Why this matters for your practice
The Support Catalogue is the file your claiming and practice management software loads, not a document you read once and file. If your software holds a stale copy, a claim against a retired item number is rejected at lodgement, and because the support has usually already been delivered by then, that rejection is unrecoverable revenue rather than a correctable error.
The retirements that cause this are published in a single place: the second tab of the catalogue spreadsheet, labelled "Legacy Support Items". The word "legacy" does not appear anywhere in the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27. Neither does "end date", "expire" or "cease". A full-text search of version 1.2 for each of those terms, plus "discontinued", found zero occurrences. The retirements exist in a spreadsheet tab and are explained in no accompanying document, which is why they are missed.
What is the NDIS Support Catalogue?
The Support Catalogue is the machine-readable list of every support item and its claim type, and it is what practice management and claiming software loads. For 2026-27 the NDIA split the single NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (PAPL) into two documents: a Pricing Schedule, which holds the prices, and a Support Catalogue, which holds the item numbers and claim types. Both are effective 1 July 2026.
The split came with a reframe. The prices providers knew for years as part of the "NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits" now live in the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, and the NDIA describes the figures as "appropriate and reasonable maximum prices". The Pricing Schedule sets out "the support item number, support item name, the unit, and the national, remote and very remote recommended maximum prices for each support item". It is the human-readable price list. Neither document contains the narrative claiming rules that were in the old PAPL.
Support Catalogue or Pricing Schedule: which do I need?
You usually need both, but for different reasons and at different moments. The Schedule is what you read when you are setting prices or drafting a service agreement. The Catalogue is what your software reads every time you lodge a claim.
| Document | What it contains | Who or what uses it | Status for 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 | Item number, name, unit, and national, remote and very remote maximum prices | Humans setting prices and service agreements | Published, effective 1 July 2026, currently version 1.2 |
| NDIS Support Catalogue 2026-27 | Every item and its claim type, plus the legacy sheet | Claiming and practice management software | Published about 1 July 2026, updated to version 1.1 mid-July |
| Full PAPL rules document | Provider travel, non-face-to-face, short-notice cancellation and requested-report rules | Anyone deciding whether a claim is allowed | Not republished for 2026-27, so the 2025-26 PAPL remains the working reference |
The third row matters more than it looks. The catalogue and the schedule together do not tell a provider how travel, non-face-to-face time, cancellations or requested reports may be claimed. As at 3 September 2026 the full 2026-27 rules document has still not been republished, and the NDIA has published no timeline for one.
What are Current and Legacy Support Items?
The catalogue splits into two sheets. "Current Support Items" holds 976 items for 2026-27. "Legacy Support Items" holds 41, each with a date attached.
The difference is the end-date mechanic. A legacy support item is a support item number that still appears in the catalogue but carries a real end date instead of the open-ended 99991231 that every current item carries. You can still claim against it up to and including that date. After it, the item number is dead and the claim fails.
The legacy sheet exists as a runway. When an item is restructured, renamed or split into variants, the old number stays claimable for a period so that quotes already issued, assistive technology already ordered and service agreements already signed do not break on 1 July.
The retirement waves currently on the sheet are:
- 22 items end 30 September 2026, including two community nursing items at $124.05 an hour, the $65.09 plan manager setup fee
14_031_0127_8_3which has no replacement, and 19 assistive technology and home modification items. - 2 items end 31 December 2026.
- 16 items end 30 June 2027. This is the entire Short Term Accommodation ratio series, and no replacement structure has been published.
- 1 item ends 30 September 2027.
The full list with replacement mappings is in the 22 items retiring on 30 September 2026.
Which version am I on, and does it matter?
It matters, because the catalogue is versioned during the year. The Support Catalogue was published around 1 July 2026 and updated to version 1.1 in mid-July 2026, adding the missing SIL provider travel item 01_799_0138_1_1 and renumbering three allied health modifier items effective 3 July 2026. The Pricing Schedule has moved faster: version 1.1 corrected the item numbers for the new psychology items, and version 1.2, issued on 22 July 2026, was published specifically to add clarifying text on provisional psychology claiming.
