Community Participation

What is NDIS Community Participation?

Community Participation — sometimes called Social and Community Participation — is NDIS funding that helps you do the things that matter to you outside the home. Sport, hobbies, social groups, gym, art classes, faith communities, volunteering, study, work readiness — the things that make a life, not just a household.

It's funded under Core Supports → Assistance with Social and Community Participation or, for higher needs, Capacity Building → Increased Social and Community Participation. The two are often confused — they fund similar activities but they're calculated differently and have different purposes.

What can Community Participation funding pay for?

Community Participation funding usually pays for the support, not ordinary everyday costs such as tickets, meals, memberships or purchases. Those costs may need to be paid separately unless they are specifically included in your plan and meet NDIS funding rules.

Community Participation funding can pay for the support you need to take part in community, social, recreational, cultural, faith-based, volunteering or skill-building activities.

This may include:

• Support worker hours to attend community activities with you.
• Group programs such as art classes, music groups, social clubs, men’s or women’s groups.
• Sport and fitness participation, such as support to attend the gym, swimming, walking groups or adapted sports.
• Cultural and recreational outings, such as markets, museums, movies, concerts or community events.
• Hobby and interest groups, such as gaming, gardening, photography, crafts or other social interests.
• Volunteering, where support is needed to participate safely and confidently.
• Skill-building and work-readiness activities, where the goal is to build independence, routines, communication, confidence or future employment capacity.
• Faith and cultural participation, such as attending religious services, cultural gatherings or community celebrations.

"Increased" Social & Community Participation — what does that mean?

"Increased Social and Community Participation" is a Capacity Building line item. It's funded when your goal is to build skills — learning to use public transport independently, building confidence in social settings, developing the skills to attend an activity without staff. The aim is to reduce reliance on paid support over time.

Regular Social and Community Participation (Core Supports) is more open — it pays for ongoing support to do activities you enjoy, whether or not you're building toward independence in them.

Innovative Community Participation

Innovative Community Participation is a Capacity Building support under Increased Social and Community Participation. It is designed for new or flexible ways to help a participant build skills, confidence and independence so they can take part in mainstream community, social or recreational activities.

This may include non-traditional or tailored supports where they are clearly linked to the participant’s NDIS goals and are reasonable and necessary — for example, mentoring, supported participation in mainstream groups, creative or interest-based activities, or community connection projects.

It is not a general “anything goes” funding bucket. The support still needs to match the participant’s plan, be properly documented, and show how it builds capacity for social and community participation.

How Prospect Hill supports Community Participation

Our approach is simple: you call the shots, we help you get there. We don't run cookie-cutter day programs. Instead, we work with you to identify what you actually want to do, whether that's a regular gym session, a weekly art class, learning to ride the bus to a particular destination, or trying something new every fortnight.

Where we run group activities, they're small (3–6 participants), interest-led, and staffed by support workers who know the people involved. Where 1:1 support is the right fit, we provide it. Where you want to attend a mainstream community activity (gym, sports club, faith service) we go with you and gradually fade support as you build confidence.

Who is Community Participation for?

It's for NDIS participants who:

• Want to be more involved in their local community
• Need support to attend activities safely
• Are working on social skills, communication, or independence goals
• Want to combat social isolation
• Are exploring work or study but aren't ready for SLES yet

It pairs well with SIL — participants living in our SIL homes use Community Participation funding to access activities outside the home — but it's also widely used by participants living independently or with family.

Getting Community Participation funded

Community Participation funding is still available under the NDIS, but it should no longer be treated as an “easy” or automatic part of a plan.

Following the 2026 Budget announcements, the Government has made clear that social, civic and community participation budgets are being targeted for reduction. Official material says these budgets will be progressively adjusted from 1 October 2026, and separate Government guidance says budget allocations for social, civic and community participation supports will be reduced by 50% as part of the reset. Capacity-building daily activity budgets are also proposed to reduce by 10%.

That means participants, families and providers will need to be much more specific about why the support is disability-related, what goal it connects to, and what outcome it is expected to achieve.

To request Community Participation, be clear at your planning meeting about:

• What activity you want to access — for example, sport, volunteering, social groups, cultural events, faith activities, community outings or skill-building programs.
• Why you need support to participate — for example, communication, behaviour support, transport assistance, personal care, prompting, supervision, safety, anxiety, decision-making or building social confidence.
• What outcome the support is building toward — for example, greater independence, reduced isolation, improved daily routine, safer community access, stronger social connection or future work readiness.
• What evidence supports the request — reports or letters from an OT, psychologist, behaviour support practitioner, support coordinator, LAC, GP, allied health professional, school, day program or provider can help.

The strongest requests will show that Community Participation is not just a lifestyle preference. It is a reasonable and necessary disability support linked to the participant’s goals, functional needs and evidence. With the Government moving to tighten “reasonable and necessary” guidance and reset community participation budgets, vague requests are likely to become harder to defend.

Why choose Prospect Hill for Community Participation

We've been delivering NDIS supports across NSW and QLD. Our community participation work isn't bolted on to our SIL service — it's a core part of how we work with every participant. We accept plan-managed and NDIA-managed participants.