What is Plan Management?
The Plan Management are process all your NDIS invoices & Claims related to your NDIS Plan, manage your providers & Handling your NDIS finance. Your plan can be managed as Plan managed, self-managed and agency managed or combination of both. As a plan manager we give you total control over your NDIS service providers, unlike agency management, where you are restricted to registered providers.
Being plan managed means that a NDIS-registered plan management provider takes care of the admin of your NDIS funding. We pay your invoices and store your receipts for you, so you don’t need to worry about claiming payments through the NDIS My Place Portal or archiving receipts. Having a plan manager also means you can use service providers who are either registered or not registered with the NDIS.
Is there any cost to me?
No. Being plan managed means no out of pocket expense to you.
When you request to be Plan managed in your planning meeting the NDIA Planner or LAC will include an Improved Life Choices budget in your plan, in addition to your other budgets. This includes the initial one-off cost (per plan) of getting you set up in our system and on the NDIS portal and supporting you as you transition to plan management, as well as our flat rate monthly fees.
How do I become Plan Managed?
To be plan managed, you must have ‘Improved Life Choices’ included in your NDIS plan.
If you have an upcoming planning meeting or review, be sure to request Improved Life Choices is included in your plan. This covers all plan management fees so there is no expense to you. If you have a current plan that does not have Improved Life Choices included, but you do wish to be plan managed, you can request a review of your NDIS plan to have plan management included. Be aware, reviews can take some time.
What is covered in my plan?
The NDIS will fund claims for ‘reasonable and necessary’ supports. These are goods or services directly relevant to achieving the specific goals and objectives detailed in your NDIS plan.
The NDIS is unlikely to approve claims that are not directly related to a participant’s disability, such as items everyone must pay for like day to day living costs, entertainment, food, support items already delivered under other government funding schemes (such as education or Medicare), items that do not represent value for money, and items that may pose a risk of harm to the participant or others.
How do I access or change service providers?
If you already have service providers that you want to work with, that’s great. Our process is simple, and we can work with almost any provider, as long as they have an ABN and the good or service meets NDIA’s definition of “reasonable and necessary”.
If you are looking for providers to engage, we can help point you in the right direction. Getting started with providers is straight-forward too. We can send you a ‘New Provider Letter’ with all the information they will need to forward us invoices, and you can leave the rest to us.
If you’re not happy with your services, you can just find a new provider and give them a New Provider Letter. Our Relationships Team will contact you periodically to make sure your spending and services are on track.
How does plan management work?
All plan managers need to be NDIS registered and provide you with financial administration services. Your providers send their invoices to us, and we pay them on your behalf and our budget coaches help you manage your budget and discuss what you might like to purchase. If you request plan management, your NDIS planner will make your budgets plan managed which will allow us to claim for services on your behalf and pay your service providers directly.
What category is plan management claimed from?
Plan management is added to your plan separately under the Improved Life Choices budget, so it won’t cost you anything. The Improved Life Choices budget is added into your plan if you choose to plan manage your plan.
What is the difference between a plan manager, a support coordinator, and an LAC?
Check out our handy guide to who’s who (and what they do).
Who’s who? (and what do they do?): Roles of NDIS planners, local area coordinators (LACs), support coordinators, and plan managers
NDIS Plan management Resources
On your NDIS journey, you interact with a lot of people working in different roles, with somewhat confusing job titles. Often there is not a lot of explanation on what services they provide and what their responsibilities are, leaving us confused about who should be solving our problems when they arise… So exactly who is who, and what do they do for you?
Local Area Coordinators (LACs) and Planners
LACs and Planners work for “Partner organisations” – the organisations that are given contracts by the NDIA to handle all planning meetings in a designated geographical area. Their role includes linking you to the NDIS and to mainstream and community supports in your area. They are paid by the NDIA, not out of your plan money or out of your pocket.
LACs are responsible for:
– Helping you understand and access the NDIS – this can be through group workshops or one-on-one conversations.
