High-intensity supports on the NDIS: a guide for families.

What is considered high-intensity support on the NDIS?

It means help with one of eight health-related daily tasks, from a worker with extra skills.

This guide explains high-intensity supports on the NDIS for families arranging care, not for people looking for support work. It's general information, not medical advice. The official name is high intensity daily personal activities. The NDIS Commission, which regulates providers, lists eight of them.

The NDIS pricing schedule gives the definition: a high-intensity support needs a worker with one or more of the skills for these eight activities. The Commission says these supports can carry significant risk to the person and to workers.

Epilepsy and seizure support isn't one of the eight, though it has its own skills guidance. Everyday help with showering or dressing isn't on the list either. Read what NDIS personal care is.

A person with high-intensity support needs may need both kinds of help. The NDIA, the agency that runs the NDIS, says there's usually a mix, with standard rates for times that don't meet high intensity. These supports can be paid from NDIS funding if they're included in the plan, and the NDIA decides what goes in a plan.

Is complex care an official NDIS term?

No. Complex care is an everyday phrase, not a defined NDIS term. The official term is high intensity daily personal activities.

We checked the registration rules, practice standards, skills descriptors, and the NDIA's 2026 guidelines and pricing schedule. None of them use "complex care". If a provider says it, ask which of the eight supports they mean. Other "complex" words do appear, with different meanings.

Key terms

Complex bowel care, complex wound management

Official names for two of the eight.

Complex needs, complex support needs

Wider NDIA phrases, used for example for specialist support coordination. They aren't the list of eight.

Intensive and complex behaviour support

A separate group of supports about behaviour.

Support plan

The written plan for how a high-intensity support is done. It's separate from the NDIS plan. You may also hear "care plan".

What do Module 1 and the skills descriptors ask for?

The NDIS Practice Standards are the quality and safety standards registered providers must meet. Module 1 is the part for these eight supports, and providers registered for them are audited against it. The high intensity support skills descriptors explain what workers should know and do. The Commission says families can use them to understand the quality of support to expect. Both are on ndiscommission.gov.au.

A support plan should

• Involve the person in assessing their needs and writing the plan
• Be up to date, clear and short, and describe the person's needs and preferences
• Say how risks, incidents and emergencies are handled
• Be overseen by a health practitioner, with the person's health reviewed regularly, with their consent

Worker training should

• Cover every worker who supports the person, and focus on that person's needs
• Come from a qualified health practitioner or a person who meets the skills descriptor (for severe dysphagia, only a practitioner)
• Be written down and regularly audited
• Be checked yearly, and after more than three months away from the task, the Commission recommends

What does a health practitioner do, and must it be a nurse?

A qualified health practitioner oversees the plan. The Commission says the hands-on support doesn't have to come from a nurse.

More than one practitioner may be involved, such as a dietitian or speech therapist. Support workers carry out the plan, usually under the practitioner's direction.

But the NDIA says some supports can only come from a nurse or qualified therapist. A registered nurse may also train a worker and delegate a task, while staying responsible for the care. The nurse decides what can be delegated, and can't delegate if the person's health needs are inconsistent or likely to change.

For anything medical, ask the person's GP or health practitioner.

Can carers do PEG feeding?

The official pages we read don't give a simple yes or no for unpaid family carers.

A PEG is a feeding tube that goes through the skin into the stomach. The NDIA says the person's medical team decides on tube feeding and works out the supports needed to look after a PEG. Ask them first. This guide can't tell you how to do these tasks.

What official sources say

• Written for providers. Module 1 and the skills descriptors set expectations for providers and workers. We found no rule in them on whether an unpaid family member can do these tasks.
• A family member may be trained. The NDIA says family or friends may be able to provide some disability-related health supports, and a qualified practitioner may train them. For a PEG, it says that where it can, it will generally include a nurse to train a family member or support worker. That depends on the person's needs, the type of support, where it happens, state or territory rules, the skills needed and value for money.

What can happen when a family carer does the task

• It can shape what goes in the plan. The NDIA must consider what's reasonable to expect family and carers to provide. For these health supports, it first asks if a family member, friend or carer can do the task. If not, it might go to a trained worker. So be plain about what you can and can't keep doing.
• Your safety counts too. For adults, the NDIA looks at a carer's age and capacity, the intensity of the support and long-term risks to the carer.
• Children are treated differently. Families are generally responsible for a child's daily needs, including health needs. Health supports may go in the plan if a child needs substantially more help than a child of the same age without a disability.
• Family generally aren't paid. The NDIA generally doesn't pay family members to provide NDIS supports. Exceptions are very limited.
• Things can change. If a carer can't keep going, ask the my NDIS contact or support coordinator about changing the plan.

Ask the person's medical team, nurse or dietitian

• Is this a task a family member can do safely for this person?
• Who will train me, and who checks I can do it?
• Who takes over if I'm sick or away?

Leaving hospital? The discharge summary or nurse care plan should say who has the most appropriate skills for each task.

What should you ask any provider?

Holding the registration and having started the work are different things. Ask about both.

• Are you registered for high intensity daily personal activities (class 0104)? Which of the eight are on your certificate, and can we see it?
• Have you started delivering this support? Since when, and who does it now?
• Is there a condition on your registration about it? Has that assessment happened?
• Which health practitioner oversees the support plan, and who trains your workers for this person?
• Will every worker be trained first, including a replacement on a sick day? How do you keep skills current?
• What do workers do in an emergency, and who do they call?
• Can we see in writing which hours are charged at a high-intensity rate?

A provider registered for this group must not provide one of the eight unless it's on its certificate of registration. For more questions, see how to find an NDIS support worker. If a provider isn't working out, read about changing NDIS providers.

How do you check a provider on the register?

The NDIS Commission publishes the NDIS Provider Register. Check it before you sign anything.

1. Search the registerOn ndiscommission.gov.au, go to Find a registered provider. Search by business name, legal name or ABN. For current providers, choose the status Approved.
2. Check it's the right businessCheck the legal name and ABN match the service agreement. Note when the registration runs until.
3. Find the high-intensity groupLook under Approved registration groups. In the entries we read, this group shows as Assist Personal Activities High. Assist-Personal Activities is a different group.
4. Read the conditionsUnder Additional conditions of registration, some entries say the rest of Module 1 will be assessed 3 months after service delivery has commenced in class 0104. That doesn't tell you if delivery has started, or if that assessment is done. So ask.
5. Check the compliance recordGo to Search for banning orders and other compliance decisions. It also lists compliance notices, enforceable undertakings and suspended or revoked registrations. It leaves out low-level actions like warning letters, so a clear result isn't a guarantee.

An entry doesn't name which of the eight a provider holds, whether it's delivering them now, or how a worker was trained.

A provider must be registered to deliver these supports when funding is NDIA-managed. For plan-managed or self-managed funding, it doesn't have to be. Unregistered providers haven't been through the registration audit. They must still follow the NDIS Code of Conduct.

Who can you call with a concern?

If you feel comfortable, talk to the provider. You can also raise a concern with the NDIS Commission.

• NDIS Commission1800 035 544Concerns about a provider or worker, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm in Victoria. Call as soon as possible if someone could be harmed soon.
• NDIS (NDIA)1800 800 110Questions about the plan

If someone's life might be at risk, or they could be critically harmed or seriously injured, call 000.

This guide is general information, not advice about a particular plan.