Think Before You Move: Why NDIS Participants with Parkinson’s Should Think Very Carefully Before Switching to My Aged Care at 65
Do I have to leave the NDIS when I turn 65?
The short answer – No. You do not have to leave the NDIS when you turn 65.
If you are already an NDIS participant when you reach your 65th birthday, the law allows you to stay. But here is the critical point that this article wants you to really understand: once you leave, you cannot come back. That makes this one of the most important decisions you will ever make about your care.
This article explains what the law actually says, what you stand to lose by moving to My Aged Care (now called Support at Home), and why, for most people living with a progressive neurological condition like Parkinson’s, staying on the NDIS is almost certainly the better choice.*
What does the law actually say?
The rules around the NDIS and age are set out in the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth) (the NDIS Act).
- Getting in: Under section 22(1)(a) of the NDIS Act, a person who is aged 65 or over at the time they apply for access to the NDIS will not meet the legislative age requirement. They will not be eligible to become an NDIS participant, nor to receive NDIS-funded disability supports.
- Staying in: This is the part many people don’t realise. If you become a participant in the NDIS before your 65th birthday, you can remain a participant and receive ongoing NDIS-funded disability supports over your lifetime.
- When you ARE required to leave: Under section 29(1)(b) of the NDIS Act, if the participant enters a residential care service when the person first turns 65 years of age, then their NDIS plan would cease. The same is true if the aged care system provides a person with a Support at Home package for home care.
- The irreversible part: Once you leave the NDIS for aged care, you cannot return. Unlike My Aged Care, the NDIS is not means tested. Your funding is based on support needs rather than income or assets.
In plain language: the trigger that ends your NDIS participation is not your birthday. It is the moment you choose to enter the aged care system, either by moving into a residential aged care facility after 65, or by starting to receive home care services through the aged care system for the first time after 65. It is then permanent and it is final.
You must leave the NDIS if you start getting home care services permanently for the first time after you turn 65. But if you choose to stay put and keep receiving NDIS supports, nothing changes.
What is Support at Home, and how does it compare?
My Aged Care (MAC) is the government’s aged care system. From 1 November 2025, the system that used to provide Home Care Packages has been replaced by a new program called Support at Home. There are eight ongoing service classifications, ranging from $10,731 per year at Classification 1 up to $78,106 per year at Classification 8.
On paper, $78,106 at the highest level sounds significant. But when you compare it properly to what the NDIS provides, the picture looks very different — particularly for people with a progressive condition like Parkinson’s.
Six reasons people with Parkinson’s should think very carefully before leaving the NDIS
1. The NDIS is not means-tested. Support at Home is.
This is one of the biggest differences between the two systems, and it matters enormously.
The NDIS is not means tested and is not income or asset tested. This means that people with a disability will be able to access the NDIS regardless of their financial circumstances.
Support at Home is different. Your level of financial contribution is calculated based on your income and assets. If you own your home, have savings, or receive a reasonable income, you may be required to pay co-contributions toward your care. There is a $135,318 lifetime cap on care costs (current as of 1 November 2025), so you will never pay more than this over time. Your care provider can deduct up to 10% of your quarterly budget for care management.
That 10% administration deduction comes straight off the top before you access a single service. And for many people with Parkinson’s who have worked hard and own assets, the means testing can significantly reduce the value of what they receive.
The NDIS does not ask what is in your bank account. It asks what you need.
2. NDIS funding is individualised. Support at Home is capped by classification.
Your NDIS plan is built around you — your specific symptoms, goals, daily challenges, and the way your Parkinson’s affects your life. Plans for people with progressive neurological conditions can be substantial, particularly when they include allied health therapies, assistive technology, home modifications, supported independent living, and behaviour support.
Support at Home works on a classification system. Annual funding ranges from $10,731 at Classification 1 up to $78,106 at Classification 8. Even at the top level, this is a hard cap. There is no equivalent of a highly individualised NDIS plan that can reflect the real and escalating cost of living with advanced Parkinson’s.
For context, the Neurological Alliance Australia — of which Parkinson’s Australia is a member — has noted that Home Care Packages are means tested and the subsidy amount is limited or capped, in contrast to NDIS support which is not means tested and has no equivalent cap.
3. The aged care system is not designed for disability. It is designed for ageing.
These are not the same thing.
The aged care system is built around the frailty and needs of older Australians as they age. Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition. The kind of support it requires — intensive physiotherapy, speech pathology, occupational therapy, assistive technology, neurological behaviour support, and specialised allied health — is deeply disability-specific.
The NDIS provides funded supports to eligible participants under 65, with existing participants able to remain on the scheme after turning 65. Aged care, through the Support at Home program, serves older Australians with care needs. In theory, these are separate systems with separate eligibility criteria. In practice, the supports available through aged care are simply not equivalent to what a well-built NDIS plan can provide for someone with a complex, progressive neurological condition.
There is a reason the NDIS exists as a separate system. If your disability needs are complex, specialised, or unlikely to be well-understood in an aged care context, staying on NDIS may let you keep access to support that aged care simply won’t fund.
4. Parkinson’s is a progressive condition. The NDIS is built for that. Aged care is not.
This point cannot be overstated. Parkinson’s changes over time. Your support needs at 65 will not be the same as your support needs at 70 or 75. A condition that progresses requires a system that can respond to that progression.
