Discuss a participant plan change request

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The contents of this document are OFFICIAL.

Guidance in this document is not approved for use unless you view it in PACE.

This article provides guidance for all NDIA staff and partners to:

contact the participant or their authorised representative
discuss a plan change request
discuss information and evidence to support a plan change request
discuss a plan change request without any evidence.

Recent updates

15 December 2025

Guidance updated to:

make sure you talk with the participant or their authorised representative about what relevant information and evidence is needed for us to make a plan change decision
check the participant has consented to the plan change request
consider any conflict of interest with the plan change request.

10 November 2025

Guidance updated to advise:

you need to submit requests as a Participant plan change request unless it specifies a plan variation (s47A) or plan reassessment (s48) or you have delegation to make a decision
content about discussing a plan change decision moved to article, Explain a plan change decision
link to new article Action a request to explain a decision.

Before you start

You have received a plan change request from a participant or their authorised representative, and you have read and understood:

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Prepare to submit a plan change request
Our Guideline – Changing your plan (external)
Consider a request for personal information
Our Guideline – Your privacy and information (external)
Guide – Conversation style guide.

Use the discussion points below when you’ve received a plan change request from a participant or their authorised representative. If you need to explain a decision or action a formal explanation of a decision, go to article Explain a plan change decision or Action a request to explain a decision.

Contact the participant or their authorised representative

Introduce yourself.

If the participant or their authorised representative can’t continue with the conversation:

Discuss a suitable time for you to contact them.
Record your contact attempt in the log activity panel in the plan change case.
Use article Log an activity or internal note.

If the participant or their authorised representative can continue with the conversation, continue to section Check identity.

Check identity

You must check the identity of the person asking for the plan change:

Tell the person you need to confirm their details before proceeding.
Complete a security check by requesting 3 pieces of personal or unique information about themselves over the phone. For example, date of birth, home address, mobile phone number or email address. Use section How to complete a security check in article Consider a request for personal information.
Check the person has the right authority. Use article Check consent, nominee, child representative or self-representation authorities.

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If the participant hasn’t made the request:

Check the person who made the request has permission to Submit a request for a Plan Change. You should check with the participant or their authorised representative that they understand and consent to the specific plan change request being made. Go to article Check consent, nominee, child representative or self-representation authorities.

Note: you should confirm with the participant or their authorised representative that they know about and agree to this request. You should do this even when the person making the request has consent to act on behalf of the participant.
If they don’t have consent or the right permission, don’t proceed.
If you’re unsure about permission to make a plan change request, talk to your line manager.
Think about if there are any conflicts of interest with the plan change request being made. To learn more, go to article Understand conflict of interest.

Note: if the person is recorded in SAP CRM and hasn’t transitioned to the PACE person account, you must verify their identity and consent. Go to articles Understand consent requirements and Understand the articles to use for the Managed Authorised Representative case.

To learn more, go to section Check authority to request a plan change in article Prepare to submit a plan change request.

Discuss a plan change request

Ask the participant or their authorised representative to briefly describe the reason for the plan change request. If you need to clarify the reason, ask about any changes to the participant’s situation, functional capacity and support needs.

You must select Participant plan change request for all requests unless:

the participant or authorised representative specifically states they’re requesting a plan variation (s47A) or plan reassessment (s48)
you have delegation to make a decision.

You need to explain to the participant or their authorised representative that if the request:

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doesn’t specify a legislative type, the delegate making the decision can consider both options. If they decide to change the plan, they’ll choose the most suitable option to best meet the participant’s needs. They can vary or reassess the plan.
is made under a specific section of the NDIS Act, the delegate’s decision is limited to that section only.

Note: due to limitations in plans with funding periods, some changes can’t be completed as a plan variation. Go to section Understand the Plan change request type in article Prepare to submit a plan change request.
is submitted under s47A, the delegate can only decide to vary or not vary the plan. The requested changes must meet the criteria of s47A. The delegate can’t consider a plan reassessment. This means their request may not be approved.

To learn more, go to article Create a participant plan change request.

