Webinar for disability providers

NDIS Plan Budgets in 2027: What the I-CAN Assessment Means for Your Participants and Organisation

📆 Tuesday 17 November 2026 | ⏰ 12:00 – 12:45pm AEDT
💻 Free online event

This I-CAN assessment webinar explores how the new NDIS Support Needs Assessment is intended to inform participant budgets from April 2027. Hosted by AlayaCare, a care management software provider for home, community and residential care, the session features occupational therapist Kezia Kingston. We’ll examine the published evidence, what is still being finalised and how disability providers can prepare.

What is changing for NDIS plan budgets in 2027?

From April 2027, the NDIS is scheduled to begin moving participants to new framework planning. A new Support Needs Assessment, including a core assessment based on a customised version of the I-CAN, will inform individual participant budgets.

Some changes start earlier. Changes to reasonable and necessary criteria are scheduled from February 2027, with progressive application to existing participants when their plans are reassessed.

For disability providers, this could affect participant plans, referrals and revenue. Understanding what is confirmed, and what is still being finalised, can help you decide which questions to ask now.

What You'll Learn

What will you learn in this I-CAN assessment webinar?

What is confirmed about the 2027 timeline, and what is still being finalised
What the published I-CAN research shows, and where it stops.
Which participants and providers may feel the impact first.
The questions to ask of your own numbers now.

The session will also explore which participants a single assessment may serve least well, including people with cognitive, psychosocial or changing support needs. Kezia will discuss the role of treating clinicians and the evidence they contribute.

For provider leaders, we’ll look at exposure points worth checking now: participant concentration, thin-margin services, referral diversity and admin-heavy delivery. The focus is on the financial questions you should be able to answer quickly, whatever the assessment model looks like.

A live Q&A will follow the session, giving you the opportunity to put your questions to the speaker

What does the I-CAN evidence mean for providers?

This session explores what the published I-CAN research shows, and where it stops. Kezia Kingston will explain why she questions whether that evidence supports using the tool to set individual participant budgets.

The NDIA describes I-CAN as a validated needs assessment tool. Kezia will explore the distinction between assessing support needs and using assessment information to set an individual budget.

You’ll hear a plain-English discussion of the research and the questions it raises for providers. We’ll also consider what the assessment approach could mean for the stability of your organisation, without assuming a particular budget outcome.

For background, read the NDIA’s explanation of the assessment tool. Its original rollout timetable has since changed; use the current legislation summary linked above for timing.

Meet the Speaker

Meet the speaker

Kezia Kingston

Occupational therapist

Founder & CEO, Staying Independent
Founder, LearnAble & Audora

Kezia Kingston is an occupational therapist with more than a decade of clinical experience across acute, palliative and community care at St Vincent’s Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital. In 2024 she founded Staying Independent as a sole trader with no clients, staff or outside capital. Fully bootstrapped, it now supports more than 200 participants with a team of around 30, specialising in the high-complexity participants other providers turn away: complex mental health, justice involvement, substance use, and young people with cognitive disability.

Kezia is the founder of LearnAble and Audora, AI platforms built on her proprietary Cognitive Mobility™ and Cognitive Accessibility Layer™ frameworks, which give people with cognitive disability equitable access to technology.

She speaks nationally and internationally on healthcare efficiency, designing technology that works for every mind, and building and scaling start-ups in healthcare.

At the 2026 Australian Allied Health Awards, Staying Independent was joint winner of Adult Team Excellence and Kezia was a finalist for Impact and Innovation.

In 2025 she was awarded Global Entrepreneur of the Year in Healthcare, Business NSW Most Outstanding New Business (Sydney, 2025), and AFR Most Innovative Companies finalist (2025).

Register now

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Frequently asked questions

The I-CAN is the Instrument for the Classification and Assessment of Support Needs, developed by the Centre for Disability Studies. It is an interview-based tool used to assess a person’s support needs.

Source: Centre for Disability Studies: I-CAN.

The proposed NDIS support needs assessment includes a core assessment based on a modified version of I-CAN version 6. Assessment information will inform budgets under new framework planning. The rollout is scheduled to begin from April 2027, with participants moving to the new approach over time.

Source: NDIA: summary of legislation changes.

The NDIA says rules for the new planning approach are still being developed. This webinar will distinguish confirmed changes from details still being finalised.

Source: NDIA: summary of legislation changes.

This webinar is for disability provider leaders and teams responsible for participant services, referrals, financial planning and operational decisions. It will also be relevant to clinicians interested in the evidence behind the assessment approach.

The webinar takes place online on Tuesday 17 November 2026 at 12pm AEDT. A live Q&A will follow the session.

The session will explore the evidence behind the assessment approach and questions providers should consider. It will not predict an individual participant’s budget or provide individual funding advice.

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