Continence Aids Payment Scheme (CAPS): A Complete Australian Guide
By Kim Hando , Owner & Founder │ 01 July 2026
Last reviewed: 21 June 2026

Most people find out about the Continence Aids Payment Scheme months later than they should have. They have already spent a small fortune on pads, pull-ups or catheters out of their own pocket, and then a continence nurse or a friend mentions there is a government payment that could have covered some of it. If that is you, the good news is the scheme is not hard to access once you know how it works.

The Continence Aids Payment Scheme, known as CAPS, is an Australian Government payment that helps people with permanent and severe incontinence buy continence products. It is paid each year, either as one July payment or in two instalments, you choose your own products and supplier, and the money is yours to spend on the items you actually need. This guide walks through who qualifies, how much you get, how to apply, what you can buy, and how CAPS sits alongside NDIS funding. For the wider picture on NDIS support, our NDIS continence funding guide covers that scheme in full.

What is the Continence Aids Payment Scheme?

The Continence Aids Payment Scheme is a yearly payment from the Australian Government, administered by Services Australia, for people who have permanent and severe incontinence caused by an eligible condition. It is a flat annual amount that goes toward the cost of continence products. You do not have to buy from a set list of approved suppliers, and you are not reimbursed receipt by receipt under the standard pathway. The payment is yours to manage.

That last point matters more than it sounds. CAPS gives you control. You decide which brand suits you, which product type fits your body and your day, and where you buy it. For a lot of people that freedom is the whole point, because continence is personal and the product that works for one person leaks for another.

CAPS is means-test free. Your income and assets do not affect whether you qualify or how much you receive. Eligibility rests on your clinical situation, your residency, and your age, not your finances.

Who is eligible for CAPS?

To receive CAPS you need to meet all of the core requirements. You must have permanent and severe incontinence, you must have an eligible underlying condition, and you must be an Australian resident who meets the age and residency rules. Each part is worth understanding before you apply.

Permanent and severe incontinence. The incontinence needs to be ongoing rather than a short-term issue that is expected to resolve. A temporary problem after surgery, for example, would not usually qualify on its own. The scheme is built for people managing incontinence as a long-term part of life.

An eligible condition. CAPS covers incontinence linked to a specified neurological condition or another eligible permanent condition, but the two are treated differently at the eligibility stage. If your incontinence is caused by an eligible neurological condition, you can qualify on that basis. Conditions commonly recognised in this group include multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, the lasting effects of a stroke, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, multiple system atrophy, motor neurone disease, dementia, and intellectual or developmental disability, among others. If your incontinence is caused by a non-neurological condition, Services Australia states you also need to hold a Pensioner Concession Card, either from Services Australia (Centrelink) or the Department of Veterans' Affairs. The current full list and the exact wording are held by Services Australia, and the assessment of whether your condition fits is part of the application.

Residency and age. You need to be an Australian citizen or hold a permanent visa, and you must usually be at least five years of age, since incontinence in younger children is treated differently. There are also rules about living arrangements: people whose continence products are already fully supplied through certain other government programs may not be eligible at the same time, which is the same logic that keeps CAPS and NDIS from doubling up on the same items.

If you are unsure whether you qualify, the National Continence Helpline on 1800 33 00 66 is the place to start. It is a free service staffed by continence nurse advisors, and they talk people through CAPS eligibility every day.

How much is the CAPS payment?

The CAPS payment is a single annual amount paid to each eligible person. As at 2025-26 the payment is $717.10, subject to annual indexation. The figure is reviewed and adjusted by the Australian Government each year, usually from 1 July, so the amount for a given year can be a little higher than the year before.

Because the rate changes annually, always confirm the current figure with Services Australia before you plan your year around it. The amount above is the right starting point, but the live rate is the one published by Services Australia, and that is the number to rely on.

For most people the payment does not cover the full year's cost of continence products. It is a contribution, not a complete budget. Treating it as a help toward the bill rather than the whole bill keeps expectations realistic and avoids the disappointment of running short halfway through the year.

How to apply for CAPS, step by step

CAPS is mostly about getting one form completed correctly and supported by the right health professional. Here is the path from start to finish.

  1. Get the CAPS application form. The form is the Continence Aids Payment Scheme application, available to download from the Services Australia website. Always use the current form from Services Australia rather than an old copy, because the scheme details and the form itself are updated from time to time.
  2. Have the clinical sections completed. Part of the form must be filled in by an eligible health professional who can confirm your condition and that your incontinence is permanent and severe. A continence nurse advisor, a registered nurse with continence experience, a medical practitioner, or certain other approved professionals can complete this part. This is the step that most often holds people up, so book it in early.
  3. Complete your own sections. You fill in your personal details, residency information, and how you would like to be paid.
  4. Choose your payment method and how often you are paid. You can have the payment made as a direct lump sum into your bank account, or you can choose to receive your continence products through a participating supplier arrangement instead. You also choose how often the payment arrives: once a year, paid in July at the start of the financial year, or in two instalments, paid in July and January. More on the two pathways below.
  5. Submit the form to Services Australia. Lodge the completed form following the instructions on the form. Services Australia assesses it and lets you know the outcome.
  6. Wait for the outcome and first payment. Once approved, your payment is set up for the scheme year on the frequency you chose, and it then continues each year while you remain eligible, without you having to reapply from scratch every time.

If any part of this feels overwhelming, that is normal. The paperwork and the terminology are the hardest part of the whole scheme for most people, far harder than the actual day-to-day of managing continence. A continence nurse can sit with you and work through the form, and the National Continence Helpline can point you to one.

What products can you buy under CAPS?

