What Is NDIS Improved Daily Living?
Improved Daily Living (IDL) is an NDIS Capacity Building support category that funds therapy, assessments, and skill-building activities. The goal is to improve your ability to carry out daily tasks more independently over time.
Unlike Core Supports — which fund the day-to-day assistance you need right now — Improved Daily Living is an investment in your future independence. It funds the allied health professionals and training programs that build your capacity.
In your NDIS plan, IDL appears as:
Support Category: CB Daily Activity (Improved Daily Living Skills)
Budget type: Capacity Building
Core Supports vs Improved Daily Living
Core Supports
Funds the support you need today
- ✓ Support worker personal care
- ✓ Community participation outings
- ✓ Transport to appointments
- ✓ Household task assistance
- ✓ Consumables (continence, low-cost items)
Improved Daily Living
Builds your capacity for tomorrow
- ✓ Occupational therapy
- ✓ Physiotherapy
- ✓ Speech pathology
- ✓ Psychology (capacity building)
- ✓ Behaviour support
- ✓ Skills training programs
What Improved Daily Living Funds — Full List
These are the most common supports funded under NDIS Improved Daily Living.
Occupational Therapy (OT)
Assesses and builds your ability to carry out daily tasks — from personal care to home management. One of the most common IDL supports.
Physiotherapy
Improves mobility, strength, and physical function. Helps participants move more independently and safely in their home and community.
Speech Pathology
Builds communication skills, addresses swallowing difficulties, and supports the use of alternative communication methods.
Psychology
Skill-building and behavioural support focused on improving functional capacity — not clinical mental health treatment (which is Medicare-funded).
Positive Behaviour Support
A registered behaviour support practitioner develops a plan to address challenging behaviours and build positive alternatives.
Dietetics
Nutritional assessment and planning for participants whose disability affects eating, digestion, or nutritional intake.
Exercise Physiology
Therapeutic exercise programs designed to improve physical function, manage health conditions, and increase activity participation.
Skills Training Programs
Structured programs teaching practical life skills — cooking, budgeting, public transport navigation, social skills — delivered by qualified practitioners.
How to Get Improved Daily Living in Your NDIS Plan
Set goals that require therapy
At your NDIS planning meeting, state goals that naturally require therapeutic support — e.g. 'improve my ability to cook independently' or 'build communication skills to connect with my community'. Goals drive funding.
Get recommendations from your therapist
Ask your OT, physiotherapist, psychologist, or other allied health professional to write a report or letter recommending specific IDL supports and estimated hours. Bring this to your planning meeting.
Work with a Support Coordinator
A Support Coordinator can help you articulate your goals in a way that supports IDL funding, prepare for your planning meeting, and connect you with the right therapists once your plan is approved.
Use IDL funding strategically
IDL funding is time-limited per plan year. Prioritise supports that will have the most impact on your independence goals — an OT functional assessment early in the plan helps map out the best use of your budget.
NDIS Exercise Physiology: A Closer Look
Exercise physiology is one of the most requested therapies funded under Improved Daily Living, so it is worth understanding in its own right. NDIS exercise physiology uses movement and prescribed exercise to improve physical function, manage chronic health conditions, and build the capacity to take part in everyday life. For NDIS participants it is delivered by an Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP) — a university-qualified allied health professional.
Help Alliance is a support-work provider and does not deliver exercise physiology. The guide below explains what an exercise physiologist does, what they help with, and how the NDIS funds it. If you are not yet an NDIS participant, our NDIS eligibility checker is the place to start; if you already have a plan, this guide will help you make the most of it.
What Is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP)?
An Accredited Exercise Physiologist is a university-qualified allied health professional who specialises in clinical exercise. AEPs prescribe, deliver, and evaluate safe, individualised exercise programs for people with chronic medical conditions, injuries, and disability. Accreditation is awarded by ESSA (Exercise & Sports Science Australia) — the peak professional body and sole accrediting authority for the profession in Australia.
