NDIS
support.
Southern Lifts works with NDIS participants, their occupational therapists and plan managers to put lifts into homes that need them. The funding process has a shape — here it is, plainly, along with the part most people don't know: the GST can come off.
How we help
The funding application is paperwork we've done before — you bring the requirements, we bring the quotes, documentation and a compliant lift.
Evidence that holds up
Itemised quotes, technical drawings and specifications in the format occupational therapists and planners ask for — the documents an application is built on.
A compliant range
The disabled access range — Mariner, Low-Rise platform and Mobilift — is built to the AS 1735 parts written for limited-mobility lifts.
Alongside your OT
We do site visits with occupational therapists, answer the technical questions that come back from the NDIA, and stay on the job through certification.
The funding path
Four steps, two of them not ours. Knowing who decides what — and what evidence they'll want — is most of the battle.
Start with an OT
Home modification funding starts with an occupational therapist assessing how you move through your home. For work above $10,000 — where a lift almost always sits — the NDIS asks for an accredited home modification assessor.
Report and quotes
The assessor's report goes to the NDIA with quotes — usually two itemised ones for complex work. This is where we come in: quotes, drawings and specs that answer the questions before they're asked.
The NDIA decides
Funding is approved where the evidence shows the modification is reasonable and necessary — linked to your disability, effective, value for money, and not another system's responsibility to provide.
Install, certify, maintain
We install, certify the work, and hand over. Plans can include ongoing maintenance for funded equipment — we quote servicing up front so it can be written in from day one.
GST-free medical aids
The GST can come off.
Under the GST Act, medical aids and appliances specifically designed for people with a disability — and not widely used by people without one — can be supplied GST-free. The ATO has confirmed this can extend to slow-speed vertical and platform lifts designed for limited mobility. It isn't tied to the NDIS: self-funded buyers can qualify too. Three things have to line up.
A compliant design
The lift has to be one specifically designed for people with limited mobility — not a general-purpose lift that happens to help. Our disabled access range is built to the AS 1735 parts written for exactly that.
A supporting certificate
A short letter from a treating doctor or occupational therapist stating the lift is required because of disability or limited mobility. We'll tell you what it needs to cover before you book the appointment.
GST off lift and install
Where the criteria are met, the lift and its installation are supplied GST-free — and spare parts specifically designed for it can be too, for the life of the lift.
General information, not tax advice. GST treatment is set by the GST Act and your circumstances — confirm eligibility with your accountant or the ATO before relying on it. Supports delivered under an NDIS plan with a written agreement may also be GST-free under separate NDIS rules.
Straight answers
The questions we get asked across the counter, answered the same way here. For anything about your own plan, your planner or plan manager has the final word.
Will the NDIS pay for a lift?
It can. Lifts sit in the capital supports part of a plan — usually as a complex home modification, sometimes as high-cost assistive technology. The NDIA funds them where the evidence shows the lift is reasonable and necessary, and the decision is always the NDIA's. A well-evidenced application is what moves it — that's the part we've practised.
What do “minor” and “complex” modifications mean?
The NDIS splits home modifications by scale. Minor category A is under $10,000, and any qualified occupational therapist can assess it. Category B runs to $20,000 and needs an accredited home modification assessor. Above that — or wherever structural, plumbing or electrical work is involved — it's a complex home modification: a specialised assessor's report, building approvals, and usually two itemised quotes. A residential lift installation almost always lands in the complex tier.
Do I need an occupational therapist?
Yes. The OT's functional assessment is the foundation of the whole application — it's what tells the NDIA the stairs are no longer safe and a lift is the right answer rather than a cheaper one. We work with OTs constantly: joint site visits, drawings and specifications for their reports, and straight answers to the technical questions the NDIA sends back.
Can maintenance be funded too?
Plans can include ongoing maintenance and repairs for funded equipment. We quote servicing alongside the lift so it can be considered in the plan from the start — and the technicians who maintain it are the same crew who installed it.
I'm not on the NDIS — does any of this apply to me?
The GST rules aren't NDIS rules. A lift specifically designed for limited mobility, backed by a certificate from a treating doctor or OT, can be GST-free for a self-funded buyer too. A good share of our disabled access installs are exactly that.
What does Southern Lifts actually take off my plate?
Itemised quotes in the format assessors ask for, technical drawings and specifications for the OT report, a compliant AS 1735 lift, the installation and its certification, and servicing quotes for the plan. What we don't do is make the funding decision — that's the NDIA — or stand in for your plan manager or accountant.
Need assistance?
Bring your OT, your plan manager or just your questions. There's a Low-Rise platform running at the Braeside showroom — five minutes aboard answers more than any datasheet.