Disability support services in Victoria

What disability support services are available in Australia?

Disability support services in Australia cover personal care, household tasks, community participation, supported accommodation, respite, transport, therapy and employment support. Most are funded through the NDIS for eligible people under 65. Others go through state programs, aged care or the Disability Gateway, the Australian Government’s national referral service (Department of Social Services, 2025). Providers range from national organisations to sole traders.

About 5.5 million Australians, 21.4 per cent of the population, live with disability (ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 2022). Around 700,000 of them are NDIS participants (NDIS Quarterly Report, 2025); the rest arrange support through aged care, state programs or privately. Carevo lists 32,033 NDIS providers nationally, and across the 9,483 inquiries tracked through the platform, personal care is the single most requested support.

What are the different types of disability services?

Disability services group into five broad types: daily living support, community access, accommodation, respite, and therapy or employment support.

• Daily living support: personal care (showering, dressing, transfers) and household tasks (cleaning, laundry, meals).
• Community access: support to get to appointments, work, study and social activities.
• Accommodation: Supported Independent Living, often paired with Specialist Disability Accommodation for people with very high support needs.
• Respite: short-term accommodation, planned breaks for participants and the families who support them.
• Therapy and employment: allied health such as occupational therapy and physiotherapy, plus supported employment.

Price caps for each sit in the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (effective 1 July 2026).

Who is eligible for disability support services in Australia?

To join the NDIS you must be under 65 when you apply, an Australian citizen, permanent resident or protected SCV holder, and have a permanent and significant disability that affects daily life (NDIS, 2025).

If you are 65 or over and not already a participant, support comes through My Aged Care instead. If you do not meet NDIS criteria, the Disability Gateway lists community and state-run programs, and eligible veterans can use DVA funding.

What am I entitled to if I have a disability in Australia?

Entitlement runs through three separate systems, and the most common confusion is assuming that qualifying for one qualifies you for the others.

Funded supports. If you meet the NDIS access criteria, a plan funds the supports on this page. If you do not, state disability programs, community organisations reached through the Disability Gateway, aged care through My Aged Care for people 65 and over, and DVA programs for veterans each have their own entry points.

Income support. The Disability Support Pension is a fortnightly payment from Services Australia with its own medical and means tests, indexed each March and September. It is separate from the NDIS: you can receive both, and NDIS funding is not treated as income. Current rates and a worked example are in the DSP calculator. Family carers may qualify for Carer Payment or Carer Allowance; see the carer payment calculator.

Concessions and access. The Companion Card, state taxi subsidy schemes, Health Care Cards and disability parking permits are administered by states and territories and by Services Australia, and most do not depend on NDIS status.

What does the NDIS cover and fund?

The NDIS funds supports that relate directly to your disability and meet the statutory definition of an NDIS support, introduced on 3 October 2024 under the “Getting the NDIS Back on Track” changes to the NDIS Act. Plans split into Core Supports for daily living, Capacity Building for therapy and skill development, and Capital for equipment and home modifications.

Prices are capped. Under the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (effective 1 July 2026), standard weekday Assistance with Self-Care is capped at $73.58 per hour and high-intensity self-care at $79.60, both about 4.8% above their 2025-26 levels. The cost section above shows what the caps mean state by state.

How do I access disability services in Australia?

Apply to the National Disability Insurance Agency: call 1800 800 110 or lodge an access request form with evidence from your treating health professionals (NDIS, 2025). If approved, a planning meeting follows and you receive a funded plan.

If you are not NDIS-eligible, call the Disability Gateway on 1800 643 787, or My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 if you are 65 or over.

What is the difference between the NDIS and the Disability Support Pension?

They are separate systems. The NDIS pays for disability supports and services; the Disability Support Pension (DSP) is a fortnightly income support payment from Services Australia, indexed each March and September, with current rates published on the Services Australia website. Each has its own application and eligibility test, so many people receive both. Neither qualifies you for the other automatically, and NDIS funding is not counted as income for the pension.

Turning the rankings into a shortlist

The rankings above come from the methodology explained at the top of this page. Turning them into a shortlist comes down to four checks.

Registration category. Agency-managed participants can only use providers registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Plan-managed and self-managed participants can also use unregistered providers, who are often cheaper but are not audited against the NDIS Practice Standards.

Pricing transparency. A provider should hand over a written rate schedule against the 2026-27 caps without being chased. Vagueness about weekend loadings, travel or establishment fees is a warning sign.

Carevo measures whether a provider accepts an enquiry, not when care starts or a practitioner contacts you. Confirm current capacity and a start date directly. How Carevo measures enquiry acceptance.

Coverage. Ask whether they staff your suburb week in, week out, not just your city. With 32,033 NDIS providers listed, you rarely need to settle for a thin roster.

