  • Currently, 73% of NDIS appeals succeed, but the new system restricts tribunal powers
  • Independent medical evidence is no longer required to be considered in planning decisions

What Are Computer-Generated NDIS Plans?

From mid-2026, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) will introduce a fundamentally different way of creating NDIS plans. Instead of human planners using their discretion to determine your funding, a computer program will calculate your budget based on assessment data fed into a tool called the I-CAN (Instrument for Classification and Assessment of Support Needs).

The change represents the biggest overhaul to NDIS planning since the scheme began. According to documents seen by Guardian Australia and information sessions held with NDIA staff in late 2025, the new system will dramatically reduce human involvement in deciding what support NDIS participants receive.

This is not just about digitising the current process. Under the New Framework Planning model, once the I-CAN tool generates a budget, NDIA staff will have no authority to change it. They can only accept the computer-generated plan or request that a new assessment be conducted with different inputs.

How the I-CAN Tool Works

The I-CAN (Instrument for Classification and Assessment of Support Needs) version 6 was developed by the University of Melbourne and the Centre for Disability Studies. It has been used in the Australian disability sector for 20 years, but never before as the sole determinant of NDIS funding.

The Assessment Process

Here is how the new planning process will work from mid-2026:

Step 1: Support Needs Assessment

An assessor (an APS Level 6 government employee) conducts what the NDIA calls a “guided semi-structured conversation” with you. This meeting typically lasts between one to three hours.

According to NDIA General Manager Desmond Lee in a November 2025 staff briefing, the assessor role does not require an allied health background. It is “highly desirable but not mandatory” that assessors have allied health qualifications or lived experience of disability.

Step 2: Questionnaire and Circumstances Assessment

The assessor uses a standardised questionnaire to record information about your support needs across 12 key areas, including mobility, communication, self-care, and community participation. They also assess your personal and environmental circumstances, which Lee stressed was “a really important part of the assessment.”

Step 3: Targeted Assessments (If Needed)

If you have complex needs, you may undergo additional targeted functional capacity assessments. These might be required for home modifications, assistive technology, or if factors like hospitalisations or compensation need to be considered.

Step 4: Verification

The information gathered is checked with you and your representatives to ensure all relevant details are captured correctly.

Step 5: I-CAN Processing

This is where the computer takes over. Your assessment data is entered into the I-CAN tool, which uses algorithms to generate a budget. Lee described I-CAN as “a very highly respected and heavily used tool in the allied health industry for doing functional capacity assessments.”

Step 6: Delegate Approval

An NDIA delegate (staff member) reviews the assessment and the generated budget. Their role is quality assurance only. As an NDIA director clarified in the staff briefing, the I-CAN output “is not a recommendation. The budget generation will provide a funding package or a budget for the participant. The only decision the delegate makes on that front is whether or not they accept the assessment which generated the budget, or if they request a replacement assessment.”

The delegate cannot alter the funding amount. They can only determine whether the assessment was completed correctly and the budget generated with the correct inputs.

What Changes for Participants

1. No Human Modification of Budgets

The most significant change is that NDIA staff no longer have discretion to amend your plan once the I-CAN generates it. Under the current system, computer tools like the Plan Conversation Support Tool (PCST) and Typical Support Package (TSP) help generate draft plans, but planners can modify these before finalising them.

From mid-2026, that changes. If you or your planner believe the computer-generated budget does not reflect your needs, the only option is to conduct another assessment with different inputs.

2. Independent Medical Evidence Not Required

Another major shift is that NDIA staff will have no requirement to consider independent medical evidence you provide.

Currently, many participants gather reports from specialists, doctors, and therapists who know them well to support their planning meetings. These reports often prove critical in securing appropriate funding.

According to the November 2025 staff briefing, under the new framework, there is no obligation for NDIA delegates to consider this evidence when developing plans. The NDIA argues this will save participants time and money previously spent collecting medical documentation.

Critics worry this removes an important avenue for participants to have their unique circumstances and complex needs properly understood.