How an AEP is qualified
- ✓ A minimum four-year university degree accredited by ESSA
- ✓ Supervised clinical placement working with people who have health conditions
- ✓ Ongoing professional development to keep accreditation current
- ✓ Trained across cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological, musculoskeletal, cancer, respiratory, kidney, mental health, and chronic-pain conditions
Exercise Physiology vs Physiotherapy vs a Personal Trainer
These three roles are often confused. The simplest way to tell them apart is by what each is trained and qualified to do.
Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP)
A university-qualified allied health professional accredited by ESSA. AEPs prescribe individualised exercise and movement programs to manage chronic conditions and disability, build long-term function, and support independence. They use exercise as the treatment rather than hands-on manual therapy, and do not diagnose.
Physiotherapist
A health professional registered with AHPRA. Physiotherapists diagnose and treat injuries and musculoskeletal conditions — often in the acute or painful stage — and may use hands-on manual therapy such as joint mobilisation, alongside exercise. Physiotherapy is also funded under Improved Daily Living.
Personal Trainer
A fitness professional who works with the general, healthy population, typically holding a fitness certificate rather than a university allied-health degree. Personal trainers are not qualified to prescribe clinical exercise for disability or complex conditions, and are not an NDIS-funded allied health support.
What Exercise Physiology Addresses for Disability
For people with disability, an AEP focuses on function and participation — not just fitness. A program is individually prescribed, but common areas it can target include:
Chronic conditions
Cardiovascular, metabolic (including diabetes), respiratory, neurological and musculoskeletal conditions managed through prescribed exercise.
Functional capacity
Strength, mobility, balance and endurance for everyday tasks — transferring, walking, and moving safely at home and in the community.
Falls prevention
Targeted balance and strength programs that reduce the risk of falls for people with mobility, neurological or age-related conditions.
Mental health
Structured exercise as part of managing depression, anxiety and psychosocial disability — one of the pathology areas within an AEP's scope.
Chronic pain
Graded, paced exercise that helps people manage persistent pain and rebuild confidence in movement.
Long-term self-management
Education and habit-building so participants can keep exercising safely and independently over time.
How Exercise Physiology Is Funded Under the NDIS
Exercise physiology is a Capacity Building support. It is commonly funded under Improved Daily Living or the closely related Improved Health and Wellbeing category, depending on how your plan is structured and the goals your program supports. You can compare these on our NDIS funding categories guide.
As with every NDIS support, the funding must be reasonable and necessary and linked to your disability-related goals. NDIS funding covers the AEP's clinical services — the initial assessment, your individualised program, and supervised sessions — rather than general gym memberships or mainstream fitness training.
How to Access It and What a Program Involves
Set a goal that exercise can support
Exercise physiology is funded when it connects to a plan goal — for example, building strength to transfer safely, staying active to manage a chronic condition, or improving balance to reduce falls. Frame the goal around function and participation rather than general fitness.
Check how it is funded in your plan
Look for Improved Daily Living or Improved Health and Wellbeing funding in your Capacity Building budget. If it is not there yet, a report from a treating health professional recommending exercise physiology can help you add it at your next plan review.
Choose an Accredited Exercise Physiologist
Check the practitioner is ESSA-accredited — you can find one near you and confirm their accreditation status through ESSA's official 'find an accredited exercise professional' search. If your plan is NDIA-managed you will need a registered provider; plan-managed and self-managed participants can also see non-registered AEPs. Many deliver sessions in a clinic, gym, your home, or by telehealth.
Assessment, program, and review
A typical program begins with an assessment of your health, movement, and goals, followed by an individualised exercise program that is supervised and progressed over time. Your AEP can write progress reports that become useful evidence at your next plan review.
Where Help Alliance fits in: we do not provide exercise physiology, but our support workers can help you get to and from AEP appointments and stay consistent with your program at home, and our support coordinators can help you find a suitable AEP and use your Improved Daily Living budget well across Perth's northern suburbs.
Frequently Asked Questions — NDIS Improved Daily Living
Need Support Coordination in Perth?
A good Support Coordinator helps you maximise your Improved Daily Living budget by connecting you with the right therapists and ensuring your plan goals are set up to attract the funding you need. Help Alliance provides support coordination across Perth's northern suburbs.