The NDIS is designed around the concept of reasonable and necessary supports — funding that tracks your actual, changing needs. Your plan can be reviewed and updated as your condition progresses.
Support at Home has a reassessment process, but it is a classified funding system with defined levels. If a participant’s existing budget cannot meet their needs, they may need to be reassessed to receive a higher classification and budget. Reassessment takes time. For a disease that can escalate quickly — particularly in relation to falls, swallowing, communication, and cognitive changes — delays in accessing the right level of support can have serious consequences.
Under the NDIS, your plan can also fund capacity building, allied health therapies and interventions specifically designed to slow functional decline and maintain independence. This philosophy of building capacity, not just managing decline, is central to how Parkinson’s should be managed. It is not the central philosophy of aged care.
5. You cannot go back.
This is the most important point of all, and it deserves its own section.
There is no automatic transition out of the scheme for NDIS participants once you turn 65. You can remain in the NDIS over 65. You cannot use the NDIS and My Aged Care at the same time. Once you leave the NDIS for aged care, you cannot return.
This is not a temporary switch that you can undo if aged care doesn’t work out. It is permanent. The age criterion under section 22(1)(a) of the NDIS Act applies to new access requests, and because you are over 65, you will not meet it. If you choose to leave the NDIS, you cannot ask for an internal review. This is because if you ask in writing to leave the NDIS, then the law says the NDIA must remove you from the NDIS.
The only exception, and it is a very narrow one, would be if the NDIA were to make a decision about your eligibility that you could appeal. Simply choosing to leave is not appealable. You asked to go. You have gone.
There are many situations in which a person might feel pressure to move to aged care: a well-meaning family member who thinks it is the “normal” thing to do at 65, a provider suggesting the switch, or confusion about what the rules actually are. The law is clear: no one can force you to leave the NDIS simply because you have turned 65.
6. Support at Home carries co-contributions and waiting periods that the NDIS does not
Support at Home participants may be required to pay a basic daily fee and income-tested contributions toward certain services. These costs accumulate over time. Even the highest classification (Classification 8, $78,106 per year) is subject to the 10% care management deduction, means testing, and co-contributions.
There was also, until very recently, an active controversy about co-contributions applying to personal care. The federal government has confirmed it will scrap plans to charge older Australians for basic personal care tasks like showering, dressing and continence support delivered at home under the Support at Home programme. However, it is important to note that this policy reversal was hard-won, and there is no guarantee that future governments will not revisit it.
The NDIS, by contrast, charges no co-contribution for funded supports. What the NDIA approves in your plan is funded in full.
So when might it make sense to move to aged care?
Staying on the NDIS is the right choice for most people with Parkinson’s who are already participants. However, there are some circumstances where a move to Support at Home might be considered, including:
- If your support needs are genuinely minimal and the funding levels in Support at Home are sufficient for your needs
- If you are moving into residential aged care by choice, note that this will end your NDIS participation anyway
- If the specific services you need are more readily available through aged care providers in your area
- If you are a First Nations person who may choose to access aged care from age 50
Even in these situations, get independent advice before you decide. Speak to a disability advocate, your Parkinson’s organisation, or a support coordinator who knows both systems.
What to do if someone tells you that you have to leave the NDIS at 65
You do not. The law does not require it.
If you receive a letter, a call, or advice from someone suggesting that you must transition to aged care because you have turned 65, you have the right to push back. You can:
- Contact the NDIA directly and confirm your right to remain a participant
- Speak to a disability advocate. The National Disability Advocacy Program can help connect you with free, independent advocates
The NDIS Guideline on Leaving the NDIS (published August 2025) makes clear that leaving is a choice, not a requirement, for participants who turn 65.
A note on the Aged Care Act 2024
It is worth knowing that the aged care system itself changed significantly with the passage of the Aged Care Act 2024, which limits access to all aged care services to those aged 65 and over. This means that if you leave the NDIS and enter the aged care system, you are entering a system that now has a formal age boundary — and from which, given the NDIS age rules, you cannot return.
The interface between the two systems has been described by researchers as a significant policy gap. Age 65 sets a precise boundary between the two systems, but they overlap in practice. From the NDIS perspective, participants entering the scheme before age 65 can continue after reaching age 65 or elect to transfer to an aged care programme for either community or residential care. The limit for entry to the NDIS is thus more clear-cut than exit.
That word “elect” matters. It is a choice. It is your choice. Make it with full information.
The bottom line
Turning 65 with Parkinson’s and an NDIS plan is not a signal to move systems. It is a signal to review your plan, strengthen it where needed, and ensure it reflects where your condition is now and where it is heading.
The NDIS was built to support people with permanent, significant disabilities throughout their lives, regardless of age, regardless of income, and with funding calibrated to real individual need. For someone living with a progressive neurological condition, that framework is enormously valuable.
Once you walk away from it, the law does not allow you to walk back.
*This article provides general information and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Funding rules and legislation can change. Always seek independent advice from a disability advocate or lawyer before making decisions about your care system.
National Disability Advocacy Program: 1800 654 657 | NDIS: 1800 800 110