The practical point is that a file published three weeks into the financial year means the catalogue is not a once-a-year download. You need to check the version you are running against the NDIS Support Catalogue download page and the NDIA pricing arrangements page, and republished rules or addendums will appear on the NDIA pricing-updates page.
What the regulator or assessor expects
The obligations are practical and checkable:
- Software loaded on the current version. A stale catalogue is the single most direct cause of rejected claims on retired items.
- A periodic check of the legacy sheet against your own claim history. If you are claiming against an item number that carries an end date, you need to know that date and what happens after it.
- Quotes and service bookings that cross a retirement date reissued against the replacement number. Where a replacement exists, the quote should name it. Where none exists, as with the plan manager setup fee, the service simply ends.
- Service agreements that name current item numbers. An agreement that names a retired number creates a commitment you cannot claim against.
- Awareness that incorrect payments are recoverable as a debt. Under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013, a payment a provider was not entitled to can be recovered as a debt, and the NDIA runs post-payment assurance reviews.
Common mistakes
Reading only the first sheet. The legacy sheet is the second tab of the catalogue. Anyone who opens the file, checks the current items and closes it has seen nothing about what is retiring.
Treating the catalogue as an annual download. Version 1.1 arrived mid-July 2026 with a missing item added and three item numbers changed. A file downloaded on 1 July was already wrong three weeks later.
Assuming an extension because the date has moved before. Of the 22 items ending 30 September 2026, 13 were previously due to end 31 March 2026 and 8 were previously due to end 31 December 2025. Both dates passed and both were extended. Against that, seven items on the 2025-26 legacy sheet were deleted rather than rolled forward, which is roughly one in four of last year's condemned items dying on schedule, a figure calculated from the archived 2025-26 catalogue rather than published by the NDIA. Whether the 30 September 2026 date will be extended again is unknown. The evidence points both ways.
A blind find and replace on a retired number. Where a retired item is replaced by a narrowed variant, substituting the new number across every claim without checking scope creates claims the replacement item does not cover. The replacement mapping needs to be read item by item.
Assuming the catalogue tells you the claiming rules. It does not. The catalogue lists item numbers and claim types. The rules for travel, non-face-to-face time, cancellations and requested reports sit in the PAPL rules document, which for 2026-27 has not been republished as at 3 September 2026. The 2025-26 PAPL remains the working reference, and the claiming conditions for 2026-27 are not settled.
Frequently asked questions
What is the NDIS Support Catalogue?
The machine-readable list of every NDIS support item and its claim type, effective 1 July 2026. It is one of two documents the NDIA split the old PAPL into, alongside the Pricing Schedule, and it is the file your claiming software loads.
What is the difference between the NDIS Support Catalogue and the Pricing Schedule?
The Pricing Schedule is the human-readable price list: item number, name, unit, and national, remote and very remote maximum prices. The Support Catalogue is the machine-readable item and claim-type list, and the only place the legacy support items and their end dates are published.
What is a legacy support item?
A support item number that still appears in the catalogue but carries a real end date instead of the open-ended 99991231 that current items carry. You can claim against it up to and including that date. After it, the claim fails.
Where does the NDIA publish which support items are retiring?
In one place only: the "Legacy Support Items" sheet of the NDIS Support Catalogue, published on the support catalogue page. It is the second tab, so it is invisible to anyone reading only the first.
How often is the NDIS Support Catalogue updated?
During the year, not just at 1 July. The 2026-27 catalogue was published around 1 July and updated to version 1.1 in mid-July, adding a missing SIL provider travel item and renumbering three allied health modifier items. The Pricing Schedule reached version 1.2 on 22 July 2026.
Does the Support Catalogue tell me how to claim travel or non-face-to-face time?
No. The catalogue lists item numbers and claim types only. The claiming rules for travel, non-face-to-face time, cancellations and requested reports sit in the PAPL rules document, which has not been republished for 2026-27 as at 3 September 2026. The 2025-26 PAPL remains the working reference.
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