It depends on what you're doing. Cancelling one appointment and ending things with a provider for good are two different questions — and they run on two different sets of rules.

The Quick Answer — It Depends What You're Doing

Here's the short version before we get into the detail:

Situation	Who sets the rule	Typical notice
Cancelling one appointment	NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits	2 clear business days (most supports) or 7 days (disability support worker supports)
Ending your service agreement entirely	Your individual service agreement	Usually 2–4 weeks

The first row is set by the NDIA and applies to every provider, no matter what their own paperwork says. The second row is negotiated between you and your provider, so it varies. We'll walk through both.

Cancelling a Single Appointment

If you need to cancel one appointment, the notice period isn't up to your provider's discretion — it comes from the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits. As of the July 2024 update, there are two different timeframes depending on the type of support.

Short notice cancellation: A cancellation that happens too close to the appointment for the provider to fill the spot with another client. If it meets the criteria, the provider can charge up to 100% of the agreed fee.

Disability support workers — 7 days

For supports delivered by a disability support worker — things like in-home support, community access, or personal care — short notice means less than 7 days before the scheduled support. This window stayed at 7 days even after the 2024 update, partly because these supports are usually staffed by a specific worker who's harder to redeploy at short notice than a clinician with a wider client list.

Therapy and other supports — 2 clear business days

For most other supports, including therapy and allied health, the window is shorter: 2 clear business days. This changed in July 2024 specifically because therapy and early intervention supports had the highest volume of short notice cancellation claims across the scheme — these services tend to have more providers and shorter wait lists, so providers have more chance of filling a cancelled slot.

How "clear days" are counted

"Clear days" trips a lot of people up, so here's a worked example.

Say you have a support worker shift booked for 10am on a Friday. The 7-day countdown runs back from that time, counting every calendar day — including weekends. So if you cancel any time before 10am the previous Friday, you're in the clear.

For a 2 clear business day cancellation, weekends and public holidays don't count. If your physio appointment is at 10am Wednesday, the two clear business days are Monday and Tuesday — so you'd need to cancel before 10am Monday to avoid a fee.

Example: A participant managing their own plan has a fortnightly physio session every second Wednesday. A family commitment comes up on the Monday before. Because physio isn't a disability support worker item, the 2 clear business day rule applies — cancelling by end of day Monday is enough, and no fee applies. If it had been a support worker shift instead, Monday's notice for a Wednesday shift would count as short notice, since the 7-day rule applies.

Ending Your Service Agreement for Good

This is a different question entirely. The NDIS pricing rules don't set a notice period for ending a service agreement — that's down to whatever you and your provider agreed to in writing. Most service agreements ask for somewhere between two and four weeks' notice, though it varies by provider and by the type of support.

If your provider is the one ending the arrangement, registered providers are required to give you no less than 14 days' notice under their NDIS Terms of Business. You're entitled to know this is coming with enough time to find someone else.

A few things worth knowing:

• You can change providers at any time — no provider can lock you into an ongoing arrangement or charge you simply for leaving.
• Check your service agreement before giving notice. It'll tell you the exact number of days and how notice needs to be given (in writing, by email, through a portal).
• Line up a new provider before you finish with your current one, so there's no gap in your support.
• Any clause that tries to restrict your right to choose a different provider isn't enforceable, even if you signed it. Choice and control over your own supports is a right under the NDIS, not something a provider can waive on your behalf.

Example: A participant decides to move to a different support coordination provider after their needs change. Their service agreement specifies four weeks' notice. Before sending it, they confirm a start date with the new provider that overlaps with the four-week period, so the handover happens without a break in support. If you're not sure where to start looking, search SupportSearch for providers by location and service type before you give notice — that way you're not without support while you wait.

What Happens If You Don't Give Enough Notice

Q: Can a provider charge me for cancelling an appointment at short notice?

A: Yes, but only if specific conditions are met. The provider must not have been able to find other billable work for the worker, and the cancellation terms must be set out in your service agreement. If those conditions aren't met, the fee isn't valid — even if your provider tries to charge it.

Q: What if I don't give enough notice to end my service agreement?

A: This depends on what your agreement says. Some providers will charge for the remaining notice period if you leave without giving it. What a provider can't do is charge an exit fee, restrict your right to leave, or make ending the agreement difficult on principle — NDIS participants have the right to choose and change their providers freely.

Example: A provider receives a cancellation the morning of a scheduled support worker shift. They can't redeploy the worker to other paid work that day, so they invoice 100% of the agreed fee — which the pricing rules allow. In a separate case, a different provider manages to find the worker other billable hours and chooses not to charge the fee at all, since charging is something providers are allowed to do, not something they're required to do.

If you ever think a cancellation fee doesn't add up, our Tools page has a Rulebook Explorer that breaks down billing and cancellation rules in plain English.

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