Help To Manage Your NDIS Plan

Written by: NDIS Plan Management Team

When it comes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, commonly referred to as the NDIS and getting started, it can be a little overwhelming, to say the least!

When it comes to managing those funds in your NDIS Plan, there is no ‘right’ way.  But you will need to think about the options that are available to you, as well as how they fit with your lifestyle and your situation to help you reach and achieve your goals.  Can + Will Plan Management and Navigation will be with you every step of the way to help to manage your NDIS Plan.  Our team have experience and expertise in the disability sector.  We care about you and helping you in achieving your goals and aspirations.  Trust, expertise and understanding are what you want to be looking for when it comes to working with a registered NDIS Plan Management team.

Every NDIS plan has a budget with funding to purchase supports to help you achieve your goals.  Whether it’s your first National Disability Insurance Scheme plan or you’ve been doing it for a while – the NDIS is always changing.

There are three options to manage your NDIS funding –

1. Self-Managed
2. Plan-Managed
3. NDIS-Managed

You can also choose a combination of the three options.  For example, you may choose to self-manage one part of your NDIS Plan to start with and have the rest managed by a registered Plan Manager like Can+ Will Plan Management and Navigation.

So, let’s break it down a little further between the options of managing your NDIS funds.

NDIS Self Management

Self-management is when you manage your own NDIS Funding:

• Flexibility and choice to decide what supports you buy to meet your NDIS plan goals; and
• The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) provides you with funding so you can access the supports that will best help you achieve your goals

The National Disability Insurance Scheme website states that,

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.

It lets you think creatively about how you can use your funds to best meet your needs.

Benefits of Self-Managing Your NDIS Plan

Self-managing your NDIS funding can give you the control, independence and flexibility in arranging and paying for your supports.  If you self-manage your NDIS funds you will have:

• Choice in deciding what supports you purchase, in line with what is included in your NDIS Plan, who provides these supports and how they are delivered;
• Flexibility to use any provider that will best help you to pursue your NDIS Plan goals;
• Capacity to employ or contract staff directly, or have someone employ staff on your behalf;
• Ability to negotiate the cost of your supports so you get the best value for money; and
• Control over and responsibility for your NDIS Funding so you can manage your own budget for the duration of your NDIS Plan.

NDIS Plan Management

Working together with a professional Plan Management registered NDIS Provider, like Can + Will Plan Management and Navigation, gives you increased choice and control of your plan without the hassle of managing the financial paperwork.

There are some great benefits of using an NDIS Plan Management team, for example:

• Pay your provider invoices for the services and supports they have provided you, in line with your NDIS Plan goals;
• Increase your choice of providers by allowing you to choose supports from registered and non-registered providers such as gardeners, cleaners or organisations and therapists who have chosen not to register;
• Receive in time NDIS Plan Budget reports and have a greater budget oversight at any time;
• Not having to use the NDIS Portal (Proda/MyPlace Portal) or talk to the NDIS call centre – which can be confusing and often time-consuming for some people;
• Knowing that you have a trusting team of people to turn to when needing help to navigate the NDIS and to ensure you get the most out of your NDIS Plan; and
• You don’t have to pay for NDIS plan management from your core budgets.  NDIS Plan Management is funded separately in your plan and it is not subject to the reasonable and necessary test.

Can + Will Plan Management and Navigation strives to take NDIS Plan Management to the next level.  Ensuring that it is always participant-focused, we can offer trustworthy, honest, and open communication at all times.  We have been helping people reach and achieve their financial goals for 60 years and plan on helping each participant also reach theirs.

NDIA-Managed or Agency Managed

The National Disability Insurance Agency pays your providers on your behalf, and it’s sometimes referred to as agency-managed:

When your NDIS Plan is managed by the National Disability Insurance Agency:

• You are able to choose from a range of NDIS registered providers;
• Your providers claim payment electronically from your funding;
• You cannot use unregistered providers;
• You can look on the myplace portal to see what claims providers are making against your NDIS funding and keep track of your budget;
• The NDIS will manage your bookkeeping and records of your spending; and
• You cannot pay more than the National Disability Insurance Agency set price limits when being NDIA-Managed

Can + Will Plan Management and Navigation Can Help Manage Your Funding

No matter how you decide if you would like help to manage your NDIS Plan and how they are managed – you still have choice and control.

This is to ensure that the services are working for you and fit into your budget.  Even if your funding is managed by the National Disability Insurance Agency or an NDIS Plan Management team, it is recommended that you should regularly check the myplace portal and your funding to make sure your budgets are on track.

Can + Will Plan Management and Navigation gives access to a separate dashboard specially designed for each individual NDIS participant, their NDIS plan and their goals.  This separate portal dashboard allows you to see where your NDIS plan is sitting in real time!  It gives access (when approved) to the NDIS participants, plan nominees, and support coordinators to see the money that has been allocated to each budget, where the money is sitting, approve invoices, send direct messages, and the invoices that are linked to your plan.

Get in touch with our team to see how we can help you!