The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a new way to provide funding and supports to people with permanent and significant disabilities across Australia.
The organisation is a registered NDIS provider and delivers services.
The NDIS provides lifetime supports to individuals who meet the eligibility criteria. The support is based on a plan that includes your support needs, goals and aspirations.
We work with you to create a plan to suit your goals and hopes.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) manages the NDIS. They have been appointed by the federal government, and are funded by the Department of Social Services (DSS).
The NDIA manage the administration of all NDIS funding and provide information about how the NDIS will work, whether you or the person you care for is eligible, and how you can participate.
NDIS stands for National Disability Insurance Scheme.
It is a new national system of providing support to people with disability, their families and carers. It is focused on providing real choice and flexibility to people with disability, through the provision of personalised funding.
People with disability who are eligible to take part in the scheme are called “participants”.
The NDIA is the National Disability Insurance Agency.
It is a government agency whose role is to implement and manage the NDIS and ensure people with disability continue to get the support they need.
If you are eligible for the NDIS, you will receive funding on an annual basis to purchase the services, aids and equipment that you have been assessed as needing from the service provider. In addition, you can choose either to self-manage your funds, in which case you make claims to NDIS personally or else ask the NDIA – the agency established to administer the NDIS – to manage your funding for you.
As individual circumstances, conditions or needs change, NDIS participants will be able to apply to have their funding plan adjusted accordingly.
The organisation provide a range of support services to individuals with a disability and their families throughout each stage in life. We can support you to:
• Become more independent
• Transition from school
• Move out of home or set up your own home
• Access therapy services
• Learn new skills
• Strengthen relationships with family, friends and others
• Be a part of your community
• Gain work experience and employment
We are also registered NDIS Plan Managers. Talk to us to find out more.
Eligibility for NDIS funding comes down to four factors:
Disability & Early Intervention – you must:
Have a permanent disability, which limits your ability to participate in your community, obtain employment, and perform day-to-day tasks without support from a carer or assistive technology.
OR
Have a permanent disability (or developmental delay for children under 6 years) that would likely benefit from receiving support now, to reduce the amount of support needed in the future.
Residency status – you must:
Be an Australian citizen
OR
Hold a Permanent Visa
OR
New Zealand citizen who holds a Protected Special Category Visa.
Location –
To check when your area will be rolling out visit – the NDIS website.
Or
To see what local government area you live in visit the know your council website.
Age –
You must be under 65 years of age at the time of rollout in your area.
We recommend you use to confirm your eligibility with the NDIS Access Checklist tool, or by calling the NDIA on 1800 800 110.
Use My Access Checker to find out if you can receive assistance from the NDIS, and what the next steps are.
If you live outside an NDIS trial site, your existing funding and support will continue. These will remain in place until the NDIS is introduced to your area or is extended to your age group.
People over the age of 65 are not eligible for the NDIS. People over 65 who currently receiving disability support will be provided with the same support and funding that they received before the transition to the NDIS.
The organisation is a strong supporter of the NDIS. We have worked alongside the government as they have developed the NDIS and will play an active role in the transition from current arrangements to the new scheme.
We understand that changing this big can be challenging, so we will work with you to ensure that the transition to NDIS is tailored to your needs. During the transition, you can be assured that we will maintain our commitment to our vision to support and listen to each person and their family. This means that if we currently provide services and support to you, a family member or a loved one, we will make sure your voice and choices are heard and that we will continue to partner with you to develop personalised plans and goals that reflect your needs, individuality and culture.
The NDIS covers a wide range of disability supports, services and equipment, where these are seen as reasonable and necessary.
These can include therapies, education, living arrangements, home modifications, communication assistive technology, mobility equipment, community participation activities, and support in gaining and maintaining employment, just to name a few.
To say that support is ‘reasonable and necessary means that it should help in one or more of the following ways:
• Achieving your goals.
• Increasing and maintaining independence.
• Developing necessary skills for everyday life, etc.
• Facilitating participation in your community.
• Gaining employment and working.
It is also important that the supports outlined in your plan are:
• Funded cost-effectively.
• Make allowances for what is reasonable to expect of families, carers and the community.
• Not more suitably provided through other support systems.
• Not illegal or intended to replace income.
The NDIS does not provide funding for support if it is:
• Not related to a person’s disability.
• A duplicate of another support within a participant's support plan.
• Related to daily living expenses not tied to a participant's disability (e.g. rent, groceries).
