What is a Functional Capacity Assessment?
A Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) examines how a disability affects everyday activities, in a written report. What it covers and how the NDIS uses it.
Functional Capacity Assessments
A guide to Functional Capacity Assessments.
From questions to next steps.
Written by Nisha Bal, Principal OT. These guides explain what an FCA can assess, how to prepare and how to use the report, with information about fees, NDIS evidence and assessments for other purposes.
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Start with the essentials
How to prepare for your FCA
Send your intake form and agreed documents at least five days before your FCA. Which documents help, how to complete the form.
What does an FCA cost in Australia?
A Seeds Functional Capacity Assessment costs $969.95 for most people: five hours at the NDIS rate of $193.99, covering intake, interview, measures and report.
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Understanding FCAs
What an assessment is, what it can establish and how to choose one.
What is a Functional Capacity Assessment?
A Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) examines how a disability affects everyday activities, in a written report. What it covers and how the NDIS uses it.
What an occupational therapist does in an FCA
What an occupational therapist does in an FCA: examining each step of an activity, weighing your account against other evidence.
How a telehealth FCA works
Online functional capacity assessments by video, Australia-wide. What happens before and during the hour-long interview, and when video is not enough.
Assessment tools used in an FCA
The questionnaires and measures an FCA may use, including WHODAS 2.0 and the COPM, what each can show, and why no single score determines an NDIS budget.
How goals are used in an FCA
You do not need professionally written goals before an FCA. How a priority becomes an assessment question, and how goals relate to NDIS funding.
What an FCA can and cannot establish
An FCA describes functioning and recommends supports. It does not decide NDIS funding, diagnose, replace specialist assessments or act as a legal report.
Sample FCA reports: what to look for
Three fictional sample FCA reports, for adult NDIS, child NDIS and adult DSP purposes, and what to look for in any report: purpose, methods and reasoning.
How to choose an FCA provider
Questions to ask before booking an FCA: who assesses and writes the report, which methods are used, what the fee includes, and what nobody can promise you.
Functional Capacity Assessment FAQs
Answers to 32 questions about a Seeds FCA: who it is for, video appointments, the intake form, the interview, the report, the $969.95 fee and NDIS funding.
Preparing & the process
From arranging an assessment to receiving and using the report.
How to prepare for your FCA
Send your intake form and agreed documents at least five days before your FCA. Which documents help, how to complete the form.
Arranging an FCA for another person
How to help someone else get an FCA: what to tell Seeds, why consent and payment are separate decisions, and how to describe the help you give.
What happens in the FCA interview
The FCA interview is an hour-long discussion of your activities and the help you use. What is asked, how notes and a support person help, and your rights.
Accessing an FCA in a rural or remote area
Seeds FCAs are by video, Australia-wide, so distance need not add travel. What can be assessed remotely, what needs local observation, and what to check.
How long does an FCA take?
A Seeds FCA interview takes about an hour, the report arrives within two weeks of the interview, and enquiry to report is usually four to six weeks.
How an FCA considers help from family and friends
How an FCA describes reminders, transport and care from family and friends, whether that help can continue, and why you never withdraw it to prove a need.
An FCA when your condition changes over time
An FCA appointment is one point in time. How to describe a condition that varies, with frequency, recovery and support, so the report stays useful.
After your FCA report: checking it and using it
What to check when your FCA report arrives, how to ask for a factual correction within two days at no charge, and who may receive the report.
Do you need another FCA?
Having had an FCA does not mean you need another. How to read the earlier report against the current question before paying for a second assessment.
Everyday life & support
The activities, relationships and support that make up an ordinary week.
How an FCA looks at everyday activities at home
How an FCA looks at personal care, meals, laundry and running a home: which steps are difficult, what help is used, and why supported tasks still count.
Transport and community activities in an FCA
How an FCA considers getting to appointments and community activities: planning, travel, fatigue afterwards, and why it is not a driving assessment.
Communication needs in an FCA
Tell Seeds how you communicate before booking a video FCA: written questions, processing time, a support person or AAC. What the OT can and cannot assess.
Managing money and paperwork: what an FCA can show
How an FCA examines bills, forms and appointments step by step, what assistance is recorded, why you never share passwords, and what it cannot decide.
How risk is assessed and described in an FCA
How risk is described in an FCA: distinguishing incidents from concerns, recording what already reduces risk, and keeping the person's choices in view.
How an FCA considers support-worker assistance
How an FCA describes support-worker assistance: tasks and timing, allocated versus delivered hours, worker notes with consent, and what it can recommend.
Children, young people & adults
Guides for different ages, conditions and circumstances.
An FCA for your child: what to expect
What a child's Functional Capacity Assessment looks at, how your child can contribute, why home and school differ, and which needs sit outside the NDIS.
