TL;DR
- Psychology is the only therapy profession to get a rise. The national maximum rate climbs $20.00, from $232.99 to $252.99 per hour, up 8.6 per cent from 1 July 2026.
- The new rate applies uniformly across every jurisdiction. No state-by-state variation. Remote sits at $354.19 and very remote at $379.49.
- The increase closes a gap with the broader market. The old NDIS rate sat below the MBS 75th percentile ($260.00) and private health benchmarks ($250.00 and $252.00). The lift brings it into line.
- The published price is the going rate. Around 69 per cent of all claims, and 73 per cent of registered-provider claims, are made at the maximum. The new $252.99 effectively becomes the prevailing market price.
- Travel, non-face-to-face time and reports are now separate line items. Psychology is included in the unbundling, so how you structure claims around the hourly rate matters.
Every other therapy line in the 2026-27 NDIS Pricing Schedule was held flat or cut. Psychology was the exception. The national maximum hourly rate for a psychologist rises from $232.99 to $252.99, a $20.00 increase worth 8.6 per cent, effective 1 July 2026. If you run a practice that employs or contracts psychologists, this is the rare bit of good news in this year's review, and it changes the maths on viability and pricing.
These figures come from the NDIA's Annual Pricing Review and are reflected in the published 2026-27 schedule. Here is what moved, why, and what it means for how you position your practice.
What changed: $232.99 to $252.99 per hour
The standard national rate for psychology services lifts by $20.00 to $252.99 per hour. It applies uniformly across all jurisdictions, so there is no metro-versus-regional split on the base rate. Where remoteness applies, the existing loadings carry the rate higher: remote is priced at +40 per cent and very remote at +50 per cent, both unchanged this year.
| Psychology rate (per hour) | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| National (standard) | $232.99 | $252.99 | +$20.00 (+8.6%) |
| Remote (+40%) | - | $354.19 | New schedule |
| Very remote (+50%) | - | $379.49 | New schedule |
For context, psychology stands alone here. Physiotherapy was held at $183.99. Occupational therapy, speech pathology and audiology held at $193.99. Dietetics was cut to $178.99 and exercise physiology to $161.99. Psychology is the only profession in the therapy group to receive an increase. You can see the full profession-by-profession picture in our 2026-27 NDIS price guide overview.
Why psychology went up when everything else held or fell
The NDIA benchmarks NDIS prices against comparable markets: the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and two private health insurance (PHI) reference points. Where the NDIS rate sits well above those benchmarks, the review tends to pull it down. That is what happened to dietetics and exercise physiology, which were sitting above market.
Psychology was the opposite case. The old $232.99 rate sat below the comparison points. On a 60-minute session at the 75th percentile, the benchmarks were:
- MBS: $260.00
- PHI reference 1: $250.00
- PHI reference 2: $252.00
The new $252.99 lands right in that band. It sits just under the MBS figure and just above both private health reference points. The increase is a correction that brings NDIS psychology pricing into line with what the wider market pays, rather than a windfall. For your practice, the practical takeaway is that the new rate is defensible and grounded in real market data, which matters when you are setting expectations with participants and their support networks.
What it means for your revenue and your pricing posture
An 8.6 per cent lift on your single largest therapy line item is material. On a full-time psychologist billing a typical caseload, the difference between $232.99 and $252.99 an hour compounds quickly across a year. It improves the unit economics of every NDIS psychology hour you deliver, and it widens the margin you have to cover supervision, admin, no-shows and the rest of the cost base that sits behind a billable hour.
It also strengthens the case for confident, full-rate pricing. Here is the data point that should shape your thinking: in the six months to 31 December 2025, 69 per cent of all NDIS claims were made at the maximum published price, up from 66 per cent the year before. Registered providers claimed at the published price 73 per cent of the time. The NDIA itself states that the published price functions as the prevailing market rate.
When roughly seven in ten claims sit at the maximum, the published price is not a ceiling you negotiate down from. It is the going rate. Discounting below it does not win you work; it just leaves revenue on the table.
Demand for psychology under the NDIS remains strong, and the workforce is in short supply. In a market like that, undercutting the published rate is rarely the lever that fills your books. The lift to $252.99 gives you a higher, market-aligned anchor. Use it. We dig into the maximum-pricing dynamic in more detail in our piece on why most providers charge the maximum price, and if marketing a psychology practice is on your plate, our guide to marketing an NDIS provider business covers how to position on value rather than price.
Don't miss the unbundling: travel, reports and non-face-to-face time
The headline rate is only part of the 2026-27 picture. The schedule now splits each therapy profession into separate, suffixed line items rather than one bundled service charge. Psychology is included. You will now claim against distinct items for:
- Direct service (the face-to-face hourly rate, now $252.99)
- Provider travel
- Non-face-to-face time
- NDIA-requested reports
- Cancellation
- Telehealth
This is a structural change to how the work is recorded and claimed, and it applies regardless of the rate going up. Provider travel for therapy is priced at 50 per cent of the service hourly rate. Getting your systems and your team aligned to the new item structure matters as much as the rate itself, because misclaimed time is lost time. We walk through the mechanics in our breakdown of the travel and report-writing unbundling.
The bigger pricing shift behind this
This year's price changes arrive alongside a proposed change to how NDIS prices get set. The Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Bill, introduced into Parliament on 14 May 2026, would give the Minister power to make a binding pricing determination informed by NDIA advice. The Annual Pricing Review is that advice. We cover the Bill and what it means for providers in our Future Generations Bill explainer. For now, the practical reality is straightforward: the 2026-27 schedule is published, the psychology rate is $252.99 from 1 July, and you can plan around it.
Where this leaves you
Psychology came out of this review in the strongest position of any therapy profession. The rate is up, it is market-aligned, demand is high, and the published price functions as the prevailing rate. The job now is to make sure your pricing, your claiming structure and your positioning all reflect that. Charge the rate with confidence, get the unbundled line items set up properly, and market on the strength of your service rather than a discount you do not need to offer.
If you want a second set of eyes on how your practice is positioned for 2026-27, that is exactly the kind of thing we help healthcare and NDIS providers with. Have a chat with the team and we will talk it through.
To see what the $20.00 lift is worth across your own caseload, try our free 2026-27 NDIS price calculator, which covers every therapy discipline plus remote loadings and travel items.
Filling the capacity the new rate pays for
A rate rise only compounds if the extra capacity it justifies actually gets filled, and the practices growing fastest are the ones participants can find without waiting on a referral chain. That is why SEO for NDIS providers is the natural companion to this price change: organic rankings keep delivering enquiries at the new rate without eating into it. For the full-funnel version, our marketing for psychologists covers search, ads and conversion together.
