Last updated: 30 October 2026
If someone has told you your family member needs an NDIS behaviour support plan, you probably have a lot of questions. Who writes it? Will it change how they are supported at home? What if it includes things like locked cupboards or medication? Below we go through who writes the plan, how long it should take, how it’s paid for in 2026-27, and where you fit in as family.
We are a registered NDIS provider in Western Sydney. We do not write behaviour support plans, but our support workers follow them every day, so we see how they work in real homes.
Key takeaways
- A behaviour support plan sets out positive, practical strategies to improve a person’s quality of life and reduce behaviours of concern.
- Only an NDIS behaviour support practitioner the NDIS Commission considers suitable can write a plan, working through a registered specialist behaviour support provider.
- When a plan includes a regulated restrictive practice, an interim plan is due within 1 month and a comprehensive plan within 6 months of the provider being engaged.
- Specialist behaviour support is usually funded from support category 11 in your plan, with a 2026-27 national price limit of $252.99 an hour.
- Families must be consulted, and you can raise concerns, ask for a review or change provider if the plan is not working.
Contents
- What is positive behaviour support?
- Who writes a behaviour support plan?
- Interim and comprehensive plans: the timeframes
- What is in a behaviour support plan?
- How behaviour support is funded in 2026-27
- Your role as a family
- How support workers use the plan day to day
- Reviews and what to do if the plan isn’t working
- Behaviour support with Skillwise in Western Sydney
- Frequently asked questions
What is positive behaviour support?
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission describes positive behaviour support as an approach that helps people with disability live their best life. It helps others understand why a person acts a certain way and how to better support them to meet their needs.
The key idea is that behaviour has a reason. A person might hit out because they are in pain, overwhelmed by noise, bored, or unable to tell people what they want. Positive behaviour support looks for that reason and changes the things around the person, rather than just trying to stop the behaviour.
These strategies are written down in a behaviour support plan, often called a BSP. Some plans also include restrictive practices. We cover restrictive practices in more depth in our guide to restrictive practices in the NDIS.
Who writes a behaviour support plan?
A plan is written by an NDIS behaviour support practitioner. The Commission defines this as a person the Commission considers suitable to carry out functional behaviour assessments and write behaviour support plans. Practitioners go through a suitability assessment that looks at their qualifications and experience.
The practitioner works for, or is engaged by, a specialist behaviour support provider. These providers must be registered with the NDIS Commission for the registration group 0110 Specialist positive behaviour support, according to the Commission’s rules page.
How to find a practitioner
- Ask your support coordinator, if you have one, for names of practitioners with experience in your family member’s disability.
- Check the Commission’s register of NDIS behaviour support practitioners.
- Read the Commission’s plain English fact sheet on choosing a specialist behaviour support provider.
- Sign a written service agreement before work starts. The date of that agreement matters for the timeframes below.
Interim and comprehensive plans: the timeframes
There are two types of plan. The Commission’s position statement on the plan workflow describes them like this.
| Interim plan | Comprehensive plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Keeping the person and others safe while a full assessment happens | A full, long-term plan based on a functional behaviour assessment |
| Length | A short document | A detailed document |
| What it covers | Behaviours of concern, general preventive and response strategies, and any restrictive practices to be used | Why the behaviour happens, changes to the environment, skill building, response strategies, and how any restrictive practices will be reduced and stopped |
| Timeframe (plans with a regulated restrictive practice) | Within 1 month of the provider being engaged | Within 6 months of the provider being engaged |
These timeframes come from section 19 of the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018. A provider is “engaged” from the date of the service agreement, or from a start date written into it.
Strictly, the legal timeframes only apply to plans that contain a regulated restrictive practice. The Commission says practitioners should still use them as a guide for all plans, as part of safe and quality service.
There is also a timeframe on the provider who uses the practice. If a regulated restrictive practice will be used on an ongoing basis, the implementing provider must engage a specialist behaviour support provider so that an interim plan is in place within 1 month, and a comprehensive plan within 6 months, of when the practice was first used.
What is in a behaviour support plan?
A good plan reads like a guide to the person, not a list of rules. The Commission’s fact sheet on what to expect says a comprehensive plan should help people understand the person better, make changes to their home, school or workplace, and help them learn new skills.
The functional behaviour assessment
A comprehensive plan must be based on a functional behaviour assessment. The Rules define this as the process for working out the function or purpose behind a person’s behaviour. The practitioner may collect data, observe the person, read reports and talk to the people in their life to understand what triggers and maintains the behaviour.
Common parts of a plan
- A description of the person, their strengths, communication and what matters to them
- The behaviours of concern, described clearly
- What the assessment found about why the behaviour happens
- Proactive strategies, such as routines, visual schedules or changes to the environment
- Skills to teach, such as new ways to ask for a break
- What to do when the behaviour happens, and how to help everyone calm down afterwards
- Any regulated restrictive practices, with a plan to reduce and stop them
If the plan includes a restrictive practice
Under section 21 of the Rules, a regulated restrictive practice in a plan must be clearly written, used only as a last resort, for the shortest time possible, in proportion to the risk of harm, and be the least restrictive option. It must also be authorised under the state or territory process. The Commission is clear that high risk practices should never be in a behaviour support plan.
In NSW, the implementing provider seeks authorisation through a Restrictive Practices Authorisation (RPA) panel. The NSW Department of Communities and Justice RPA fact sheet explains that informed consent from the participant or their guardian is still needed, and that a full authorisation lasts no more than 12 months or until the plan expires, whichever comes first.
