What Is NDIS Community Access?
Community access is the everyday name for the NDIS support that helps a person with disability get out into their community and genuinely take part in it. It is the same thing your plan calls Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation — the support category most people simply know as community participation. Whether you say community access, community participation, or social and community participation, you are talking about the same funding and the same kind of support.
In practice it means a support worker is alongside you so the outing actually happens — helping with transport, communication, personal care and confidence. That might be a gym session, an art class, a footy match, a volunteer shift, a peer support group, or a coffee with friends. It also covers the quieter work behind those outings: building life skills, finding social groups worth joining, and the steady, mentoring-style encouragement that turns a one-off outing into a habit.
Help Alliance doesn't deliver community access itself. We pass your request to local providers who do. If you also need self-care assistance, transport support or support coordination, you can add it to the same request.
Find community access support near you
Free to use. Tell us what you'd like to do and local providers who can start will contact you. You choose who to go with.
Get supportTypes of Community Access Support
Community participation is not one service — it is a range of supports that flex around what you want your week to look like.
One-to-One Community Access
A support worker with you alone, so the outing runs at your pace — appointments, shopping, the gym, the library, the beach, or simply getting out of the house.
Social Groups & Peer Connection
Help finding local clubs, interest groups and peer networks that match what you actually enjoy — then the support to turn up regularly and stay involved.
Life Skills Building
Practical skills practised where they are used: catching public transport, shopping to a budget, ordering at a cafe, managing an appointment, using your phone.
Mentoring-Style Support
A consistent, well-matched worker who coaches rather than does it for you — useful through transitions like finishing school or moving into your own place.
Recreation, Sport & Fitness
Support to join and keep attending swimming, walking groups, gym sessions, team sports and outdoor recreation near you.
Arts, Culture & Events
Assistance to take part in art classes, music, community festivals, markets and cultural events — the activities that build identity and confidence.
Volunteering & Contribution
Support to find a volunteer role and keep it going, building routine, work-like skills and a genuine place in the local community.
Travel & Transport
Getting to and from activities safely, whether that means a support worker travelling with you or building your confidence to travel independently.
NDIS Mentoring, Peer Support & Life Skills
Getting to an activity is the start. What keeps people going back is the relationship, the confidence, and the skills built along the way — which is where mentoring, peer support and life skills work sits within community participation.
NDIS Mentoring
Mentoring is support that coaches rather than does it for you. A consistent, well-matched worker helps you weigh up decisions, read social situations, set goals and follow through on them. It matters most at transition points — finishing school, moving into your own place, starting a volunteer role, or rebuilding a routine after a period of poor health.
Structured mentoring programs are usually funded from Capacity Building — Increased Social and Community Participation, while mentoring-style support delivered during regular community access is claimed from Core Supports.
Peer Support & Social Groups
Peer support means spending time with people who have lived through something similar. For many participants it does what no paid support can — it normalises the experience. A support worker can help you find local peer groups, interest clubs and social groups, then give you the support that makes attending realistic week after week.
The NDIS generally will not pay a club membership or entry fee that any member of the public would pay — but it does fund the disability-related support you need to get there and take part.
Life Skills Building
Life skills are best learned where they are actually used. A support worker can practise catching the bus on the route you really need, shopping to a real budget, ordering at a cafe, managing an appointment, or handling money at the shops — with the support stepping back as your confidence grows.
Skills aimed at running your own household or managing your plan may sit under Improved Daily Living instead. Your support coordinator can help identify the right budget.
How NDIS Community Access Is Funded
Community access draws on two different parts of an NDIS plan. Knowing which is which makes your funding go further.
Core Supports — Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation
Pays for a support worker to accompany and assist you in the community. This is the budget behind everyday community access: outings, activities, social groups, sport, events and shopping trips.
Core Supports funding is generally flexible — most participants can move funding between Core categories as their needs change across the year.
Capacity Building — Increased Social and Community Participation
Pays for supports that build your capacity to participate more independently over time — structured skill development, mentoring, and programs or tuition tied to a social and community goal in your plan.
Capacity Building funding is not flexible between categories. It can only be spent on the specific outcome area it was allocated to.
A note on goals: Community access is easiest to fund and to defend at plan review when it is clearly linked to a goal in your plan. If social connection, independence in the community, or building friendships matters to you, make sure it is written into your goals — see the NDIS goal examples and plan review guide.
NDIS Community Participation Rates 2026-27
One-to-one community access is claimed by the hour. These are the national price limits, the most a provider can charge your plan. Providers can charge less.
| When the support is delivered | Price limit 2026-27 |
|---|---|
| Weekday daytime | $73.58 per hour |
| Weekday evening | $81.07 per hour |
| Saturday | $103.54 per hour |
| Sunday | $133.50 per hour |
| Public holiday | $163.46 per hour |
Source: NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, effective 1 July 2026 (standard intensity). Group activities share workers across several participants, so each person's share costs less. Remote and very remote areas have higher limits.
What Community Access Looks Like in Practice
Social Connection & Peer Support
Building relationships through shared interests, social groups and peer networks fosters a real sense of belonging — not just attendance.
Physical Wellbeing & Recreation
Staying active is essential for overall health and wellbeing. Support can help you join and keep attending sport, fitness and outdoor recreation.
Community Inclusion & Life Skills
Support to take part in community programs, events and cultural activities, building practical life skills in the settings where they are used.
NDIS Community Access & Participation — Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to get out and about?
Tell us what you'd like to do and when. Providers confirm they can start before they accept, up to three can accept your request, and you choose. Free for families.
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