3. Changed Appeal Rights

If you disagree with your plan under the new system, your path to challenging it becomes significantly more limited. This makes working with experienced NDIS advocacy services even more critical for protecting your rights.

Currently, if you appeal to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) and the tribunal agrees with you, it can directly amend your plan or reinstate funding. In the 12 months to June 2025, there were 7,132 new NDIS appeals to the ART, a 76% increase from the previous year. In 73% of these cases, the NDIA decision under review changed.

Under New Framework Planning, the ART will no longer have authority to alter your plan or change funding amounts. According to legal advice received by the NDIA, if the tribunal determines your assessment was conducted incorrectly, it can only send the plan back to the NDIA for another assessment.

As Desmond Lee explained to staff: “If you’re able to convince the tribunal, by either bringing further information or other, that that assessment doesn’t truly reflect your circumstances, the tribunal can order the agency to conduct another assessment. They cannot get an external party or a third party to conduct our assessment. By law, it must be conducted by us.”

This means the tribunal loses its power to act as an independent check on NDIA decisions about funding amounts.

4. Longer Plan Periods, Fewer Reviews

The NDIA says New Framework Planning will bring longer plan periods and fewer reviews. This is intended to reduce administrative burden on participants who currently face frequent reassessments.

The government announced in September 2025 that the new framework aims to create more consistent planning outcomes, greater flexibility in how funding is used, and greater transparency with clearer links between assessment outcomes and funding decisions.

5. Request for Reassessment (Section 48 Review)

If you believe your initial assessment does not accurately reflect your needs, you can request a reassessment (section 48 review). If you remain unsatisfied after that, you can request an internal review where the NDIA conducts another assessment. Only after exhausting these internal processes can you appeal to the tribunal.

The tribunal can then order the NDIA to conduct yet another assessment if it agrees the previous ones were flawed.

Why the NDIA Is Making These Changes

The NDIA says the new planning model addresses concerns raised in thousands of submissions to the NDIS Review calling for “a simpler and more consistent assessment of the needs of participants.”

An NDIA spokesperson told Guardian Australia: “The I-CAN tool was procured in line with the NDIS Review’s recommendations which call for a simpler, fairer pathway for NDIS participants to access the disability supports they need.”

The agency argues this model will:

  • Reduce human error in plan development
  • Increase consistency across Australia (addressing the postcode lottery problem)
  • Remove the need for participants to spend money and time collecting medical evidence
  • Create more transparent links between assessments and funding
  • Provide “a better experience for participants”

The government has made no secret of its goal to reduce NDIS costs. Health Minister Mark Butler has stated the government aims to reduce the growth rate of new participants from 12% to 5-6% per year. The NDIS now supports about 750,000 Australians and costs more than $50 billion annually.

Concerns From the Disability Community

The proposed changes have sparked alarm among disability advocates, lawyers, and participants. Many see uncomfortable parallels to the failed independent assessments policy attempted by the Coalition government in 2020-2021.

Echoes of Independent Assessments

Independent assessments would have seen government-contracted allied health professionals conduct one-off assessments to determine NDIS eligibility and funding. The disability community revolted against the policy, arguing participants should be assessed by professionals who knew them, not strangers in a single meeting.

After widespread criticism, the policy was scrapped in 2021. At the time, Labor’s NDIS spokesperson Bill Shorten celebrated the decision.

Now, with Labor in government, advocates say the I-CAN model looks like “a more souped-up version” of independent assessments, as Professor Helen Dickinson from the University of New South Wales told ABC News.

One NDIS staff member questioned whether the agency had “learned its lesson” from independent assessments. Lee responded that the NDIA “absolutely have learned from that,” noting that public consultation is open until March 6, 2026, and the agency is working to “minimise disruption for NDIS participants.”

Loss of Discretion and Appeal Rights

Disability advocates are particularly concerned about the removal of human discretion and the limitation of tribunal powers.

If the I-CAN tool does not capture your unique circumstances, there is no mechanism for a knowledgeable NDIA planner or an independent tribunal to step in and correct it. You can only request another computer-generated assessment.