How behaviour support is funded in 2026-27
Specialist behaviour support is a capacity building support. In the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, which took effect on 1 July 2026, the main items sit in support category 11. Check with your planner or plan manager how this funding appears in your own plan, because plan layouts are changing under the new planning framework.
| Support item | Item number | National price limit |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist Behavioural Intervention Support (direct, non-face-to-face, telehealth or NDIA requested reports) | 11_022_0110_7_3 | $252.99 per hour |
| Specialist Behavioural Intervention Support, provider travel | 11_022_0110_7_3_PT | $126.50 per hour |
| Behaviour Management Plan Implementation (direct, non-face-to-face, telehealth or NDIA requested reports) | 11_023_0110_7_3 | $252.99 per hour |
| Behaviour Management Plan Implementation, provider travel | 11_023_0110_7_3_PT | $126.50 per hour |
Price limits are the most a provider can charge. Remote and very remote limits are higher. Ask your practitioner for a written quote that shows how many hours they expect the assessment, the plan, training and reviews to take, so you can check it fits your budget.
The time support workers spend following the plan is not claimed from these items. It is part of the support they are already delivering, such as SIL or community participation.
Your role as a family
You know your family member better than anyone. The Rules require the specialist behaviour support provider to consult with the participant and their family, guardian or other relevant people when developing a plan with a restrictive practice, and to explain any proposed practice in a format the person can understand.
Practical ways to help
- Share history: past plans, reports, what has worked and what has not.
- Describe the good days as well as the hard ones. Strengths shape good strategies.
- Keep simple notes of what happened before, during and after difficult moments.
- Ask questions until you understand every strategy, especially any restrictive practice.
- Join the training if you can, so home and services use the same approach.
The person themselves should be at the centre. The Commission’s fact sheet says the person should be involved, feel safe to ask questions and have a say in the things that matter to them.
How support workers use the plan day to day
A provider that delivers supports and follows a behaviour support plan is called an implementing provider. Any provider that uses a regulated restrictive practice must be registered with the NDIS Commission and audited against the Module 2A practice standard for implementing behaviour support plans.
In daily practice, implementing a plan usually looks like this:
- Training. The practitioner trains the team in the plan, including when and how to use any restrictive practice.
- Proactive strategies first. Workers follow routines, offer choices and adjust the environment as the plan says.
- Consistent responses. When behaviour happens, workers respond the way the plan describes, not their own way.
- Records. Workers write shift notes and incident reports. The provider must keep written records of any regulated restrictive practice used.
- Reporting. The provider reports the use of authorised practices to the Commission each month, within 5 business days of month end, even when a practice was not used. Any unauthorised restrictive practice is a reportable incident and must be reported within 5 business days.
In our team’s experience, plans work best when every worker on the roster has read the plan and the same small strategies are used every shift.
Reviews and what to do if the plan isn’t working
Under section 22 of the Rules, a comprehensive plan that includes a regulated restrictive practice must be reviewed if the person’s situation changes, or at least every 12 months. The implementing provider must tell the specialist behaviour support provider when something happens that means the plan needs a review.
If you have concerns
The Commission’s fact sheet on what to do if you are not happy suggests these steps:
- Talk to someone you trust about what to do next.
- Raise your concerns with the specialist behaviour support provider, if you feel safe to, and try to fix them together.
- Ask the practitioner to review the plan if strategies are not working or things have changed.
- Make a complaint to the NDIS Commission on 1800 035 544 if you are not satisfied.
- End the service or change provider. Your service agreement explains how, and you choose what information is shared with the new provider.
If you are worried that workers are not following the plan, speak to the implementing provider’s manager as well. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 000.
Behaviour support with Skillwise in Western Sydney
To be clear about our role: Skillwise does not write behaviour support plans. Plans are written by an external NDIS behaviour support practitioner that you choose.
What we do is follow and implement the plan as written, as part of our Supported Independent Living and community participation supports. We keep the shift notes, incident records and restrictive practice records the rules require, and we let the practitioner know when we think a review is needed. We also support people with autism and intellectual disability, where behaviour support plans are common.
If you would like to talk about how we would work with your family member’s plan, contact our team.
You may also find these guides useful:
- What Is SIL in the NDIS? Supported Independent Living Explained
- NDIS Service Agreement: What to Check Before You Sign
- How to Change NDIS Provider: A Step-by-Step Guide
Frequently asked questions
Does everyone with challenging behaviour need a behaviour support plan?
No. A plan is usually recommended when behaviour affects the person’s quality of life or safety. A plan is required when a regulated restrictive practice will be used on an ongoing basis.
Can our support provider write the behaviour support plan?
Only if they are a registered specialist behaviour support provider using an NDIS behaviour support practitioner. Most day-to-day support providers, including Skillwise, implement plans rather than write them.
How long does it take to get a plan?
Where a regulated restrictive practice is involved, an interim plan is due within 1 month and a comprehensive plan within 6 months of the provider being engaged. The Commission expects the same timeframes to guide other plans.
How much does a behaviour support practitioner cost?
The 2026-27 national price limit for Specialist Behavioural Intervention Support is $252.99 an hour. Ask for a written quote of expected hours before you sign.
How often is a behaviour support plan reviewed?
A comprehensive plan with a regulated restrictive practice must be reviewed at least every 12 months, or sooner if the person’s situation changes.
Can we say no to a restrictive practice in the plan?
You should be consulted and have the practice explained clearly. In NSW, informed consent from the participant or their guardian is needed for authorisation. If you disagree, raise it with the practitioner and, if needed, the NDIS Commission.
Support near you in Western Sydney
Skillwise is based in Rooty Hill and supports NDIS participants across the region. Read about our NDIS support in Blacktown, NDIS support in Mount Druitt, NDIS support in Rooty Hill and NDIS support in St Marys, or see all the areas we cover.
