Advice Support Tool

Theme: Assistance Animals

Sub-Theme(s): Assistance Animal (Capital Purchase), Assistance Animal (Maintenance).

Please note: Sub themes have been combined as the same reasonable and necessary considerations apply for a Capital (new) purchase animal or a request for ongoing maintenance costs. If a participant already has an assistance animal, and requests maintenance costs only, we first need to decide if the animal itself meets NDIS funding criteria.

References: [include any relevant referenced documents]

• NDIS Act 2013 Section 34 1. (a) - (f) and 2.
• NDIS Support for Participant Rules 2013
• Assessment Template- Assistance Animal
• Assistance Animals (including dog guides) Operational Guideline
• Would we fund it guide- Assistance animals | NDIS
• Would we fund it guide- Therapy animals | NDIS
• Would we fund it guide- Pets and companion animals | NDIS

Note: All criteria need to be met for the supports to be funded through the NDIS.

Criteria for reasonable and necessary supports	Is criteria met?	Considerations (including evidence used)
34.1(a) Enabling the participant’s goals and objectives (supports will assist the participant to pursue the goals and objectives in their plan)	☐ Yes ☐ No	The participant may or may not have a goal explicitly related to the assistance animal however, advisor should consider how the support of an assistance animal is likely to assist the participant to achieve their NDIS plan goals. s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies

| 34.1(b) Assist the participant’s social and economic participation (supports will assist the participant to undertake activities to facilitate their social and economic participation ) | ☐ Yes
☐ No | To determine whether the animal will assist with social and economic participation, consider the following:

• What social or economic activities the participant does currently or will do.
• The specific tasks the animal will be trained to perform.
• The specific environment(s) the participant and the animal will require access to.

Please note: All assistance animals must pass the Public Access Test (PAT). s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies

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Criteria for reasonable and necessary supports

Criteria for reasonable and necessary supports	Is criteria met?	Considerations (including evidence used)
34.1(c) Value for money
(supports represent value for money, i.e., the costs of support are reasonable, both in terms of the benefits achieved and the cost of alternative support)
Consider NDIS Support for Participant Rules 2013 Part 3.1 (a) – (f);
s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies	☐ Yes	To determine whether the support of an assistance animal represents value for money, consider:

• Have alternative supports been explored and implemented? What was the outcome of those interventions? Are there any planned interventions and what is the expected outcome of those? s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies

• What specific (measurable) tasks will the animal be trained to actively assist with, how often and in what environments?

• How will the support of a specially trained animal facilitate independence and reduce the need for other supports for example, capacity building supports s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies

s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies | ☐ No | | Are there comparable support options which would achieve the same outcome at a substantially lower cost? What alternative supports were considered? Is there evidence that the support will substantially improve the life stage outcomes and be of long-term benefit to the participant? Is there evidence that funding support is likely to increase independence and reduce funded support costs in the long-term? Is there evidence the support will increase the participant’s independence | ☐ No |

Criteria for reasonable and necessary supports

Is criteria met?

Considerations (including evidence used)

• s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies

Is there evidence the quoted support cost is comparable to expected cost of same kind of supports? redacted

34.1(d) Support is effective or beneficial for the participant (supports will be, or are likely to be, effective for desired effect and beneficial for the participant, having regard to current good practice) Consider NDIS Support for Participant Rules 2013 Part 3.2 and 3.3 What are the expected benefits of the support provision? How will effectiveness of achieved outcome be measured? When will effectiveness of achieved outcome be achieved? Are there other supports required to achieve or maximise the reported support outcomes for participant?

To determine whether the support will be, or is likely to be effective and beneficial, consider:

• s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies

Whether the animal meets the NDIS definition of an assistance animal i.e., o It must be trained to perform minimum 3 active tasks to mitigate the impact of the participant’s disability. The tasks are things that the animal wouldn’t perform naturally, nor benefits achieved simply by its presence, rather specially trained active tasks for example, guiding a person with a vision impairment, or opening /closing doors for someone with a physical impairment. Generally, the animal performing these active tasks will result in

Criteria for reasonable and necessary supports	Is criteria met?	Considerations (including evidence used)
not replace informal support
(funding or provision of supports takes account of what it is reasonable to expect families, carers, informal networks and the community to provide)
Consider NDIS Support for Participant Rules 2013 Part 3.4	☐ No	s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies
34.1(f) Support is most appropriately funded by the NDIS
(supports are not more appropriately funded or provided through other general service systems or universal service obligations)
Consider NDIS Support for Participant Rules 2013 Schedule 1	☐ Yes	☐ No

• Consider whether the animal meets the NDIS definition of an assistance animal, who will own the animal and be its primary handler and what environments the animal will be used.
• There are other types of animals in disability assistance roles for example, therapy animals, visitation animals, emotional support animals etc. which are used in a clinical, residential, and educational settings. In the case that the animal will be trained to work in a specific setting, to bring enjoyment to clients or students, and/or animal ownership is retained by someone else, this support would not be most appropriately funded by NDIS.
• Consider whether a compensable scheme is involved, s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies |

Criteria for reasonable and necessary supports	Is criteria met?	Considerations (including evidence used)
Support will not cause harm
(Supports will not be funded if it is likely to cause harm to the participant or pose a risk to others, or the support would be contrary to a law of a jurisdiction)
Consider NDIS Support for Participant Rules 2013 Part 5.1 and 5.3	☐ Yes
☐ No	* Consider whether there are any risks to the participant, or risks to the animal’s welfare, including:
s47E(d) - certain operations of agencies

• Whether the home environment is suitable (incl. consideration of home environment, other pets, occupants, potential stressors to the animal).
• Whether the participant (or others in the household) have behaviors of concern redacted | | Support is directly related to the participant’s disability (supports will not be funded under the NDIS if they do not relate to the participant’s disability or are day-to-day expenses or income replacement) Consider NDIS Support for Participant Rules 2013 Part 5.1 and 5.2 | ☐ Yes ☐ No | * To determine whether the animal is a disability related support, consider:
• The specific (minimum 3) active tasks the animal will perform to alleviate the impact of the participant’s disability.
• How the animal helps with their disability needs more than a pet or companion animal would.
• It’s acknowledged that pets provide many benefits to people, whether they have a disability or not. Research evidence shows that animal ownership can have a number of physical and psychological benefits including but not limited to, increased redacted |

Criteria for reasonable and necessary supports

Criteria for reasonable and necessary supports	Is criteria met?	Considerations (including evidence used)
physical activity, companionship, mental health benefits etc. The benefits of an assistance animal need to be considered, over an above those of a companion animal or pet.

Version Control

Version #	Status	Date	Modified by	Brief Description of Modification
V1.0	Cleared	31/08/2023	TSA612	Production of initial V1.0
V1.0	Cleared	05/09/2023	JIF775	Transferred to Key Advisor Advice Resources repository

Note: Document uncontrolled in hard copy Version 1.0 Page 13 of 442 Page 7 of 7