FCAs for teenagers and young adults
An FCA for a young person focuses on what is changing: leaving school, study, work or living arrangements. Their priorities, current help and consent.
FCAs for autistic adults and adults with ADHD
What an FCA examines for an autistic adult or an adult with ADHD, how support and effort are recorded, and why diagnosis alone does not decide NDIS access.
Psychosocial disability and an FCA
How an FCA examines the everyday effects of a mental health condition: patterns over time, your own strategies, sensitive information and other evidence.
FCAs for people with intellectual disability
Planning an accessible FCA for a person with intellectual disability: communication, consent, the steps in an activity, and how supporters contribute.
FCAs for physical and neurological conditions
How an FCA looks at movement, hand use, fatigue and thinking, what a video assessment can establish, and when equipment or the home needs specialist work.
FCAs for older adults
A new NDIS applicant must be under 65; existing participants do not leave at 65. What an FCA can describe for an older adult, and what it cannot replace.
An FCA when you have more than one condition
How an FCA considers overlapping conditions during an actual activity, keeps medical information clear, and avoids double-counting support needs.
NDIS evidence & decisions
Access, plan reassessment and how evidence informs decisions.
Diagnosis and functional capacity: how the evidence differs
A diagnosis names a condition; functional evidence describes how it affects daily activities. Why the NDIS may need both, and why an FCA is not compulsory.
What reasonable and necessary means for FCA recommendations
What reasonable and necessary means for FCA recommendations: the NDIS criteria in plain terms, and why a recommendation is evidence, not approval.
Work and study in a Functional Capacity Assessment
How an FCA describes work and study: the actual tasks and adjustments, effort beyond attendance, and which supports belong to employers or the NDIS.
How an FCA contributes to an NDIS decision
An FCA gives the NDIA evidence about activities and support needs; it cannot promise access or a budget. How to commission it for the right decision.
Do you need an FCA to apply for the NDIS?
No, an FCA is not compulsory for NDIS access. What the NDIA asks for, which evidence you may already have, and when an FCA adds something useful.
Using an FCA for an NDIS plan reassessment
A new FCA is not automatic at every plan reassessment. How to identify the question, check existing evidence and use the right NDIA process.
How an FCA records improvement and continuing support
Improvement does not automatically mean support ends. How an FCA records what changed and what enables it, and why maintaining function is a real outcome.
FCAs, SIL, SDA and complex support needs
SIL and SDA are different supports needing different evidence. What functional evidence must explain for home and living decisions, and what video cannot.
Why the NDIS was established
How the NDIS came about after the 2011 Productivity Commission inquiry, what it was meant to change, what it does not fund, and the reforms from 2026.
Disability, NDIS participation and income: reading the figures
5.5 million Australians had disability in 2022; 782,013 were NDIS participants at June 2026. Why those figures differ and what they cannot say about you.
The cost of gathering evidence for NDIS access
Gathering NDIS access evidence can cost time and fees, but a new private FCA is not always needed. What may already exist and where free help operates.
Fees, funding & other uses
Assessment costs, NDIS funding and Disability Support Pension evidence.
Seeds FCA fees: what the standard assessment includes
The standard Seeds FCA fee is $969.95: intake and document review, an hour-long OT interview, measures and the written report. When $193.99/hour applies.
Can NDIS funding pay for an FCA?
NDIS funding may pay for an FCA when it is an eligible support under your plan. Which budget usually applies, and plan- and self-managed arrangements.
What does an FCA cost in Australia?
A Seeds Functional Capacity Assessment costs $969.95 for most people: five hours at the NDIS rate of $193.99, covering intake, interview, measures and report.
Can an FCA help with a Disability Support Pension claim?
An OT functional assessment can support a DSP claim as evidence, not approval. What Services Australia considers and how a DSP report differs from NDIS.
For referrers
Guides for coordinators, plan managers and treating professionals.
Requesting an FCA: a guide for support coordinators and plan managers
How to request an FCA from Seeds: what to include, keeping consent and authority clear, sending evidence that answers the question, funding and deadlines.
How an FCA can complement medical and treating evidence
When an OT Functional Capacity Assessment adds to medical evidence, what treating information helps, and how consent and report sharing work.
Guides to download
PDFs to read, save or share.
Your FCA guide
A downloadable guide to the Seeds assessment process.
FCA questions & answers
A printable companion to our online assessment FAQs.
Sending your FCA documents
A guide to the documents to send before your assessment.
Adult NDIS sample report
See the structure and detail of an adult NDIS FCA report.
Children’s NDIS sample report
See the structure and detail of a paediatric NDIS FCA report.
Adult DSP sample report
See the structure and detail of a report for a Disability Support Pension claim.
Your next step
A question about an assessment?
Tell us what the report is for, any deadline and any communication or access needs. We will confirm whether this service is suitable and explain the proposed scope and fee.