Professor Dickinson warned ABC News: “If you are assessed to need less support that can mean you aren’t able to live independently. Maybe you are forced to live in a group home or you need to make really difficult decisions about whether you use support work hours to either go to the GP or have a shower.”

The change to tribunal powers is especially concerning given that 73% of current appeals result in changes to NDIS decisions, suggesting significant errors in the original planning process.

Assessor Qualifications

Disability groups have also raised concerns about who will conduct assessments. While the Centre for Disability Studies currently requires I-CAN assessors to be allied health clinicians or have relevant qualifications, the NDIA says allied health backgrounds are “desirable but not mandatory” for its assessors.

Critics worry that assessors without clinical training may not recognise the nuances of complex disability, particularly for conditions like autism (where the I-CAN tool has not been tested on diverse autism presentations) or psychosocial disability.

An internal NDIA staff member asked in the November 2025 briefing: “If there are needs not captured in that assessment and we’re under no obligation to consider independent evidence then you can see how there might be shortfalls.”

Lack of Detail and Transparency

Disability advocacy organisation Every Australian Counts has called for “full transparency” on how automation is used in the I-CAN system and what the appeals process will look like in practice.

Twelve disability organisations issued a joint statement in December 2025 demanding clarity on these questions. When questioned at Senate estimates in December 2025, NDIA officials and NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister struggled to provide specific answers about how automation would be used and what safeguards would exist.

As Mark Pietsch from Every Australian Counts told ABC News: “People with disability are complex. It is impossible for an algorithm to fully understand your needs, especially if a box does not exist for you.”

March 2026 Update: Internal Staff Warn of “Critical Risk” to Algorithm System

In a significant development that validates the disability community’s concerns, internal NDIA staff have officially warned managers that the automated “budget model engine” algorithm at the heart of New Framework Planning is at “critical risk,” according to investigative reporting by Crikey on March 5, 2026.

The warnings come from NDIA staff directly involved in implementing the I-CAN tool and automated planning system, who have raised formal concerns about problems with the algorithmic decision-making process that determines NDIS funding allocations. The internal alerts suggest that technical and operational issues with the automated system could significantly affect participants when the rollout begins mid-2026.

What Staff Are Warning About

According to Crikey’s reporting, NDIA employees have identified serious concerns with the “budget model engine”, the algorithmic system that processes I-CAN assessment data to automatically generate funding amounts. The exact nature of the technical problems has not been publicly disclosed, but the formal escalation to “critical risk” status indicates significant issues that could affect the fairness and accuracy of automated plan decisions.

The warnings are particularly concerning given that:

  • The mid-2026 rollout date is rapidly approaching
  • Staff have no ability to modify algorithmic outputs even when they identify errors
  • The system is designed to be the sole determinant of funding for participants aged 16 and over
  • Appeal rights have been significantly curtailed under the new framework

Why This Matters for Participants

These internal warnings underscore the very concerns that disability advocates, lawyers, and participants have been raising since the New Framework Planning was announced:

Algorithmic Accuracy: If NDIA staff themselves are warning that the automated system is at critical risk, participants have good reason to question whether the algorithm will accurately capture their support needs and generate appropriate funding.

Lack of Override Capacity: As detailed earlier in this article, NDIA delegates have no authority to modify computer-generated budgets even when they identify errors. If the underlying algorithm has problems, there is no human safety net to catch incorrect funding decisions.

Limited Appeal Rights: With the Administrative Review Tribunal unable to directly alter plans and restricted to ordering another assessment, participants who receive incorrect algorithmic decisions face significant barriers to correction.

Timing Concerns: The fact that critical risk warnings are emerging just months before the planned mid-2026 rollout raises questions about whether the system will be ready for widespread implementation.

NDIA Response

The NDIA has not yet publicly responded to Crikey’s reporting about the critical risk warnings. When contacted for comment on the broader I-CAN rollout, NDIA spokespeople have maintained that the new framework represents a simpler, fairer pathway for participants based on recommendations from the NDIS Review.

