Tuesday, October 20, 2026 The OT Team at Physio Inq
In this article
Summary
- An NDIS functional capacity assessment shows how disability affects everyday activities. It's often completed by an occupational therapist.
- The NDIS looks at function, not diagnosis alone, when deciding eligibility and which supports belong in a plan.
- Family, support coordinators, treating professionals and the NDIA can all suggest an assessment, but the participant or their representative decides whether to go ahead.
- Only the participant, their plan nominee or child representative can request a plan reassessment. A provider can't ask on their behalf.
- When you request a reassessment, evidence usually needs to be dated within 4 months of your request.
- The NDIA makes all eligibility and funding decisions. A report is one piece of evidence and can't guarantee an outcome.
- From 1 January 2028, NDIS access will be based on a new standardised assessment of functional capacity.
An NDIS functional capacity assessment is a report from a qualified health professional, often an occupational therapist, showing how a person’s disability affects everyday activities. The NDIA uses this evidence when deciding whether someone meets the disability requirements and which supports to include in their plan.
Why Does the NDIS use Functional Capacity Assessments?
The NDIS uses functional capacity assessments because eligibility and funding depend on how disability affects daily life, not on diagnosis alone.
To meet the disability requirements, a permanent impairment must substantially reduce a person’s ability to do everyday activities in at least one area: communicating, socialising, learning, moving around, looking after themselves or managing their life. The NDIS explains this means needing disability-specific supports, such as a high level of help from other people, or assistive technology, equipment or home modifications prescribed by a health professional.
A diagnosis doesn’t show that on its own. Two people with multiple sclerosis can have very different days. One showers and dresses independently with a shower chair. The other needs a support worker every morning to get out of bed. A functional capacity assessment describes what each person’s day actually looks like.
The same evidence matters once someone is on the scheme. The NDIS says it uses information from a functional capacity assessment to work out which supports a person needs, such as assistive technology, therapy, or changes to a home or workplace.
Who Can Request an FCA?
Anyone involved in a person’s support can suggest a functional capacity assessment, but the participant (or their nominee, or a parent for a child) decides whether to go ahead and which provider to use.
The suggestion often comes from:
- the participant, or a family member or carer who has noticed daily needs changing
- a support coordinator preparing for a check-in or reassessment
- a GP, specialist or treating therapist
- the person’s NDIS contact, if they think current evidence doesn’t give the full picture.
The NDIA can also ask. Its guideline says the NDIA may need a participant to get an assessment from an appropriately qualified professional and provide the report.
Requesting an FCA isn’t the same as requesting a plan reassessment
This one catches people out. Only the participant, their plan nominee or child representative can ask the NDIA for a plan reassessment, using the plan reassessment request form. The NDIS says you can’t give consent for someone else, such as a provider, to ask for you.
So an occupational therapist can write the FCA report that goes with your request, and a support coordinator can help you pull it together, but the request has to come from you.
Who Pays for The Assessment?
According to Children with Disability: NDIS, existing participants, reports are generally paid from current plan funding, with fees set out in the service agreement.
If you’re applying to the NDIS for the first time, there’s no plan to draw on yet, so ask about costs with your chosen before you book your assessment.
How is a Functional Capacity Assessment Used in a Plan Reassessment?
In a plan reassessment, a functional capacity assessment gives the NDIA recent professional evidence that a participant’s support needs have changed, along with recommendations for the supports that would meet those needs.
A plan reassessment is how the NDIS creates a new plan with different supports when your situation has significantly changed and your current plan no longer meets your needs. The NDIA may contact you about one as your plan nears its end, or you can ask for one.
Your my NDIS participant portal contact will usually get in touch for a check-in about 2 to 3 months before your plan’s reassessment date. That check-in is a good time to ask your OT whether an updated FCA would help.
What the Evidence Needs to Show
When you ask for a reassessment, the NDIS says your evidence must show a significant change to your ongoing support needs. It must also be recent, which usually means dated within 4 months of your request and after your current plan was approved.
Timing matters. A report finished six months before you lodge a request may not meet that standard, even if nothing has changed since.
What the NDIA Planner Looks at
An NDIA planner considers the evidence alongside your current plan and how you’ve used it, the community and mainstream services you use, whether the change you’ve asked for is an NDIS support, and how your supports work together towards your goals.
Recommendations that link clearly to your goals, and to what the OT actually observed, tend to be easier for a planner to follow than a list of hours with no explanation.
What Happens after the NDIA Reviews the Evidence?
After reviewing a reassessment request and its evidence, the NDIA will make one of three decisions:
- to not reassess the plan,
- to reassess it and to create a new plan, or
- to vary the current plan without a full reassessment.
You can keep using your current plan while it decides, and if you disagree with a decision, you can ask for an internal review.
The NDIA makes every decision about eligibility and funding. A functional capacity assessment is one piece of evidence. It can’t guarantee a particular plan, and no provider can promise one.
Tips for Participants and Support Coordinators
- Book the assessment with your reassessment timeline in mind, so the FCA report is recent when it’s lodged.
- Tell the OT what the FCA report is for, whether that’s an access request, a scheduled reassessment or a specific item like a wheelchair.
- Share earlier FCA reports, so the new one can describe what has changed.
- Read the FCA report before it’s submitted and raise anything that doesn’t match daily life.
Is the NDIS Changing how Functional Capacity is Assessed?
Yes. New NDIS laws passed Parliament on 19 August 2026, and access to the scheme will be based on a standardised, evidence-based assessment of functional capacity.
That means two things will share a similar name.
The functional capacity assessment in this article is a report from your treating professional. The new standardised assessment will be part of the NDIS access process, and its tools, thresholds and detailed rules are still being developed.
Timing and What's Changing
- Now: Reports from treating professionals, including functional capacity assessments, are used as evidence for NDIS access and plan reassessments.
- From 1 April 2027: New framework planning is due to begin rolling out, including a support needs assessment used in planning.
- From 1 January 2028: New applicants will go through a standardised assessment of functional capacity, and people already on the scheme will start to be reassessed,
progressively over about three years.
Details may change as rules are finalised, and this information is current as at October 2026. For questions about your own plan or eligibility, contact the NDIS on 1800 800 110.
Final Thoughts
For most families and support coordinators, the useful question isn’t whether to get a functional capacity assessment, but what the NDIA needs it to show and when.