• Better addressed through an alternative support system (e.g. healthcare system).
• Likely to cause harm to a participant or pose a risk to others.
• Related to income replacement.
The Disability Support Register (DSR) will be replaced by the NDIS, as it rolls out from July 1, 2016.
However, there won’t be a waiting list for the NDIS.
If a person is found to meet the NDIS eligibility criteria, they will be able to commence services, once their plan is approved by the NDIA.
The NDIS does not have a defined limit for each person's funding. Funding is very personalised and tailored for your specific needs. When support is deemed as ‘reasonable and necessary, you are entitled to funding for that support. Hence, the focus is not on the cost of funding, but on delivering the support you need to achieve your goals.
For more information on the NDIS, visit http://www.ndis.gov.au/
Yes, the NDIS will ask you to think about what your goals are and what support you may need.
Goals are ideas you have about what you want to do in your life. They can be big or small and cover many parts of your life. For example, goals can be becoming more independent, getting a job, going to school, spending time with friends or being healthy.
This will be easier if you do some planning. The organisation can help you figure out what you already get and we have people who can help you to figure out what you want.
There are also some tools to help with this:
NDIS Planning Tool
There are independent organisations that can also help support you or your family member, for example:
VALID
Local area coordination organization
Increased flexibility and choice is what are encouraged under the NDIS. This means that many people can access different supports from many services. You may find as you transition through to the NDIS that you identify goals and ambitions in areas where The organisation can support you to achieve your happiness.
To help you achieve your goals, The organisation can provide flexible support with:
• Accommodation services and supports
• Sporting activities, passions and interests
• Personal care
• Increasing independence and community participation
• Getting a job
• Individual support at home, going out or on holidays
• Education and training opportunities
• Assistance with household management duties
• Clinical support
Tell us what you need and we can tailor it for you.
As a registered NDIS provider, we provide a variety of services for a wide range of clients. All our support services are personalised for your individual needs and provided by qualified support workers and personal care attendants.
Our NDIS services include:
The NDIA will work with you to define the supports you need in your NDIS plan. This may include ‘support coordination’ if you need help to set up and manage the services you receive. We don’t provide support coordination for your care plan ourselves; we instead work with you and your support coordinator to deliver some or all of the support services outlined in your care plan.
Your NDIS funding can be used for a wide variety of different things, including:
Daily living, life skills, and self-care activities
Community and social participation
Aids and equipment
Home modifications
Transport and community access
Employment and workplace support
Therapeutic supports
The NDIA can help you understand all the services and supports which are available to you and how you can access them.
If you haven’t received your NDIS funding yet, but have started thinking about your planning meeting with the NDIA, talk to us. We can chat with you about some things you might like to consider when working out what support you need and what goals are important to you. Contact us.
Yes. We want to make sure the people supporting you are the perfect match for you. We match our direct support professionals with you based on similar interests. We want you to build genuine connections with the people that support you. For individual support packages, we even invite the client to participate in the interview process.
We are an approved NDIS provider for the following services:
Assist personal activities
Community participation
Daily household task/shared living
Development life skills
Assist travel and transport
Support coordination
Plan management
Currently, we are focusing on Specialized One to one support, Support coordination and plan management services to the NDIS participants.
One-to-one support means one support staff provide support to the NDIS participant to achieve their goal. Currently, The organisation provides one-to-one support services to the NDIS participants to develop the following skills:
Maintain Personal Hygiene
Cooking and healthy eating
Regular Exercise
Menu planning and Shopping
Household activities
Medical appointments
To use Public transport
Road safety
Outing for eating and other recreational activities
Money handling and budgeting
A Support Coordinator will assist to use your plan to achieve your goals, live more independently, and develop your way of living skills in the community and employment. The support coordinators support to connect the participant to develop knowledge, experience and connections with the community and wider system of support. They work together with the participant and their family to understand the funded plan and its purpose. They develop and design support solutions to achieve the participant's goals. They understand the participant's skills and confidence, and support participants identify what they want from the services. The support coordinators also help the participant and their families to identify and consider support options and link them to the broader systems of support. They facilitate the participants to implement their plan to achieve their goal and assist them to resolve points of crisis and develop capacity and resilience in the participant’s network. They also coach the participant through challenges that come up in future and help to prepare for review and report on achieved outcomes.
