National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plans are designed to help people with disabilities access the supports they need to live independently and participate in their communities. NDIS plans provide individualised budgets that participants can use to pay for approved services and supports, but these funds are not always used.

While aggregate underspend is widely reported, far less attention has been paid to how utilisation varies across participants with some exhausting their budgets while many use only a small share. This may reflect poor targeting, access constraints, difficulties in navigating the system or features of plan design. This note examines how budget utilisation varies across individuals, budgets and plan structures. 

The note identifies five patterns. The patterns suggest that participant-level factors, plan structure and the flexibility of funding categories play a larger role in shaping utilisation than geographic access to services. As the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) moves toward standardised and structured planning processes, it is critically important to understand how plan design and flexibility shape utilisation. This will ensure that individualised funding supports choice, control and effective use of supports, rather than simply reallocating administrative complexity.

Findings

1. Many NDIS participants underuse their allocated budgets. 
2. Participants appear to learn to navigate the scheme over time. 
3. Access barriers explain only a small part of the variation in individual budget utilisation. 
4. Budget flexibility shapes utilisation differences across budget types. 
5. Small budget items are disproportionately left unused.