– Creating your plans – Your LAC will have a conversation with you to learn about your current situation, supports, and goals to help develop your plan. It is important to know that LACs cannot approve an NDIS plan, this is done by someone from the NDIA.
– Implementing your plan – The NDIS website says that your LAC should help you to find and start receiving the services in your NDIS plan. Your LAC can also provide assistance throughout your plan if you have any questions.
– Reviewing your plan – Your LAC will work with you to make changes to your plan through a plan review when it is about to expire (usually 12 months) or if you ask for an unscheduled review.
– Linking you to information and support in your community
– Informing you about support available in your local community.
– Explaining how the NDIS works with other government services – supports like education, health, and transport.
If you have questions throughout your plan, your LAC can also provide assistance at any time. You can contact them by email or phone.
Support coordinators (SCs)
A support coordinator is like a ‘plan coach’. They generally come in when a person starts their approved plan. You can engage whichever SC you want to work with. They are a private, separate business and are funded out of your plan. You can ask for different levels of support coordination while you are having your planning meeting (with your planner or LAC).
Support coordinators are responsible for:
– Helping you to build the skills you need to understand and use your plan by telling you what your funding can be best used to reach your goals.
– Working with you to ensure you have a mix of supports to increase your capacity to maintain relationships, manage service delivery tasks, live more independently, and be included in your community.
– Explaining what things in your plan mean, making you feel empowered, connected, and supported so you can confidently spend your funds in appropriate ways.
– Connecting you to providers that you want to work with.
– Helping you to negotiate with providers about what they will offer you and how much it will cost out of your plan.
– Ensuring service agreements and service bookings are completed.
– Making sure the services you engage are relevant to your goals.
– Helping you to prepare for your plan reviews when they are coming up.
How you contact your SC is up to you and them. As they are a separate business, you can change support coordinators if they are not providing these things in a way that suits you. You have choice and control over your support coordination just like with every other provider.
Plan Managers
Plan managers are essentially the accountants of the NDIS plan world – they handle all your bills and help you to understand what you can spend your funding on. You can ask for plan management at your planning meeting, and the funding will come out of a separate budget that is only for plan management. If you don’t ask for plan management, your other options are having the agency (NDIA) manage your funding or managing it yourself. Plan management offers flexibility in what providers you can choose and takes the responsibility off your shoulders when it comes to paying your providers.
Plan managers must be NDIS registered providers, and they are responsible for:
– Claiming directly from the budgets in your plan to pay your providers on your behalf.
– Paying your providers for the supports you purchase.
– Helping you keep track of your funds (this can be through offering emailed reports or optional online portals or mobile phone apps).
– Taking care of financial reporting for you.
– Holding onto all the invoices and information for you for 5 years minimum, in case of audit.
How quickly the invoices are paid is important, to keep you up to date with your spending, but there are no definite rules in place, and processing times can vary between plan managers. Plan managers are a separate private business and to avoid conflicts of interest, it is best to use a plan manager that does not provide your other supports.
For more information about the role of plan managers, see Wait, what exactly does a plan manager do?
Check out our NDIS Dictionary to break down more of the confusing jargon.
How do I use my allocated funds?
If your budgets are plan managed, you simply need to find service providers which you would like to use and ask them to invoice to us for the services you receive. Our budget coaches will talk to you about your plan and discuss with you what you might like to purchase to be able to achieve your goals.
What supports do you recommend?
We work with many service of providers Victoria-wide. As we are completely independent, we do not recommend any services. We want all clients to have choice and control over the services they purchase. We understand what works for one person may not work for another. The best way for you to find services is to use online search platforms to find the best providers for you.
How do I find and choose my NDIS service providers?
NDIS Resources
Finding a service provider that suits your needs can be a lengthy process, but once you find the right person/business it can change your life and help you achieve your goals faster.