If you have NDIS Plan, you may have a choice of how you would like to handle the financial aspects such as paying for support workers, therapists and other treatments. One of the four options is Plan Management while others are Self-Management, Agency Management and Mixed.
If you choose to be a plan managed, MCT Care provides the plan management services to pay money to the providers directly from your NDIS plan on your behalf.
If you choose to use a Plan Manager, they will:
Plan management allows you to:
To receive the NDIS services, you should follow the following steps:
Plan Management is a service funded for NDIS Participants who have the ‘Improved Life Choices’ or ‘CB Choice & Control’ budget category included in their plan.
*Note – These budget names describe the same funding category. What you see listed on your plan will depend on whether you are viewing your plan on the NDIS portal, as a PDF, or the paper copy received in the mail.
Plan Management is a service funded for NDIS Participants who have the ‘Improved Life Choices’ or ‘CB Choice & Control’ budget category included in their plan.
Having a Plan Manager means someone else looks after the administration and paperwork, pays your providers and keeps financial records, on your behalf. Plan Management is funded separately and does not impact on your other services and supports.
You make the decisions about how and where you spend your budgets, and Plan Tracker pays your providers and keeps track of the payments and your budgets.
Plan Tracker’s My Choice Tool can help make it easier to decide how and where to spend your budget. The tool also provides useful evidence to show how you reached your decision.
Plan Tracker has a friendly team of knowledgeable people for you to contact, many with lived NDIS Plan experience.
Generally, the NDIS doesn’t fund supports that are:
No. If you’re over 65, you can’t access the NDIS – but that doesn’t mean you won’t receive support. If you’re aged 65 or over and are currently receiving disability support, you’ll continue to receive the same level of support as before, just not through the NDIS.
You do! Your NDIS plan will tell you how much funding you will receive for each support but it’s your decision how funds are managed. You can choose to manage your funds yourself or nominate the NDIS, a registered provider or someone else you trust to do it for you. With the NDIS you’ll always retain control over how, when and where your supports are provided.
If your needs aren’t currently being met, you may be provided with more support if it’s deemed reasonable and necessary by the NDIS. This is why it’s important to spend some time thinking about your needs and where your life could be improved ahead of your first NDIS meeting.
NDIS Local Area Co-ordinators (LACs) are locally based representatives who can support you in implementing your NDIS plan. This might include assisting you in finding community activities and mainstream services in your local area to help you achieve your goals. However, they can’t be as hands-on or involved as your support coordinator, which is why we highly recommend support coordination to make sure you’re getting the most out of your plan.
Yes, if your circumstances change. If something happens that affects the support you need, just let the NDIS or your support provider know and they’ll work with you to review your plan. Your NDIS plan is also reviewed every 12 months. This allows you to assess the progress you’ve made towards achieving your goals and helps you to set new goals for the year ahead – which could also lead to a change in your support requirements.
Contact your NDIS Local Area Co-ordinator for a list of service providers in your area. Alternatively, you can find a List of Registered Providers in Queensland on the NDIS website.
An NDIS service agreement is a legal agreement between you and your service provider/s which outlines the support that will be provided for you under the NDIS. It describes how and when the support will be provided, as well as the costs and the fees you need to pay.
Only if it’s identified as one of your goals. A big part of the thinking behind the NDIS is that living a full life starts with being a part of your community and having the same opportunities as everybody else. Getting a job and participating in the economy can greatly improve your circumstances and your well-being, which is why it could become a goal in your plan. In this situation, you would work with your NDIA planner and support coordinator (if you have one) to find supports that will help you achieve it.
The NDIS fully recognises the important role you, as parents, play in supporting the lives of your children. Both Blue Care and the NDIA consider your views and experience to be crucial to the planning process. Parents are actively encouraged to work in partnership with the NDIA and be vocal about their children’s needs.
At the end of your planning meeting, your Local Area Coordinator or NDIA planner will let you know how long it will take to get your approved NDIS plan and what happens next.
Once the NDIA has approved your plan, your Local Area Coordinator or NDIA planner will give it to you, either in person or by mail to your preferred address. You can request a copy of your plan in accessible formats such as braille, electronic text (on CD), large print, audio (on CD) or translated into your preferred language.
After your plan is approved and you have checked it, it's time to put it into action. You choose what supports and services you need to pursue to goals and who provides them. This means you need to understand the different budgets in your plan, who can help you start to use your plan, and how your plan is managed.