If the participant or authorised representative still wants to make the request under a specific section, you can’t refuse.

Ask about any risks which may impact the participant’s supports or how their funding is managed. To learn more about risk, go to section How do we think about risks when we create your plan? of Our Guideline – Creating your plan (external).

Confirm you understand the request

Use the following as a guide for your conversation to understand their reasons:

They need a plan change because there’s an urgent and unexpected change in their support needs. For example, the participant may need personal care supports if their informal support becomes ill, or the participant’s functional capacity changes and they have trouble doing the things they used to do.
They want to change the way their funds are managed. For example, the participant may ask for support from a registered plan manager, or they may want to switch from agency- managed to managing their own funding
They want to change the reassessment date to an earlier or later date. For example, if a plan is working well for a participant and their support needs are stable, the reassessment date can be changed to a later date.

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Note: you can’t change the reassessment date if this means the plan duration would be longer than 5 years from when it started.

They need to change who provides a support or how a support is delivered. For example, if a specific provider of NDIS supports closes down, the participant may request another specific provider be added to their plan.
There’s an error in their record or plan that they want us to fix. For example, if the participant wants us to fix spelling mistakes, add missing words or correct errors in the classification or calculation of supports.

Note: don’t create a plan change request for participants who only want to change their statement of goals and aspirations. You need to action the requested updates as an s47 plan variation. Use article Complete a s47 request to update a participant’s goals, About Me and informal, community and mainstream supports.

They need additional funding for a support which is needed for a specific amount of time or is a once-off support. For example, the participant may need extra funding to repair assistive technology or need employment supports before the reassessment date so they can start work.
They need a change in funding periods. If a plan has funding periods, the participant can ask us to vary their plan to change when the funding is available or how much is provided in each funding period. We may be able to do this by adjusting how the supports are grouped. Changing the funding periods doesn’t affect the total funding amount of the plan.
There are significant changes to their situation. For example, their functional capacity or informal supports have changed in a significant way, they’re leaving school or starting a new job.

Discuss information and evidence to support a plan

change request

Ask the participant or their authorised representative for any information to support their plan change request which shows their situation has changed. For reassessments and crisis or emergency funding, you’ll also need to ask for evidence of a significant change to their need for NDIS supports. This includes new assessments, reports or other documents. The type of information or evidence we need depends on the reason they’re asking for a plan change.

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Explain that this will help us understand how their situation has changed. A delegate will use all the relevant information and evidence they send us to make a decision.

To learn more, go to [Factsheet: Evidence you need to give us before we create or change your plan (external)](https://example.com).

Note: we generally don’t need evidence to make a change to how funds are managed if that’s the only change.

Evidence is available to support the request

If the participant or their authorised representative has relevant information or evidence available, you can add these to the documents tab in the plan change case. Go to article Add and link evidence to a case.

For more information, go to section Check supporting information for a plan change request in article [Prepare to submit a plan change request](https://example.com).

If the participant or their authorised representative doesn’t have information or evidence available, continue to section No evidence is available to support the request.

No evidence is available to support the request

Explain to the participant or their authorised representative if they don’t:

have the relevant information or evidence now, they can take their time to gather evidence and make a request for plan change later
provide evidence with their request, the delegate may need to ask for some to make their decision. This may delay the decision.
give us any relevant evidence, or if the evidence doesn’t support their plan change request, the delegate may decide not to vary or reassess their plan.

If the participant wants to collect the relevant information and evidence and submit the plan change request later, don’t create a plan change request now. You need to record this conversation by creating an enquiry case. Go to article [Create an enquiry case](https://example.com).

Note: you can’t refuse to submit a plan change request if no evidence is being provided.

If the participant or their authorised representative wants to submit the plan change request first and provide the evidence or supporting information later, you need to explain:

we need their information within 21 days because when a request is received, we only have 21 days to make a decision

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the delegate will make their decision using the information available to them at the time
if there’s not enough information, the delegate may decide not to approve the request
they can email any additional information or evidence to enquiries@ndis.gov.au or upload it to the my NDIS participant portal
we’ll contact them to explain the decision using their preferred contact method and send a letter.

