What's In Your Plan?

 

So, you have had your planning meeting – what’s next?

After you have had your meeting, the plan will be reviewed by the NDIS and approved.

Depending on your situation, you will get help to put your plan into action. This help might come from your Local Area Coordinator, or it might come from a Support Coordinator.

But before you get started there are a couple of simple things you need to do. Read your plan and make sure it is correct. Make sure you understand the different parts of the plan and what they mean.

And make sure you are registered with myGov – you can check here. https://my.gov.au/mygov/content/html/help.html. 

You will need a myGov registration to access the NDIS myplace portal. The myplace portal is a secure website where you can see everything that is happening with your plan. You can look at your plan, keep track of your budget and manage your supports.

There is more information about how to use the myplace portal on the NDIS website. https://www.ndis.gov.au/search?keywords=my+portal  

If you're eligible for the NDIS and you become an NDIS participant, you will receive funding to work towards the goals in your NDIS plan that are specific to you. Everyone has different goals, but they could include things like improving speech or communication skills through therapy, getting help for normal, everyday living activities or equipment to help you at home or in your community, learning new skills or getting and keeping a job, becoming more independent, or making friends and connections.

Once you have your individual NDIS plan, you will work with your chosen service providers, who will support you to pursue your goals. Service providers are professionals who deliver supports and services such as physiotherapy, speech therapy or occupational therapy.

You may also use your NDIS plan to work with a support worker, engage a carer, or to access assistive technology, or complete home modifications that help you in your everyday life.

Getting Your Plan Into Action

What's in your plan?

Information about you:

Basic information about your disability, your day-to-day activities, where you live, who you live with, or who cares for you.

Family and friends

Information about the support you get from family and friends that is not funded but will help you pursue your goals.

Services and community groups

Information about services and supports funded and delivered by community or other government services like support groups, health centres, libraries, and public transport.

Your goals

Includes the current goals you would like to pursue as part of your plan and the long-term goals you have identified for your life. Goal setting is an important part of the NDIS. The supports you receive may help you pursue the goals in your NDIS plan.

Funded supports

This section tells you what funding you have been allocated in each support category and what this funding is for. You may not have all the support categories funded in your plan. Some people might have one or two support categories funded and others may have more.

This will depend on your individual needs and may change from plan to plan based on the supports and services you need. You must only use your NDIS funding on supports and services that are related to your disability.

Find out more about using your NDIS plan from Booklet 3 on the NDIS website: https://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/publications/booklets-and-factsheets  

Options to Manage Your Plan

What options are available to Manage your NDIS Plan?

There are three options available - self-managed, plan-managed, and NDIA-managed. You can also choose a combination of the three options. For example, you may choose to self-manage one part of your plan to start with and have the rest managed by the NDIA.

Self-Management

Self-management is when you manage your NDIS funding. It gives you the flexibility and choice to decide what supports you buy to pursue your plan goals.

When choosing to self-manage, you will receive funding from the NDIA so that you can select and pay for the services that will help you meet your goals. 

You are not limited to using only NDIS registered providers - they can be mainstream or disability providers of any kind. This means that you have access to a wider range of services and service providers, providing you with the flexibility to use any provider that will best help you to pursue your plan goals.

You can be more innovative in what you spend your funding on.

There are added responsibilities with self-management requiring you to maintain records that will show how you’ve used your self-managed funding towards pursuing your goals. 

https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/using-your-plan/self-management#the-benefits-of-self-managing  

Plan Management

When your plan is plan-managed, it means that you choose a plan manager to help you look after the service agreements you have with your providers and to help with the financial responsibilities of your plan. You might choose a plan manager if you want to have some of the flexibility of a self-managed plan, such as using non-registered providers, but want help with your financial responsibilities. Your plan manager will manage your NDIS budget, so they must be a registered NDIS provider. This means they have the correct qualifications, training, and safety checks in place.

The funds for a Plan Manager are specific and do not take away from any other area of funding in your plan. 

The NDIS will pay your Plan Manager, who will directly pay for all supports you have asked them to manage.

You are not limited to using only NDIS registered providers - just like self-managing, they can be mainstream or disability providers of any kind. For example, where you might regularly use a therapist who is a sole trader, a cleaner or even a carer who does not want to go through the process of NDIS registration, you can continue to use them.

NDIA Managed 

The last option is NDIA-managed, or also known as agency-managed. This is where the NDIA will look after the financial responsibilities of your plan.

Being NDIA-managed means more structure in how you find and pay for your supports through NDIS registered providers. The NDIA will pay your invoices, manage your funding and keep records of what you have spent, and take care of financial reporting for you.

NDIS will directly pay your support providers for you. 

You must choose registered NDIS providers if the NDIA manages your plan.

You don't have to choose one option for the whole plan. For example, you may want to agency manage your core funding so that you can use agency support workers, but you may want to self-manage your capacity building budget so that you can choose therapists who may not be registered providers. 

There are some services that can only be Agency managed like behavioural supports.

For more information about the different plan management types, visit

www.ndis.gov.au/manage-your-funding   or contact one of our NDIS Coordinators – ndis@huntingtonswa.org.au