Your Local Area Coordinator or Support Coordinator will help you to understand your plan and what supports and services you can pay for with your NDIS funding. They can also help you implement your plan and connect you to new supports.
Your NDIS plan and funding can be managed in 3 different ways:
You can use a combination of these options if you like. For example, you might manage some parts of your plan yourself, while the NDIA may look after other parts.
Your first NDIS plan is usually reviewed after 12 months.
The NDIS is working on making plans for up to 2 years or longer as the norm, based on feedback from participants.
Your review date should be on the front page of your NDIS plan. Towards the end of your plan, you'll be contacted about reviewing it and developing a new plan.
This is flexible to suit what's happening to you. If things are stable, your plan might simply be extended. Or if you need significant changes, your new plan can be developed earlier.
Yes. The NDIS does not cover these costs.
The NDIS will not affect your Disability Support Pension, Newstart Allowance or other income support payments from the Government. These payments remain separate from the NDIS.
Your mobility allowance will be affected. The NDIA (National Disability Insurance Agency which has been set up by the Government to manage the NDIS scheme) will identify this with you. Costs relating to your travel and transport needs will be covered under your NDIS funding instead of a separate mobility allowance.
Your NDIS funding covers the costs of the ‘reasonable and necessary support you need to achieve your goals and live a contributing life. It cannot be used for everyday expenses like food, rent or electricity bills.
Your NDIS planner will work with you to determine which of the supports you already receive are needed for you to participate in everyday life and achieve your goals. These will appear in your NDIS plan and you will continue to receive them.
The NDIS planning process is an opportunity to review your current supports to make sure that these are right for you and identify any other needs you may have that are not being met.
Reasonable and necessary supports must:
be identified in your NDIS plan as helping you to achieve your goals
be related to your disability
help you take part in the community or to find paid work or volunteering work
not include day-to-day living costs not related to your disability
represent value for money
be beneficial to you and be evidence-based (tried and tested), and
take into account informal family, carer and community support that is available to you.
The NDIS supports people by building skills and capability so they can participate in the community and employment. Funding is applied directly to the person with the disability, allowing them the flexibility to choose the services they need. This replaces the old system of funding being directly applied to the service providers.
No, the NDIS is an insurance scheme funded through tax contributions, like Medicare. The NDIS does not require means testing for eligible Participants and does not influence the Disability Support Pension payments you might receive. The NDIS is designed to complement the current health and education services in Australia.
A Participant/Client is a person living with a disability in Australia who is eligible and has been accepted into the National Disabilities Insurance Scheme by the NDIA.
When you choose your Service Provider you will need to make sure that you agree on how, when and where your support will be provided, what it will cost, how it will be paid for and how you will manage any problems that come up. The LAC can help you to make an Agreement with the Providers that you choose.
As the NDIS is designed to increase a person’s skills and independence, it’s important to understand that your NDIS plan may change over time and that everyone who receives funding under the NDIS has a periodic plan review.
Reviewing your NDIS plan provides you with an opportunity to check if your current supports are working for you and that these supports are helping you work towards and achieve your goals.
Depending on your contact preference, an NDIS plan review can be done face-to-face or over the phone. You are welcome to bring along, or include in the call, a family member, friend, advocate or another person when your plan is reviewed.
Is the plan within 3 months of the plan end date? If so, an appointment may be made for a scheduled review. You will need to gather reports from therapists and information which may support your request and show how the support and services you receive are helping you achieve your goals.
If you would like to contact the NDIS directly you can call 1800 800 110 from 8 am to 8 pm local time or visit their website by clicking here www.ndis.gov.au.
A range of organisations has been selected to be Local Area Coordinators (LACS) and work as NDIS Planners in certain regions.
Yes, of course, you are free to bring someone with you to your plan meetings.
There may be one or several meetings, it just depends on your individual needs and how long it takes to work out all the details.
Yes, but you should let your NDIS Planner know if you need support to implement your plan so they can add funding for this service into your NDIS Plan. There are three levels of support you can access under the Support Coordination category.
Yes. The NDIS aims to provide you with the support and services required for you to be as independent as possible. The amount of the package is determined by your individual needs, goals, aspirations and what is included in your plan.
Before the NDIS was introduced, disability services in Australia had been a lottery.
The funding you received depended on how, when and where you acquired your disability, as well as where you lived. Some people got enough funding, some people got none! It was all just a bit unfair!
