How to prepare for an NDIS plan review (without losing your mind)

The three-month runway

Start preparing three months out. The participants who walk into reviews with a folder of organised evidence consistently get better plans than the ones who walk in with goodwill alone.

1. 1Month -3: ask your providers for written progress reports
2. 2Month -2: meet with your support coordinator to draft new goals
3. 3Month -1: collect allied health letters, OT reports, behaviour support plans
4. 4Week -1: pre-meeting with anyone attending the review

How to write goals that get funded

Goals are not promises — they are the framing the planner uses to allocate funding. The best goals are concrete, measurable, and tied to a real support type.

• Concrete: 'cook three meals per week independently', not 'be more independent'
• Measurable: include a frequency, time period, or outcome
• Linked to a support: every goal should imply a service or budget line
• Honest: goals you do not actually want will undermine credibility

Common reasons funding is cut

• Underclaiming in the previous plan (planners read it as low need)
• Goals not linked to budgets
• Provider reports that are vague or missing
• Inconsistent stories between participant, family and providers

The review meeting itself

Stay calm, bring a support person, and answer the planner's questions directly. If you do not know, say so. If you disagree with a framing, name it politely. The meeting is collaborative, not adversarial — until it is not, in which case ask for a review of reviewable decision.