Questions to ask a provider before signing a service agreement

1. What is your NDIS registration number and which registration groups does it cover? A good answer matches an entry on the NDIS Provider Register.
2. Do all workers who will come to my home hold NDIS Worker Screening clearances? A good answer is yes, verifiable through the NDIS Worker Screening Database.
3. Has the Commission ever taken compliance action against you? A good answer is a straight no, consistent with the Commission’s public compliance register.
4. What are your cancellation terms? A good answer mirrors the current Pricing Arrangements rules, not harsher in-house penalties.
5. Can I choose the gender and language background of the workers who support me? A good answer is yes, written into the service agreement.

Where providers are available

Disability support providers on Carevo cover 8,918 suburbs, with the deepest supply in the capitals: NSW alone has 10,277 listed NDIS providers. The city pages for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth carry local provider lists, and the suburb directory below covers smaller areas. Many participants combine these supports with in-home disability support from the same provider, so one roster covers care and household.

In-home disability support services

Most of what people mean by disability services is delivered in the home: help with showering and dressing, meal preparation, cleaning and laundry, getting to appointments, and building daily living skills. These are funded under NDIS Core Supports, which is the most flexible part of a plan, so hours can usually be moved between activities without a plan review.

Providers listed here cover in-home support as well as community and centre based options. If you only need domestic help, the cleaning and domestic assistance page is the narrower list.

Accommodation and complex needs support

Disability support covers more than scheduled visits, and two areas are worth calling out.

Accommodation support. Help to live independently in your own home or in shared accommodation, from a few hours a week building daily living skills through to Supported Independent Living with overnight or 24-hour staffing. SIL and Specialist Disability Accommodation are funded separately from each other and from rent and board. Use the NDIS accommodation options guide to compare SIL, SDA and ordinary housing before approaching providers.

Complex and crisis needs. Support for people whose needs cross health, behaviour and daily living at the same time: high-intensity personal care requiring trained staff, post-hospital transitions, behaviour support alongside daily support, and short-notice arrangements when an existing arrangement breaks down. Providers differ enormously in whether they can staff these safely, so ask directly about high-intensity skills descriptors and after-hours escalation before you commit.

What you are actually entitled to with a disability in Australia

The systems are separate, run by different agencies, and holding one does not enrol you in another. Most people miss at least one they qualify for.

Income support. The Disability Support Pension through Services Australia, for people whose condition is fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised and prevents them working 15 hours a week. JobSeeker with a partial capacity to work is the alternative where DSP criteria are not met.

Disability supports. An NDIS plan for people under 65 at entry with permanent and significant disability. Foundational supports are being built for people whose needs sit below that threshold, though only Thriving Kids has published dates.

Health. Medicare, a GP Chronic Condition Management plan for up to five rebated allied health visits a year, and a Mental Health Treatment Plan for psychology sessions. All available with or without an NDIS plan.

Concessions. A Pensioner Concession Card or Health Care Card for cheaper medicines under the PBS, utilities concessions, and state transport concessions. Companion Card in most states for a carer’s free entry to venues and events.

Employment. Free specialist employment support, funded by the Commonwealth and separate from the NDIS. See disability employment services.

For carers. Carer Payment and Carer Allowance through Services Australia, and Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737 for counselling, coaching and respite.

Advocacy. Free disability advocacy through the National Disability Advocacy Program, and free aged care advocacy through OPAN on 1800 700 600.

Where to start if you have just received a diagnosis

The order matters, because some steps gate others and the queues are long.

Start the income support claim first. DSP assessment is the slowest of everything here and requires your condition to be diagnosed, treated and stabilised, with medical evidence. Beginning it early does not commit you to anything.

Talk to your GP about health pathways in parallel. A Chronic Condition Management plan gives you allied health access within weeks rather than months, which matters while other applications sit in queues.

Then consider NDIS access. The evidence you need is functional, not diagnostic: what you cannot do, in which domains, and how consistently. A functional capacity assessment is often the document that makes or breaks it.

Apply for concessions immediately. They are quick, they are not means-tested against disability status in the same way, and they reduce cost while everything else is pending.

Get an advocate if anything is refused. Advocacy is free, and advocates know the review pathways. Most refusals that get overturned are overturned on better evidence rather than a different argument.

How this page is compiled

The provider rankings and figures on this page come from Carevo platform records, including provider registrations, measured response times and coverage, together with the cited official sources. Carevo is an Australian platform that connects families with NDIS and aged care providers. Carevo does not deliver care itself.

Funding sources and checks

Check the current NDIA pricing arrangements and Support at Home program rules for the proposed service. Funding depends on the approved support and available budget; a Carevo listing is not approval. Confirm availability and a start date directly with the provider.