So, after they held an enquiry, the Federal Government agreed that people with a disability deserved a fairer system. And, m
In July 2013, the NDIS was introduced and rolled out across Australia over several years.
The rollout was completed in mid-2020. Read more about the NDIS rollout here.
Before your meeting consider the following questions:
The NDIS has some fact sheets, Developing your plan, Starting your program and Managing your plan, that you can download from their website.
You will be given a list of Services that provide the items in your plan. If you have a Local Area Coordinator they are your link to service providers and can arrange meetings. You can also contact service providers directly to discuss what they can offer.
Our experience is that people who take the time to look at each potential service provider and speak with them are usually more satisfied with the services they receive.
Consider your options closely and exercise your right to choose. Remember you can change if you are not happy.
Support coordination is included in a plan if it is reasonable and necessary for the individual. Some people may have Support Coordination funded in their NDIS plan. A Support Coordinator is generally funded to strengthen a participant’s ability to connect to and coordinate with a range of more complex informal, mainstream and funded supports. They coordinate services from a range of suppliers or providers, address service delivery issues and develop the capacity and resilience of their support network. Support Coordination is usually funded for people with high needs or increased complexities. However, some Participants may also get Support Coordination funded in their plan if there is no LAC or ECIS available in the local area (for example a remote or very remote region in Australia). A Local Area Coordinator works for the NDIA and undertakes planning functions, connecting people with disability to the NDIS and the community.
Participants should check their plan and Service Booking information and contact their local NDIS office if the information looks incorrect. The NDIA will then update the information on your behalf.
Again, this depends on your situation Can you get SSI without a disability?
The maximum basic rate per fortnight is (as of 1 July 2022):
• $450.30 if you are under 18, single and dependent on a guardian
• $666.90 if you are under 18, single and independent
• $503.50 if you are 18 to 20, single and dependent
• $666.90 if you are 18 to 20, single and independent
• $666.90 if you are a couple younger than 21
• $900.80 if you are 21 or older and single, or younger than 21, single, with a child in your care
• $1,358.00 if you are 21 or older and a couple, or younger than 21 and a couple with a child in your care.
False. The NDIS does not fund therapy to address symptoms, we fund ongoing functional support for day-to-day living.
Treatment supports are not most appropriately funded by the NDIS.
NDIS does not require that you access a mental health care plan and is not able to top up funding if you have such a plan.
If the only support you require is treatment, likely, you will not be eligible for the NDIS (because you do not require NDIS support with everyday activities).
False. As agreed between Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, early intervention services for people experiencing mental health issues are generally provided by mainstream services outside the NDIS.
False. The NDIA looks at the person’s ability to function in the periods between acute episodes, not at any given point in time.
It is irrelevant whether a person applies to the NDIS when they are acutely unwell or feeling particularly well.
False. The NDIA looks at day-to-day functioning and considers what people can do as well as what they cannot do within the six life skill areas.
Not being able to work because of a mental health condition does not, in isolation, demonstrate substantially reduced capacity in one of the life skill areas.
False. Substantially reduced functional capacity does not involve a comparison with levels of functional capacity previously enjoyed.
It is a comparison with a person in the community who has not experienced a similar impairment.
False. Psychiatrists can provide evidence of functional capacity however, appropriately qualified mental health professionals such as mental health nurses can also provide evidence.
Depending on the nature of the doctor/patient relationship a psychiatrist may be well positioned to provide evidence of functional capacity.
The NDIA will consider the qualification of the person giving evidence and the relationship they have with you.
False. The treating clinician will decide on appropriate treatment and/or interventions for an individual.
The NDIA requires evidence that provides a history of treatment and the rationale relating to any decisions made by the clinician not to pursue a known treatment/intervention option.
False. The NDIA does not require specific information identifying a trigger for a mental health condition and is respectful of a person’s right to privacy.
There is no need to share private information relating to trauma and/or abuse with NDIA staff.
False. The treating clinician confirms how much treatment/intervention is required for an individual before an impairment can be considered permanent.
The NDIA requests that clinicians provide a clinical rationale to support that an impairment is likely to remain across a person’s lifetime (especially where there are any unusual circumstances).
False. No specific mental health diagnosis will automatically meet or not meet the NDIS access criteria.
Access decisions are made on individual circumstances and not specifically centred on the diagnosis, but rather on the impact that this mental health condition has on a person’s daily life.