The agency has previously stated that the I-CAN tool is “a very highly respected and heavily used tool in the allied health industry” and that the new system will create more consistent outcomes across Australia.

What You Should Do

If you have concerns about the algorithmic planning system given these new revelations:

Participate in Consultation: While formal consultation closed on March 6, 2026, you can still provide feedback to your local MP, disability advocacy organisations, and through Senate inquiries that may examine the system.

Document Your Needs Thoroughly: Detailed documentation of your support needs remains critical. If the algorithmic system has technical problems, comprehensive records will be essential for requesting reassessments or pursuing reviews.

Seek Expert Support: Working with experienced Support Coordinators who understand the new framework and can help you navigate algorithmic decision-making becomes even more important given these concerns.

Stay Informed: Monitor announcements from the NDIA about whether the mid-2026 rollout will proceed as planned or if delays are introduced to address the critical risk warnings.

Join Advocacy Efforts: Connect with disability advocacy organisations like Every Australian Counts, People with Disability Australia, and Disability Advocacy Network Australia who are calling for transparency and accountability in the automated planning system.

Source: Crikey, March 5, 2026, “Rick Morton: NDIS algorithm faces critical risk as staff warn managers about problems with disability support framework”

Timeline and Rollout

The New Framework Planning model with I-CAN assessments will be introduced in stages from mid-2026. The exact start date has not been finalised, but the NDIA originally planned for September 2025 before delaying to mid-2026 following feedback from the disability community.

What happens to existing participants?

If you already have an NDIS plan, nothing changes immediately. The transition will be gradual. You will move to the new framework when you next have a plan review or reassessment after mid-2026.

Children already enrolled in the NDIS before January 2028 will remain on the scheme regardless of the Thriving Kids program changes.

Public consultation

Public consultation on the new framework is open until March 6, 2026. Participants, families, providers, and advocates can provide feedback through the NDIA consultation portal.

The rules and policy arrangements to support the new approach are currently being developed in consultation with state and territory governments and the disability community. The NDIA says these rules will be published when finalised.

What You Can Do Now

1. Participate in Consultation

If you have concerns about how the new planning system will work or how your needs might be assessed under I-CAN, submit feedback to the NDIA before March 6, 2026. The consultation portal is available on the NDIS website.

2. Document Your Needs Thoroughly

While independent medical evidence may not be required in the new system, thorough documentation of your support needs is still valuable. Keep records of:

  • How your disability affects daily activities
  • What supports you currently use and why they are necessary
  • Any changes in your circumstances or support needs
  • Evidence of how current funding levels enable you to meet your goals

This information will be important when you participate in your I-CAN assessment. Our guide on NDIS goals and planning can help you articulate your needs clearly.

3. Understand Your Rights

Know that you have the right to:

  • Request a reassessment if you believe your initial assessment does not reflect your needs
  • Request an internal review if you remain unsatisfied
  • Appeal to the Administrative Review Tribunal (though its powers will be limited to ordering another assessment)
  • Have a support person present during your assessment
  • Request that the assessment be rescheduled if you are unwell or unable to participate fully

Learn more about how to request NDIS plan reviews to ensure you get the support you need.

4. Connect With Support Coordinators

A Support Coordinator can help you prepare for the I-CAN assessment, ensure you understand the process, and assist if you need to request reassessment or internal review.

Support Coordinators who stay updated on NDIS changes can also help you articulate your support needs clearly during the assessment conversation.

5. Stay Informed

The NDIA has committed to releasing more information and guidance in early 2026. Monitor the NDIS website and subscribe to updates to stay informed as details about the new planning model are finalised.

Questions to Ask Your Assessor

When you participate in your I-CAN assessment from mid-2026, consider asking:

  • What is your background and training in disability support?
  • How will my personal circumstances and environmental factors be considered?
  • What happens if I disagree with the assessment outcome?
  • Can I have a support person or advocate present?
  • Will the assessment consider how my disability may fluctuate?
  • What targeted assessments might I need and who conducts those?
  • How will the assessment account for informal supports I currently receive?

