Schedule 1, Part 7
When a plan can be suspended because the participant cannot be reached
From 1 October 2026 the Agency can suspend a plan after at least five documented attempts to reach the participant over a period of three to four months, and can revoke participant status after 90 days of suspension.
What does the provision require?
New section 40A allows the CEO to suspend a plan where the Agency has tried hard enough to reach the participant and cannot make contact. The attempt test is precise: at least five attempts using the channel the person prefers, with the last attempt at least three months and not more than four months after the first, and at least one written attempt where the preferred form is not writing. An attempt does not count if the CEO learns that the person was in hospital or other institutional care, or was homeless, at the time.
The plan is suspended from the day stated in a written notice. If the participant contacts the Agency within 90 days, the CEO must within 28 days either end the suspension or request information or reports. A suspended plan still renews under section 50A and the suspension carries into the new plan. Subsection 30(1A) adds a ground to revoke participant status where the person cannot be contacted, or where the plan has been suspended for at least 90 days.
Why does it matter to an insurer or a provider?
A suspended plan stops provider revenue without ending the participant relationship, and a provider may keep delivering on the assumption that payment will follow. The insurer sees this as a business interruption and a receivables risk. The 90 day revocation ground also means a participant can leave the scheme altogether, which changes the liability position for a claim that assumed ongoing NDIS funding.
What did the amendment change?
There was no suspension ground for a participant who could not be contacted. The Act creates the power, sets a minimum contact standard, protects people who were in hospital or homeless at the time of an attempt, and adds a revocation ground after 90 days of suspension. Both decisions are reviewable.
Suggested evidence
These are the publisher's control suggestions, not statutory requirements. The provision's own requirement is above; an auditor or regulator decides what is sufficient.
- The contact log with each attempt, its date, channel and outcome
- The written attempt where the preferred channel was not in writing
- The written suspension notice and the day it takes effect
- The participant's contact with the Agency and the 28 day response
- Any revocation decision and the 90 day suspension history
What should be done before the date?
- Add a suspended plan flag to the provider revenue report
- Check whether the policy responds while a plan is suspended but supports continue
- Confirm the insured's own contact records could not be confused with the Agency's attempt test
What the text does not say
The text does not define reasonable attempts beyond the numerical test. It does not require the Agency to tell a provider that a plan is suspended. It does not say what a provider may claim for supports delivered during a suspension.
Where this sits
section 40A and section 30(1A), inserted by items 79 and 83 in Schedule 1, Part 7, Plan suspension etc. (items 77 to 87). Read the official text at https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2026A00066/latest/text. The record was read on 21 October 2026.
Not legal advice; does not certify. This page is a reading of the provision in our own words, not a reproduction of it, and not advice on your own facts.