Reading and Understanding an NDIS Plan

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Section One: "Your NDIS Plan is approved"

The first section of an NDIS plan is generally a letter addressed to yourself or your plan nominee stating that “your plan is approved”. The wording can vary in this section depending on how your new plan was derived. Generally, it outlines the following:

• Start and end dates of your plan
• “How we developed your plan” – This explains whether the new plan was a result of an unscheduled plan review, review of a reviewable decision, change of circumstance or your plan period simply expired.
• “How to request your plan approval decision to be reviewed” – If you do not agree on the decisions made in the new plan, you can request an internal review of a decision about this plan within three months of receiving it.

Section Two: "Name - NDIS Plan"

This section gives basic information on your NDIS details.

• Participant Name
• Participant NDIS Number
• NDIS Contact/Planner contact details
• “A National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) representative will contact me about my plan review before my plan review due date.” This simply notes that before the plan is due to end, NDIS will be in contact to book in a plan review meeting.

Section Three: "My Profile"

This section helps to provide more information on who you are, your likes and who is involved in your life, which was most likely discussing in the plan review.

• “Information about me”
• Date of Birth
• Preferred contact method
• “About Me” –This section includes basic information about your disability, your day-to-day activities, where you live, who you live with, or who cares for you. This is good to keep updated with every new plan, so that anyone looking at the plan and gain further understanding of who you are.
• “My Family and Friends” - This section includes information about the support you get from family and friends that is not funded, but will help you work towards your goals.
• “My Services and Mainstream Supports” - This section includes information about services and supports delivered by community or other government services like support groups, health centres, libraries and public transport.

Section Four: "My Goals"

This section focuses on your goals as discussed in your planning meeting. The goals are important, as NDIS will always link funding to a goal, so it is a great idea to have your support coordinator involved to help review these when preparing for a plan review. All supports and services should be aiming to meet at least one of your goals.

These goals are broken down into short term goals, medium and long-term goals. Short term goals are most likely the ones you will be working towards in this plan, and medium to long-term goals are will not be the primary focus of this plan (however also can be).

Visit this link for further information on goal setting:
https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/creating-your-plan/setting-goals

Section Five: "Funded Supports Information"

This section explains the three ways in which a plan can be managed.

1. Self-managed: This is where you will claim funding from your plan to pay providers. Providers will invoice you directly for supports you have agreed upon. Self-management allows for flexibility with engaging with both registered and non-registered providers.
2. Plan-managed: This is where you engage a third party “plan manager” to make claims and pay providers on your behalf for supports you have agreed upon. Plan Management allows for flexibility when engaging providers, as they can be both registered and non-registered with the NDIS.
3. NDIA-managed: This is where Providers will claim payment directly from your NDIS plan, based on active service bookings and agreed upon supports. Plans that are only NDIA Managed, means that you are only able to utilise registered providers.

Funding in plans can be managed in more than one of the above ways. Often, plans are mixed managed to allow for flexibility in a specific category of the plan.

It is also good to note that there are also some rules on funding, as noted below:

• Stated Supports – This means that where it says “stated” in your plan, you are only able to purchase this support as described. You are not able to swap stated supports. E.g. “STATED Support Coordination Level 2 $4806.72”
• In-Kind Supports – When a support is listed as “in-kind”, the provider has already been pre-paid to deliver the service, so you must continue with them as planned.
• Quote Required – When a support is listed as “quote required”, it means that there is a quote and sometimes a report outstanding which must be obtained and sent to the NDIS for approval. NDIS will then go through the approval process, and once approved, the funding will be available in the plan to purchase the item. This is generally with assistive technology items.

Section Six: "Funded Supports"

This section tells you the amount of funding you have been allocated, and in which category you can use it, depending on your needs.

Your funding is based on what the NDIS see as reasonable and necessary for your needs, in addition to other support from friends, family and mainstream services, to meet your goals.

There are many different categories, however you may only have a couple of them, as funding is based on your particular needs.

Visit this link for further information on support categories:
https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/using-your-plan/managing-your-plan/support-budgets-your-plan

Section Seven: "Find out more"

“Who to contact if I need information or help with my plan”

• Your NDIS contact’s details will be provided, along with the generic enquiries contact
• End date of your plan
• If something important changes or is going to change (e.g. I move house, start work or school, if I get or may get compensation relating to an injury, or if my goals change) you will need to notify your NDIS contact and definitely speak with your Support Coordinator to help with this!

Useful Resource

Here is another useful link for understanding the NDIS, planning and using your NDIS plan, where you can download booklets: https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants

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