How Carevo Can Help

Navigating the shift to computer-generated planning can feel overwhelming. Carevo connects you with experienced Support Coordinators who understand the new planning framework and can guide you through the I-CAN assessment process.

Support Coordinators in the Carevo network can help you:

  • Prepare for your I-CAN assessment by identifying and documenting your support needs
  • Understand what information the assessor will be looking for
  • Ensure all relevant personal and environmental factors are communicated clearly
  • Request reassessment if the initial plan does not meet your needs
  • Navigate internal reviews and tribunal appeals if necessary
  • Connect with other providers and services to maximise your plan funding

Browse specialist NDIS Support Coordinators to find professionals who stay updated on NDIS changes and can provide expert guidance through this transition.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do computer-generated NDIS plans start?

The New Framework Planning model using the I-CAN tool will roll out in stages from mid-2026. The exact start date has not been announced, but the NDIA is currently conducting information sessions and finalising policy arrangements. Public consultation is open until March 6, 2026.

Will I need to pay for medical reports anymore?

Under the new system, independent medical evidence is not required and NDIA staff have no obligation to consider it. The NDIA argues this saves participants time and money. However, many advocates worry this removes an important way to communicate complex needs.

What is the I-CAN tool and who developed it?

The I-CAN (Instrument for Classification and Assessment of Support Needs) version 6 was developed by the University of Melbourne and the Centre for Disability Studies. It has been used in the Australian disability sector for 20 years for functional capacity assessments, but this is the first time it will be used to determine NDIS funding with no human ability to modify the outcome.

Can NDIA staff change my plan if the computer gets it wrong?

No. Under the new framework, NDIA delegates can only accept the I-CAN-generated budget or request a new assessment with different inputs. They cannot modify the funding amount produced by the tool.

What happens if I appeal my plan to the tribunal?

The Administrative Review Tribunal will no longer be able to directly change your plan or alter funding amounts. If the tribunal agrees your assessment was conducted incorrectly, it can only send the plan back to the NDIA for another assessment. This is a significant change from the current system where the tribunal can amend plans directly.

Do I-CAN assessors need to be allied health professionals?

The Centre for Disability Studies currently requires allied health qualifications for I-CAN training. However, the NDIA says allied health backgrounds are “highly desirable but not mandatory” for its assessors, who will be APS Level 6 government employees. This has raised concerns in the disability community about whether assessors will have the clinical expertise to understand complex needs.

Is this the same as independent assessments?

The new system shares some similarities with the independent assessments policy attempted by the Coalition government in 2020-2021, including assessments by people who may not know you and reduced consideration of evidence from treating professionals. However, the NDIA argues I-CAN is different because it has been used in the disability sector for 20 years and assessments will be conducted by NDIA staff, not contractors.

How long will I-CAN assessments take?

The NDIA says I-CAN assessments typically take between one to three hours. Participants with more complex needs may require additional targeted assessments for things like home modifications or assistive technology.

What if my disability fluctuates or is hard to assess in a single meeting?

This is a key concern raised by advocates. If your disability or support needs vary significantly (such as with psychosocial disability, chronic pain, or autism), it may be difficult to capture your needs accurately in a single assessment. The NDIA says the questionnaire about personal and environmental circumstances is designed to capture these factors, but details about how the I-CAN tool accounts for fluctuating conditions have not been fully disclosed.

Will existing participants be forced onto the new system?

The transition will be gradual. If you already have an NDIS plan, you will continue under the current system until your next plan review or reassessment after mid-2026. The NDIA says the staged rollout is designed to allow participants to provide real-time feedback.

Key Resources

This article was published on 17 February 2026. NDIS planning processes are subject to change. Always check the official NDIS website or speak with your Support Coordinator for the most current information.

Need help preparing for the new planning system? Browse Support Coordinators on Carevo to find experienced professionals who can guide you through the I-CAN assessment.