What is a functional capacity assessment? An NDIS guide for families and coordinators
Functional assessments · explainer
A functional capacity assessment is a written clinical account of how a person actually manages everyday life, and what support it takes. The NDIA uses it to decide what is funded. A diagnosis says what someone has. A functional capacity assessment says what it costs them.
At Unified Care Solutions a functional assessment is also step one of how we work at every stage of life. This guide covers what the assessment looks at, who can complete one, what it is used for, what a good report contains, and how to prepare.
What it looks at
Function, across the areas the NDIS Act names.
NDIS decisions turn on functional capacity rather than diagnosis. The National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 describes six areas of activity, and a functional capacity assessment is organised around them.
Communication
Understanding others and being understood, in the settings the person is actually in.
Social interaction
Making and keeping relationships, joining in, and managing the unwritten rules.
Learning
Taking in new information and skills at school, in study, or at work.
Mobility
Getting around the home and the community.
Self-care
Personal care, routines, nutrition, and keeping safe.
Self-management
Planning, decisions, money, and the organisation of daily life.
For an autistic or otherwise neurodivergent person, the first two areas usually carry the most weight, and they are also the ones most often described vaguely. "Struggles socially" is not evidence. What happens at recess, in the group chat, at the start of a shift, and what support changes it, is.
Who completes one
A health professional who assesses function.
The NDIA accepts functional evidence from treating health professionals, and it publishes a preference order for the tools it wants to see. For autism, that order is a DSM-5 diagnosis, then the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Vineland-3), then the WHODAS 2.0 for people 17 and over, or the PEDI-CAT for people 16 and under (National Disability Insurance Agency [NDIA], 2026a).
Occupational Therapists complete many functional capacity assessments, and Psychologists complete many for autism and intellectual disability. Ours are written by a Registered Nurse. The tools are the same. What changes is that the diagnostic and medical history gets read and used properly rather than summarised around, and risk is stated as risk, with the mechanism named and the evidence beside it.
What it is used for
Any decision that turns on functional impact.
NDIS access requests
Evidence that an impairment substantially reduces functional capacity, which is what the access criteria test (NDIA, 2026a).
Plan reassessments
The NDIA asks reports to describe the measures used to quantify functional capacity at the start of the plan and how it has changed since (NDIA, 2026b).
Change of circumstances
When needs have changed mid-plan and the evidence on file no longer describes the person.
Outside the NDIS
Education inclusion plans, Disability Support Pension applications, and care planning, where evidence of functional capacity and support needs is required.
A functional capacity assessment example
What a report that does its job contains.
What a typical day involves, what goes well, and where it comes apart, described in plain terms with the clinical data supporting it.
Several measures rather than one adaptive behaviour scale, with structured interview and direct observation where it is needed.
Each functional impact tied to the disability rather than to circumstance, because without that link the support is not fundable.
What is at stake, how it comes about, and what happens if the support is not there.
The supports recommended, why, and how they connect to the person's goals.
Strengths and challenges both stated accurately. A report that softens the challenges is not establishing functional impact.
How to prepare
Bring the everyday, not the best day.
- Gather existing reports: diagnosis, school reports, previous therapy reports, the current NDIS plan.
- Think about what the person does without prompting, and what only happens with a reminder or someone beside them. That difference is the assessment.
- Note what a hard day looks like, not just an average one.
- Tell the assessor who else sees the person regularly. A teacher's or support worker's view corroborates what the family reports.
- Say what you are hoping the report will be used for, so it is written to that purpose.
- Support coordinators can refer directly. What we need from a referrer.
Functional assessments at Unified Care Solutions
Written by a Registered Nurse. Telehealth Australia-wide, in person around Ballarat.
We assess social functioning, the effect of neurodivergence on work or study, and risk, using the Vineland-3, ABAS-3, SRS-2, SPM-2 and D-REF alongside interview and observation. About our functional assessments.
Common questions
What people usually ask.
Is a functional capacity assessment the same as a functional assessment?
In NDIS use the terms are interchangeable. Both describe how a person functions and what support that takes. Neither is a diagnosis.
Does it have to be done by an Occupational Therapist?
No. The NDIA accepts functional evidence from treating health professionals, and names the tools it prefers rather than the profession (NDIA, 2026a). Ours are written by a Registered Nurse.
Can it be done by telehealth?
Yes. Most of a functional capacity assessment is standardised testing and clinical interview, which works well by video. Where part of it needs direct observation, we say so and do that part in person.
How long does the report take?
It depends on the person and what the assessment needs to cover. We give a clear timeframe, and the cost, before anything starts.
References
National Disability Insurance Agency. (2026a). What are examples of disability evidence. https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying/gathering-evidence/what-are-examples-disability-evidence
National Disability Insurance Agency. (2026b). How to write a plan reassessment report. https://www.ndis.gov.au/providers/working-participants/allied-health-professionals/how-write-plan-reassessment-report
National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth). https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2013A00020/latest/text