Note: you must log an activity to document this discussion. Use article Log an activity or internal note.

If the participant or authorised representative isn’t going to provide any information or evidence to support the plan change request, continue to section No further information or evidence will be provided.

No further information or evidence will be provided

Explain to the participant or authorised representative that:

a delegate will now make a decision about their request
we’ll contact them to explain the decision using their preferred contact method and send a letter
we’ll talk to them about their review rights if they don’t agree with the decision.

If you don’t have delegation to make a decision, the process for you ends here.

Discuss a plan change request without any evidence

If you do have delegation to make a decision, you’ll need to consider a range of additional things. In your role as a delegate, you’ll need to discuss these with the participant or their authorised representative.

Sometimes the participant won’t be able to provide relevant information or additional evidence. When this happens, or when there’s risk involved, you’ll need to take this into consideration and decide if the participant’s plan needs to be varied or reassessed.

It’s important to check that you’ve reviewed all available information and evidence on the person account before contacting the participant or their authorised representative.

To learn more, go to article [Identify risks and vulnerabilities](https://example.com).

Evidence needed to understand a participant’s change in situation

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Explain that to make a decision, you need more information to confirm how their situation and support needs have changed.

Ask if they’ve got any more information which hasn’t been provided yet, such as reports from allied health professionals (external).

Repeat the participant’s answers back to them, check you’ve understood their request and haven’t missed anything. Ask them to confirm if their plan change request is due to:

an urgent change in their situation that’s significantly impacting support needs
their plan running out of funds
a need or choice to change the way funding is managed
an urgent need for a change to their supports
a need for additional funding for assistive technology, vehicle modifications or home modification design and construction.

To learn more, go to Factsheet: Evidence you need to give us before we create or change your plan (external).

Loss of informal support or change beyond participant’s control

When you talk to the participant about this loss of informal supports, be mindful this may be a sensitive or upsetting topic.

Ask the participant about how this change to their informal supports has impacted them. You can ask them to give us information from their allied health professional confirming the change to informal supports. For example, a letter from their occupational therapist.

If the participant or authorised representative doesn’t have written confirmation, ask about:

the impact of this change or loss of informal support
informal supports which are no longer able to meet their support needs
who is available to provide this support for them until a decision is made
community and mainstream supports which may meet their needs.

Note: if the participant or their authorised representative is unsure, discuss the options available to them relevant to their individual situation.

Insufficient evidence to vary or reassess a plan

You’ll need to make a delegate decision even if there’s not enough information provided. You’ll need to explain to the participant that the information they’ve given us doesn’t meet the criteria

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to vary or reassess their plan. This means you’ve made the decision not to vary or not to reassess their plan at this time.

If the participant or their authorised representative is unhappy with your decision, you can guide them to section When would we decide not to change your plan? in Our Guideline – Changing your plan (external) to learn more.

However, you should make sure you have explained the decision clearly. Go to article, Explain a plan change decision.

Next steps

If you’ve decided not to vary or reassess the plan, you need to book a discretionary check-in with the participant at a later date. This is important to reduce risks and add safeguards. This will allow you to review the participant’s situation and check if there’s any change in the participant’s risk profile and whether any further action is needed.

Make an appointment in 2 weeks, a month or a suitable time to check-in with the participant.

To learn more, go to article Book change or cancel a check-in.

Article labels

PACE user role names

No change.

Topics

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Case names

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Ownership

No change.

Version control

Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date

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Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
5.0	AHB706	Class 1 Approval Guidance updated to advise: * all plan change requests must be submitted as a Participant plan change request unless you have delegation to make a plan change decision * relocated guidance about discussing a plan change decision to article, Explain a plan change decision * new article about explaining decisions.	APPROVED	2025-10-27
6.0	AJG505	Class 2 Approval Updates to incorporate guidance for Sustainability Initiative 3.2: * to strengthen requirement to have evidence and consent from the participant for the plan change request. * to consider any COI with the plan change request being made.	APPROVED	2025-12-08

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Discuss a participant plan change request