A short explainer on the support category that funds plan management, and why getting the right wording on your plan matters at review time.
- "Improved Life Choices" (ILC) is the NDIS support category that funds plan management services
- It sits under Capacity Building (Category 07) — entirely separate from Core and Capital supports
- Your plan must explicitly include an ILC allocation for plan-managed funding to be possible; it is not added automatically
- 2026 ILC rate: approximately $124.57 per month per participant (includes the monthly management fee)
- Establishment fee (charged once at the start of a new plan management arrangement): approximately $233.56
- Common issue at plan review: if the NDIA planner or LAC does not include ILC in the renewed plan, the participant cannot continue with a plan manager
- Plan managers actively monitor plan review dates and expiring ILC allocations to flag this risk early for each participant
- Participants should specifically request ILC at their plan review meeting if they wish to continue with plan management
- Wording to use at plan review: "I would like to continue with plan management services under the Improved Life Choices support category"
- ILC funds are a restricted-use category — they can only be used to pay plan management fees, nothing else
- Plan managers cannot charge above the NDIA rate for ILC — any costs above the price limit must be absorbed by the plan manager, never passed to the participant
