NDIS Progress Report Template for Allied Health: What to Include Before a Plan Review
By The Kitt Team
The request arrives by email. The reassessment is six weeks out. The session notes say what was done, not what changed. There is no NDIA form for allied health progress reports, so every clinician builds their own structure. If the wider NDIS documentation picture is still new territory, start there. Workers compensation reports use a different structure and evidence standard.
What an NDIS progress report is
An NDIS progress report is a written account of what was delivered over a reporting period, what measurably changed against the client’s plan goals, and what the clinician recommends for the next plan period.
The first reader is usually the client. NDIA guidance tells clinicians to share the report with the client, who takes it to their plan reassessment and can consent to it being uploaded to the provider portal. At that reassessment, the report gives the agency what it needs to decide whether recommended supports meet its reasonable and necessary criteria.
When it is due
No lead time is mandated. The client’s My NDIS contact reaches out two to three months before reassessment, and the NDIA aims to start facilitating a scheduled reassessment at least 56 days before the reassessment date. It met that target in 45% of cases as at 30 June 2026, down from 47% three months earlier, according to the NDIA’s quarterly report to disability ministers.
Waiting to be asked is not a plan.
The NDIS progress report template
These 14 sections are built from published NDIA and professional-body guidance for allied health reports.
NDIS PROGRESS REPORT TEMPLATE
1. Client details
[Full name, NDIS number, date of birth, contact details]
2. Provider / clinician details
[Practice name, clinician name and credentials, ABN]
3. Reporting period
[Start date to end date]
4. Service details
[Service type, support category, number of sessions delivered]
5. Client's plan goals
[Each goal as stated in the current NDIS plan]
6. Baseline functional capacity and measures
[Measure name, result, date recorded at start of period]
7. Supports delivered
[Intervention description, frequency, format]
8. Progress against each goal
[Goal | Baseline | Current measure | Date | Functional change]
9. Barriers and challenges
[Health events, attendance gaps, environmental factors]
10. Risks
[Risks if supports are not continued or are reduced]
11. Additional supports needed
[Supports outside current plan scope, with rationale]
12. Recommendations
[Hours requested by support type, with rationale for each]
13. Evidence / references appendix
[Outcome measure references, research cited, tools used]
14. Clinician signature and date
[Name, credentials, signature, date]
Section order matters less than having every element present, including risks and what informal and community supports already cover.
The standard the report is written against
The NDIA assesses whether supports are reasonable and necessary. In plain terms, a support should:
- Address a need arising from the client’s impairment.
- Help the client pursue their goals.
- Help with social or economic participation.
- Represent value for money compared to alternatives.
- Be effective and beneficial per current good practice.
- Account for what family, carers, and community can reasonably provide.
- Be a support the NDIS funds.
Each recommendation needs its evidence in the same document. Value for money, current good practice, and what family or community already cover are the easiest to leave unanswered.
The APA 2025 Workforce Census found that NDIS revenue rose from 15% to 22% of average annual private physiotherapy practice income between 2023 and 2025, the fastest growing funding source.
Measures turn a story into evidence
Record the baseline at the first session of the plan period and repeat the same measure at the end. A different measure at the end tells the agency nothing about change.
Name the measure. The NDIA’s allied health guidance names the Timed Up and Go, the six-minute walk test, and the Berg Balance Scale as examples of repeatable measures. Where no standardised measure fits, describe function in observable terms: what the client can do, how much, how often, and with how much assistance.
Link each clinical result to the plan goal: the therapy outcome, then what it lets the client do at home or in the community. Report barriers and plateaus honestly, in plain language.
| What the report needs | Written as clinical narrative | Written as evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Goal linked to plan | ”Improve strength and balance" | "Plan goal: walk to local shops independently. Physiotherapy goal: improve lower limb strength and standing balance to support independent community mobility.” |
| Change over time | ”Client has made good progress" | "5-Times Sit-to-Stand: 22.4 sec (15 May 2025) to 16.1 sec (12 Nov 2025).” |
| Recommendation | ”Client would benefit from ongoing physiotherapy" | "13 fortnightly 45-minute physiotherapy sessions over 6 months. Risk if not continued: increased falls risk and loss of independent transfers.” |
The difference is not writing quality. It is what was recorded during the plan period. Well-written progress notes from the first session make the comparison possible.
A worked example
The entry below is illustrative. Figures are not from a real client and are not clinical benchmarks.
BEFORE (common pattern)
Goal progress: Balance and mobility
Client has made significant improvement over the past 12 months and
is more confident walking. Recommend continuing physiotherapy.
---
AFTER (rewritten)
Goal progress: Balance and mobility
Plan goal: to walk to the local shops independently.
Baseline (3 March 2025): Timed Up and Go 18.4 sec.
Current (28 February 2026): Timed Up and Go 11.2 sec.
Change: 7.2 sec faster over 12 months.
Functional translation: Client walks to the letterbox daily without
supervision (carer report, December 2025). Attended supermarket with
support person (January 2026). Not yet walking to the shops
unsupported; one further plan period required.
Barrier: Six-week attendance gap (July to August 2025) due to hospital
admission. TUG score did not regress on return.
Recommendation: 13 fortnightly 45-minute physiotherapy sessions over
6 months. Risk if not continued: loss of the mobility and community
access achieved this period.
[Figures are illustrative only and do not constitute clinical advice.]
Writing the report without losing a Sunday
Record baseline measures in the first session of the new plan period. Write each session note against the plan goal it relates to. Draft the report from those notes, not from memory. Exercise and Sports Science Australia advises allowing at least 60 to 90 minutes to write an NDIS report.
kitt keeps both sides of a client’s care in one place. Clinical Scribe drafts structured, editable clinical notes. Letters and Documents drafts NDIS reports from the clinical record. Client Contextual Memory surfaces prior findings, progression, and goals before each session, so the report draws on a connected record rather than fragmented notes.
With kitt Companion, the clinician shares the plan with the client after an appointment, and kitt checks in between sessions on pain and exercise completion. That comes back as an adherence view with at-risk flags, so there is a record across the plan period when the report is due.
kitt drafts, you decide. kitt does not lodge, submit, or send anything to the NDIA, a plan manager, or a support coordinator. The clinician owns the submission.
Ask for a demo to see how it fits your practice.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official NDIS progress report template?
No. The NDIA does not publish a template or form for allied health progress reports. It publishes written guidance, including a six-step report writing structure. The template in this post is built from published guidance and carries no NDIA endorsement.
When should an NDIS progress report be submitted?
No lead time is mandated. Start well before the reassessment date: the client’s My NDIS contact usually reaches out two to three months ahead.
Can AI write my NDIS progress report?
A tool can draft from the session record. The clinician reviews, edits, and approves before anything goes anywhere. Clinical reasoning and submission stay with you.
The takeaway
- There is no official NDIS progress report form; the structure is on you.
- The report is evidence for a funding decision, not a session summary.
- Every goal needs a baseline at the start and the same measure repeated at the end.
- Quality is set during the plan period, not on the night the report is due.