Moving House With NDIS Supports: A Care-Team Handover Checklist

Moving interstate with NDIS: what should you check first?

The NDIA asks you to tell it about a move, including a move to another state, changes to contact details and changes to disability support or informal support. Use its change-of-situation guidance and explain the circumstances of your move. A different address does not automatically mean a new plan; changes in needs may require a separate discussion.

Tell your contact what will change in practical terms. Perhaps a family member who helps each morning will be further away, an existing provider cannot travel to the new area, or the new home raises a question for the treating professional. Keep 'new address' and 'different support needs' clear so both can be considered.

Ask who your appropriate NDIS contact will be for the new location and what, if anything, needs updating in provider arrangements. Do not assume that updating a contact record also books local services. Check each service directly, especially when moving between regions or states.

This checklist is for coordinating supports around a move. A housing arrangement involving supported independent living, specialist disability accommodation, a hospital discharge or another formal transition may need its own planning with the relevant services. Use this tool alongside that work, not as a substitute for it.

An NDIS moving house checklist: before, during and after

Use the stages below as prompts, not a fixed timetable. Start earlier when providers, equipment or property arrangements need more time. If the date is uncertain, label it provisional and record who will tell the team when it changes.

A checklist item is complete when the needed arrangement is confirmed, not just when a message has been sent. If the answer is unknown, write that down. An honest gap is easier to act on than an optimistic tick.

Confirm the last old service and the first new one

List the supports you currently use and ask each service what the move means for its work. Some may continue unchanged, some may offer a different arrangement and others may finish. Confirm suitability with the relevant professional where the way a service is delivered would change; do not assume an online appointment is an equivalent replacement for every service.

The NDIA's guide to changing providers recommends checking notice terms, finding the next provider before finishing with the current one, and updating relevant provider relationships. Ask about the process and any outstanding payment questions rather than assuming the move cancels an agreement.

If a service cannot confirm availability, keep its status as an enquiry, waiting or an offer awaiting acceptance. Do not put a provider's name against a support gap until that provider has agreed to fill it. Ask early about another option if the proposed date is too late.

If you are also changing coordinators, the support coordinator handover guide can help transfer open tasks and contacts.

Keep equipment and current information accessible

Make a short list of equipment and supplies needed during the move and in the first days after arrival. Ask the relevant supplier or professional about transport, dismantling, setup, servicing and use in the new environment where those questions apply. Keep instructions and contact details available rather than packed somewhere nobody can find.

For hired or loaned equipment, check the arrangement with the owner or supplier before moving it. For a new delivery, confirm the address, date, access arrangements and who will receive it. A delivery estimate should stay marked as an estimate until the supplier confirms more.

Prepare a small information handover for each new provider. Useful information might include communication preferences, current support instructions from the appropriate author, the relevant report and the immediate priority. The whole history is rarely needed for every task. Ask the receiving service what it needs and who will check it has arrived.

Use the week-one support-worker handover to prepare the current picture for a new worker. Any clinical instruction that may be affected by the new environment should be checked with its author or the relevant professional.

The NDIA explains provider plan access in how to share your plan. NDIA portal permissions, provider records and Kinovo workspace access are separate. Updating one does not automatically change the others.

Clarify moving costs and questions about the new home

Keep ordinary moving expenses separate from requests about disability-related support. Before committing to a cost you expect the NDIS to cover, ask the appropriate contact whether and how it can be funded in your circumstances. A moving checklist is not evidence of an entitlement to reimbursement.

The NDIA's moving-house funding example describes circumstances in which disability-related removalist support may be considered and distinguishes property transaction costs. It is an individual example, not approval for every move or removalist bill.

If accessibility or suitability of the new home is uncertain, raise it before relying on an arrangement. Ask the relevant clinician or assessor about the participant's needs in that environment. Do not assume equipment or support instructions will work in exactly the same way at another property.

For a proposed property alteration, use the home modifications coordination checklist to organise the separate assessment, permission and funding questions.

Make unconfirmed support visible before the move

Put open gaps on one short list: the first worker is not confirmed, the equipment delivery has no date, or a report has not reached the new provider. Name the effect of each gap so the team can understand which answer is needed first.

Ask the relevant service or professional what arrangements are appropriate if a gap cannot be resolved in time. Keep any alternative marked as proposed until the people who need to provide, use or authorise it have agreed. Do not assume family members can cover missing paid support, or that an unfamiliar person can safely take over specialised work.

If essential support is at risk, use the person's agreed direct professional or urgent contact route. A task update or app notification does not provide urgent monitoring or guarantee a response. The point of the tracker is to make concerns easier to raise before they become a last-minute surprise.

A fictional example: the referral is sent, but the first visit is not booked

Lee is moving to another city. Their current provider has confirmed its last visit, and an enquiry has been sent to a service near the new home. The team initially writes 'new provider arranged' on its list, but nobody has confirmed the first visit.

The list now reflects the real position. Lee's team can discuss the unconfirmed period early, without treating a referral as a booking or expecting Lee's family to solve it silently.

After arrival, check what happened in practice

Choose a short check-in after the first planned services have begun. Ask the participant what is working and what needs attention. Compare the confirmed plan with what actually happened: Was the appointment held? Did the delivery arrive? Does the new provider have the relevant information?

Keep unresolved items open with an agreed next action. Update contacts and everyday information affected by the move, and ask the appropriate author about professional instructions that need review. Where someone has left the care team, review their access in each system. Removing online access cannot recall copies they already hold.

The NDIS document organiser can help keep the current files distinct from the information used before the move.

Use Kinovo to keep the handover connected

Kinovo can give the participant and invited care team a shared place for the moving goal, agreed actions, current documents and progress updates. The value is in seeing what is confirmed and what is still waiting without reconstructing the move from several message threads.

• Create a goal for the support handover and add the small number of open actions that matter now.
• Assign follow-ups to people who have agreed to take them, with the relevant date and context.
• Share current documents deliberately, update the result when an arrangement is confirmed and review team access as providers change.

Keep bookings, rostering, clinical advice and formal provider records with the services responsible for them. Kinovo coordinates the shared follow-up; it does not book a replacement provider, arrange transport or guarantee continuity of care.

See how to organise your care team in Kinovo