In our service, we like to keep the choice and control firmly in the hands of our clients, so we don’t like to recommend providers. But we can definitely help you to find all the information you need to make your own decisions about providers.
One of the best things about being plan managed is that you can use any provider, whether they are registered with the NDIS or not. This means you could search on Google or Yellow Pages to find a mainstream provider, like a local cleaner. This might mean you can negotiate cheaper prices. Or you may prefer a provider that is familiar with the NDIS.
We have sourced the best of the many NDIS provider search engines and support worker online platforms to help you find service providers and workers in your local community.
NDIS provider directories
We have found that there are some great NDIS provider directories that can connect you with providers in your area, both registered and unregistered. Some of these handy platforms will even give you free assistance to help you to find a provider that will work best for you.
Clickability, Disability Support Guide, Karista and My Care Space are free online directories where you can search for NDIS providers, both registered and non-registered. Simply choose the type of service or product you are looking for and pop in your postcode to be able to see their extensive list of providers in your local area. You can also see what other people have thought of a provider’s service through their reviews.
Clickability offers free over the phone or email support to help you find providers in your local area. When searching for providers you can use additional filters such as access method and age group to find the right provider for you.
Disability Support Guide offer their free online directory Australia-wide. They are also a print and online publication about all things NDIS where you can find a wealth of information.
Karista allows you to seek more information and pricing from providers that you may like to use and, if you wish to, pass your details on to the provider for a call back.
MyCareSpace is an easy-to-use search engine with the ability to find both registered and unregistered providers in your local area. You can choose a distance from your postcode to find providers closer to your home. Or if youd like some assistance, you can tell MyCareSpace what service you are looking for and they can do the searching for you.
Hire your own support workers
Hireup, Mable and Mobility are platforms where you can hire and manage your own support workers. By using these platforms, you are in control of choosing who you want and managing their shifts. The prices charged are usually lower than the NDIS price guide.
Hireup is simple and easy to use. You can find local support workers in your local community and pay for them directly with your NDIS funding. Hireup workers are all paid at a standard rate set by Hireup which are well below the NDIS price limits, and the support workers don’t require their own ABN. Hireup are NDIS registered and can work with all NDIS participants.
Mable’s platform is also user-friendly and helps you to make connections with workers in your community. Mable users can find workers for both the disability and aged care sector. On Mable you set what price you would like to pay your support worker per hour. Mable is not NDIS-registered, which means they can only work with you if you are self, or plan managed.
Mobility’s platform is available to anyone in the community wanting to access services, with babysitters, support workers, aged care workers and therapists all listing their services. Workers on can decide what they charge but it has to be above the award rates and cannot be higher than the NDIS price guide limit.
See what others think
Some of the options listed above show reviews from other clients, which is a great way to get more information and learn from the experience of others.
What does each budget line mean?
Check out our handy guide to NDIS plan categories.
NDIS navigation
Most service providers we work with are not registered with the NDIS. Many are new to the disability sector. We can help you learn how to navigate the NDIS, use the price guide and format your invoices for faster payment.
Availability & Access
We work hard to ensure you can always get in touch with us and get the help or information you need.
We Support You to Support Your Clients
Your clients are our clients. Everything we do is with them in mind, including their goals and how we can support them to get there – together. Your clients are in caring, supportive hands when you refer them to us for plan management.
Provider resources
Checklists and templates to help you support your clients.
Provider invoice checklist
What to include on an invoice to get paid quickly?
Provider invoice template
A handy fillable invoice template so you know how to get paid quickly.
Our client brochure
If you have clients who are interested in joining with us, you might like to pass on this brochure.
we are:
- A great team member with an excellent work ethic.
- Process and continuous improvement focused.
- Highly accountable and take responsibility to deliver outcomes, regardless of obstacles.
- Bright, energetic, and positive – a person who likes people!
- Practical, well organised, and strongly literate and numerate.
- A creative problem solver who exudes initiative and delivers outcomes.