What does a disability support worker cost?

The 2026-27 price limits, hour by hour

Standard assistance with self-care activities, the item most one-to-one support is billed under. These are the 2026-27 limits.

Remote and very remote areas carry a loading, because getting a worker there costs more. A weekday daytime hour is $103.01 in a remote area and $110.37 in a very remote one.

What that buys in a week

The useful question is not the hourly rate, it is how many hours the plan actually covers.

Take a plan with $20,000 of core supports for the year. Spent entirely on weekday daytime support at the price limit, that is about 271 hours, or roughly five hours a week. Move half of it to weekends and the same money buys noticeably less.

This is why the pattern of support matters as much as the total. A provider worth talking to will work through this with you rather than just quoting an hourly figure.

What you should not be charged

• More than the price limit, if you are NDIS funded.
• A fee for being introduced to the provider. Using this service is free to you, and a provider cannot pass our cost on to you.
• Cancellation fees outside the NDIS cancellation rules.
• Travel that was not agreed in advance. Travel can be charged to a plan, within limits, but you should know about it before it appears on an invoice.

Who can invoice your plan

It depends how the plan is managed, and it is the single most useful thing to know before you start ringing around.

We only pass enquiries to registered providers, which keeps the option open whichever way the plan is managed. One thing worth knowing if you self manage: the price limits do not legally bind you, so you can agree a higher rate if you choose to. Most people do not need to.