NDIS Therapy Assistants and Allied Health Assistants in Australia

Where can I find NDIS therapy assistant providers?

Therapy assistants work inside allied health practices, so start with the NDIS Provider Register, which lists organisations registered for Therapeutic Supports (NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, 2025). The register will not tell you which practices actually run assistant programs or have capacity this month. The ranked list above narrows it to allied health providers with measured response times and current coverage on the Carevo platform.

What does an NDIS therapy assistant do?

An NDIS therapy assistant carries out exercises and practice tasks set by a supervising allied health professional, such as an occupational therapist, physiotherapist, speech pathologist or psychologist, turning a therapy plan into practice between clinical sessions. The NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 sets national price limits of $56 to $87 an hour, depending on the supervising discipline. It suits participants who need more frequent practice than a senior therapist alone can provide within a Capacity Building budget.

The model is delegation. The therapist assesses, writes the program and reviews progress; the assistant delivers the repetitions in between, at home, at school or in the community. A speech pathologist might set a communication program the assistant practises three times a week, or a physiotherapist a strength and balance routine reviewed monthly.

What is the difference between a Level 1 and Level 2 therapy assistant?

The pricing arrangements split assistants into two levels, and the difference is independence. A Level 1 therapy assistant supports therapy under the direct supervision of the treating practitioner: set-up, prompting and supervised practice, billed at the bottom of the $56 to $87 range. A Level 2 therapy assistant delivers an established therapy program under delegation, working with the participant without the therapist in the room, and bills at the top of the range. Most ongoing home practice programs use Level 2, because the value is in sessions the therapist does not have to attend. The supervising therapist decides which level fits, based on how predictable the participant’s needs are and how much clinical judgement each session requires.

How to choose a provider for this service

The list at the top of this page is ranked using the criteria explained in the methodology above it. For therapy assistants specifically, four checks matter most.

Supervision and registration. Ask which registered allied health professional supervises the assistant, and how often that supervisor reviews progress. A Certificate III or IV in Allied Health Assistance is the baseline qualification, but the supervision arrangement matters more than the certificate alone.

Pricing transparency. Confirm the hourly rate in writing against the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 limits, and ask whether the supervising therapist’s time is billed separately from the assistant’s session time.

Response time. Compare enquiry-to-contact speed against the response-time table further down this page before booking an initial session.

Coverage. Carevo lists 9,573 allied health providers nationally, but assistant-level availability varies by suburb and by discipline, so confirm a provider can supervise and service your address before booking.

What are the supervision requirements for allied health assistants?

The NDIS requires an assistant to work under the delegation and supervision of the treating allied health practitioner; it does not fix a national ratio of supervision hours. A defensible arrangement has four parts: the therapist assesses the participant first, documents the delegated program in writing, sets regular review points to check progress and adjust the plan, and stays professionally accountable for the outcome. Level 1 assistants work under direct supervision; for Level 2, the supervising therapist decides the review frequency and records it.

Assistants are not registered practitioners themselves. Their supervising occupational therapist, physiotherapist or psychologist must hold current registration, checkable free on the public register (AHPRA, 2026), while speech pathologists are certified through their professional association. If a provider cannot name the supervising practitioner and the review schedule, the supervision requirement is not being met.

How much does a therapy assistant cost under the NDIS?

Assistant sessions bill at the $56 to $87 hourly limits, from the same Capacity Building budget as the therapist’s own sessions. Compare that with practitioner caps under the 2026-27 schedule: physiotherapy at $183.99 an hour, occupational therapy and speech pathology at $193.99, and other professionals at $156.16.

That arithmetic is the reason assistants exist. One therapist hour funds roughly two to three assistant hours, so a budget that covers a fortnightly therapist session can instead fund a monthly therapist review plus weekly delegated practice. For skills that improve with repetition, walking, speech, fine motor work, daily routines, the practice hours usually matter more than who supervises them. Ask each provider to quote the blend in writing: therapist review time, assistant session time, and any travel.

What can a therapy assistant not do?

An assistant cannot assess, diagnose, write reports or design a program, and cannot change the program without the therapist’s sign-off; when something unexpected happens, their job is to pause and report back, not to improvise. They also cannot be billed as therapy without an active supervising practitioner and a written program. If there is no current program, the session is support work funded from Core, not therapy assistance from Capacity Building.

Which funding stream pays for a therapy assistant, and who qualifies?

NDIS participants access therapy assistant support through the Capacity Building - Improved Daily Living budget, where supervised practice between clinical sessions is reasonably and necessarily related to the participant’s disability goals (NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27). Support at Home, which replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025 (Department of Health and Aged Care, 2025), funds allied health support for people 65 and over at prices each provider sets, indicatively around $185 an hour, though most of that budget line covers registered practitioner time rather than delegated assistant sessions. Eligibility for NDIS-funded therapy assistant support depends on a participant’s plan including Capacity Building funding for therapeutic supports, with hours agreed between the participant, their supervising therapist and the assistant’s provider.

Where therapy assistant support is available

Carevo lists 9,573 allied health providers nationally, part of a network covering 8,918 suburbs across Australia, and many of them supervise assistant-level sessions alongside their own clinical caseload. Allied health is named in 578 of the 9,483 tracked inquiries on Carevo. Therapy assistant support is often booked alongside occupational therapy or physiotherapy, as part of a wider allied health plan covering several disciplines, or after therapy services establish the program.

Get matched with a therapy assistant provider

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.