Myth:

I will have to wait a long time for my SDA determination.

Fact:

Receiving your initial SDA determination should take no longer than 49 days. If you disagree with your initial SDA determination, you can ask for a review. This process can take several months. 

If you disagree with the reviewed decision, you can go to the AAT. This usually takes an additional 10-11 months.

Exploring the fact

When you submit your evidence for SDA, it will most likely be with a request for an s48 plan reassessment. The NDIA has timelines that it has to stick to, which are made public in the Participant Service Guarantee. For an s48, the NDIA has said that it will ‘decide whether to do a plan reassessment, if you ask us to’ within 21 days and then ‘do a plan reassessment we have agreed to’ within 28 days (21 + 28 = 49). 

If you disagree with the NDIA’s decision about your SDA, you can ask for an internal review of the decision, also called an s100 review. You have 90 days from when your new plan is approved to ask for this. Once received, the NDIA has said that it will ‘review our decisions if we need to’ within 60 days.

If you continue to disagree with the NDIA’s decision about your SDA after the s100 outcome has been provided to you, you can ask for an external review of the decision. This is currently done by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). You have 28 days to lodge this external review request. According to the AAT Annual Report 2022-23, the median time that someone is actively in an AAT process (in the NDIS division) is 45 weeks and 57% of matters at the AAT are finalised within 12 months.

Timeframes:

• s48 plan reassessment outcome - 49 days
• Time limit to submit an s100 review request - 90 days
• s100 review request outcome - 60 days
• Time limit to submit an AAT application - 28 days
• AAT process - approximately 45 weeks (between 10 and 11 months)

Case study 1

Ted submitted his SDA evidence with an s48 plan reassessment request in early July 2023. Within 3 weeks (21 days) he was told that his request had been approved. This means that the NDIA had agreed to proceed with the s48. 

Shortly after, Ted had a meeting with his planner, who said that his evidence would be sent to the Home and Living Panel. Ted’s SDA outcome was provided within 4 weeks (28 days) of the original approval letter. Once approved, Ted’s SDA outcome was added to his NDIS plan within 7 days. 

Ted was satisfied with his SDA outcome. The total time from submission to having SDA in his plan was 56 days (8 weeks).

Case study 2

Similar to Ted, Lily’s initial SDA outcome was added to her plan 56 days (8 weeks) after she submitted her evidence with an s48 reassessment request. However, Lily was not satisfied with her SDA outcome. 

Lily knew that she had 90 days to submit an s100 review request. She submitted it within the timeframe, in 84 days (12 weeks). The NDIA provided her with an outcome within their timeframe, in 56 days (8 weeks). Once approved, Lily’s updated SDA outcome was added to her NDIS plan within 7 days. 

Lily was satisfied with her updated SDA outcome. The total time from submission to having the appropriate SDA in her plan was 203 days (6 months and 3 weeks).

Case study 3

Similar to Lily, Barney’s total time from initially submitting his SDA evidence to having his NDIS plan approved after his s100 review, was 203 days (6 months and 3 weeks). However, the outcome of Barney’s s100 review request was unchanged from his initial SDA outcome. 

Barney decided to submit an application to the AAT. He knew that the timeframe for this was 28 days, and submitted 21 days (3 weeks) after his new plan was approved. Barney’s case was standard for the AAT and it took 45 weeks (between 10 and 11 months) for them to make a decision. The AAT decided that Barney’s evidence was sound and that his plan should be updated to reflect his new SDA outcome. The NDIA then approved the new plan in 7 days.

From initial submission to the end of the AAT process (including his new plan being approved), the total time for Barney to receive appropriate SDA was 546 days (1 Year, 5 months, and 4 weeks).

Any questions?

Contact our NDIS Housing Advice Line on 1300 61 64 63 from Monday-Friday, 10am-3pm (AEDT).

Learn more about SDA

• Find out if you are likely to be eligible for SDA with our easy-to-use SDA Eligibility Checker!
• The Housing Hub has great resources to help people understand SDA!  You can learn more about different types of housing and places to live here. 
• The Housing Hub also provides free information sessions about SDA and you can find more out here.
• To keep up to date with accessible housing news, events, stories and NDIS, updates, you can subscribe here.