CAPS is designed to cover a broad set of continence products, so you can build the mix that suits you. Eligible items generally include disposable pads and liners, pull-up pants, slips, all-in-one absorbent products, bed and chair protection such as underpads, and catheter and drainage products for people who use them. The scheme is about the function of the product, managing incontinence, rather than a single narrow category.

This is where having genuine choice pays off. A mobile person who manages their own toileting often does best in pull-up pants, sometimes with a booster pad inside to extend wear time without stepping up to a bulkier product. Someone with limited mobility, or who relies on a carer, is often better suited to slips. The right product type matters as much as the right size, and the CAPS payment lets you act on that rather than settling for whatever a single supplier happens to push.

A quick note on a common mistake we see. People assume bigger means more absorbent and size up, when a pull-up that gaps at the leg will leak no matter how high its absorbency rating is. Fit comes first, then absorbency. If you are not sure of your size, get measured before you spend your CAPS payment, not after.

How the CAPS payment works: direct payment or supplier arrangement

CAPS offers two ways to receive your benefit, and you choose the one that suits you.

The direct payment pathway puts the money into your nominated bank account. You then buy your continence products yourself, from any supplier you like, and manage the spend across the year. This is the simplest option for people who are comfortable organising their own supply and want full control over what they buy and where.

The supplier arrangement pathway lets you receive your continence products through a participating supplier instead of taking the cash. The value of your payment is applied toward products supplied to you. This suits people who would rather not handle the money side and prefer their products to simply arrive.

Whichever pathway you choose, the underlying entitlement is the same yearly amount, whether you take it as one July payment or in two instalments across July and January. The difference between the pathways is purely whether you receive money to spend or products to use. If your circumstances change, you can look at switching for a future year.

CAPS versus NDIS: you cannot use both for the same products

This is the question that causes the most confusion, so here is the short answer. You cannot receive CAPS and NDIS funding for the same continence aids at the same time. The two schemes are not meant to stack on the same products.

If you are an NDIS participant and your plan funds your continence products, that is the pathway you use, and CAPS does not apply to those same items. NDIS continence supports sit in the Core Supports budget under the Consumables category, and the amount in your plan is worked out through your planning process. We do not quote NDIS funding figures here, because they are individual to each plan. For anything about your NDIS budget, your plan manager or ndis.gov.au is the right source, and our NDIS continence funding guide explains how that side works.

If you are not on the NDIS, or your NDIS plan does not fund continence products, CAPS is likely your pathway. Many older Australians who are not NDIS participants rely on CAPS for exactly this reason. The schemes are designed to cover different people and different situations, not to be played off against each other.

When you are genuinely unsure which scheme applies to you, ask before you apply. The National Continence Helpline on 1800 33 00 66 can talk through your situation, and a continence nurse can help you work out the cleanest path.

How to choose a CAPS supplier

Once you have your payment sorted, the supplier you buy from makes a real difference to how the year goes. Price per pack is only part of it. The things that actually shape your experience are whether the products fit, whether they arrive on time, and whether there is a real person you can call when something is not right.

Look for a supplier who carries genuine product choice rather than one house brand, so you can find what suits your body instead of forcing a fit. Ask whether they help with sizing, because a five-minute conversation with someone who knows the products can save months of leaks and wasted money. Check how they handle a wrong size or a delivery problem, since that is when service quality shows. And value the ability to speak to a person who understands the category, not a call centre reading from a script.

The most common thing people tell us about their previous supplier is that they could not get anyone on the phone, the wrong size kept turning up, and nobody seemed to care. The basics, done properly, are what most people are actually looking for.

State and territory schemes that can supplement CAPS

CAPS is a national scheme, but several states and territories run their own continence aids programs that can sit alongside it. These vary a lot in eligibility and what they offer, so they are worth checking based on where you live.

Queensland's Medical Aids Subsidy Scheme (MASS) is one of the better known examples, providing continence products to eligible Queensland residents. Other states and territories run equivalent programs with their own names and rules. If you already receive continence assistance through a state or territory scheme, that can affect your CAPS eligibility, so check both sides before assuming you can use both. Services Australia advises contacting your state or territory scheme provider to find out whether their help is affected by your CAPS eligibility, and CAPS will not pay where the same products are already fully supplied through certain other programs, including NDIS consumables and the Department of Veterans' Affairs Rehabilitation Appliances Program. The interaction between schemes is not always obvious, so check the specifics for your situation rather than assuming.

The National Continence Helpline can tell you what exists in your state and whether you might be eligible for more than one program. It is a quick call that can uncover support people did not know was there.

Where to find help

The single best independent resource for anything CAPS related is the National Continence Helpline on 1800 33 00 66. It is a free, Australian Government funded service staffed by continence nurse advisors. They help with eligibility questions, finding a health professional to complete your form, understanding the schemes, and product advice. If you take one thing from this guide, make it that number.

For the official scheme details, the current payment rate, and the application form, Services Australia is the authority. For NDIS questions, including anything about your plan or budget, contact your plan manager or visit ndis.gov.au. These are the sources to trust for the live, official position.

How Comfort First works with people on CAPS

Comfort First is an Australian owned and run continence brand, based in East Bendigo, and a registered NDIS provider backed by Australian First Aid Distributions. Plenty of our customers use their CAPS payment with us, and the part we focus on is making the product side simple so the funding stretches further.

If you are not sure which product suits you, the most useful thing you can do before spending your payment is try before you commit. We send a free trial sample pack so you can test the fit and feel of pull-up pants or slips in your own home, rather than guessing and buying a full carton of the wrong thing. If you would rather not reorder every few weeks, our subscription plans keep your products arriving on a schedule with free freight across Australia, which makes managing supply across the CAPS year a lot easier.

Whatever you decide, get measured, try the product, and buy what actually fits. That is the advice we would give a member of our own family, and it is the advice that makes a CAPS payment go as far as it can.

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