False. If you are seeking to access the NDIS with a psychosocial disability, the NDIA needs to know that the impairment is because of a mental health condition.
If that is the case, a person can meet the NDIS access requirements, regardless of any co-existing dependency issue(s).
A potential participant may be accessing or planning to access treatment, for co-existing substance dependency at the time of access and throughout any ongoing relationship with the NDIS.
False. Psychotic disorders include a range of diagnostic categories, some of which may be brief. People who experience psychosis may be eligible for individualised NDIS support if they meet the access requirements.
False. Many NDIS participants experience episodic conditions resulting in disability. An episodic condition is not a barrier to accessing the NDIS.
False. The NDIA needs to know how the impairment/s from your mental health issues impact your day-to-day functioning.
If your mental health issues are episodic, the NDIA will need to know about how you function between episodes (not on particularly good or bad days).
False. There is no requirement that all known treatments have to be completed.
The NDIA needs to know what treatments/interventions have been explored – ones that you have tried and ones that you and your clinician have decided not to try – and why the impairment will remain even when treatment continues.
False. The NDIS will not replace community-based support or medical/clinical care for people living with mental health conditions
The NDIS can provide support to increase independence, be part of your community, and participate in work.
Consumables fall into the NDIS Core Supportscategory. Core Supports is where you find your funding for daily living tasks, activities and items that help achieve the goals and objectives in your NDIS Plan.
To allow for flexibility and choice, Core Supports is separated into sub-categories or “buckets” these are:
The NDIS consumables budget is flexible. Items under $1,500 will generally not require a quote. For items over $1,500, no more than two quotes are required.
Not only does the NDIS cover everyday consumables in terms of mobility, but the NDIS also covers larger equipment such as wheelchairs.
This is funded under a different category called NDIS Capital Support. Capital Support covers high-cost assistive technology such as wheelchairs, communication equipment, or toilet and bathroom aids.
The types of items available can include:
This equipment can be hired or purchased with your NDIS funding. For items over $1,500, at least two quotes are required.
You will need to go through the NIDS Approval scheme in some cases. You may also need to have a formal “prescription” from an Occupational Therapist to support your request.
Anyone who provides NDIS consumables must meet strict government quality and safety requirements.
Providers registered with the NDIS are called “NDIS registered providers“. If your NDIS plan is agency managed, you must buy your consumables from a registered provider.
However, if you are self-managed or plan-managed, you have the flexibility to buy from your preferred businesses.
Our Plan Management team are NDIS experts. Our team know the local industry and are objective.
They can give you quality advice about what supports you can purchase with your funding and help find providers near you that meet your unique needs.
Contact us today for more information about Plan Management and how our team can help you with your NDIS budget, including consumables.
General Practitioners and other health professionals may be asked to provide evidence to support a request to access the NDIS.
This may involve:
• completing the Supporting Evidence section
of the NDIS Access Request Form;
• documenting that the person has or is likely to have a permanent disability; and
• providing copies of reports or assessments relevant to the diagnosis, that outline
the extent of the functional impact of
the disability.
General Practitioners and other health professionals may be asked to provide evidence to support a request to access the NDIS.
This may involve:
• completing the Supporting Evidence section
of the NDIS Access Request Form;
• documenting that the person has or is likely to have a permanent disability; and
• providing copies of reports or assessments relevant to the diagnosis, that outline
the extent of the functional impact of
the disability.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) will assess that a disability is present if there is a loss of an ability to perform an activity due to an impairment. The term ‘impairment’ commonly refers to a loss of, or damage to, a physical, sensory or mental function.
An impairment is, or is likely
to be, permanent only if there are no known available and appropriate evidence based treatments that would be likely to remedy the impairment.
The Evidence of Disability requests information relating to the primary disability (the disability that has the greatest impact on their life), as well as any other disabilities that affect them.
It is important when filling out this section
to summarise the effect of disability without support. The more comprehensive the information provided in each of these sections, the less likely the persons access request
will be delayed due to further information being requested.
It is important to include information regarding treatments completed or planned, permanency of the impairment and the impacts the impairment has on the
person’s functional capacity.
Once a person is granted access to the
NDIS, a Local Area Coordinator or an
NDIA planner will contact the participant to gather information to develop a plan. Plans are built in accordance with outcomes and funding categories. Funds will be approved to assist a person to have an ordinary life under the heading of Daily Life. The plan will detail how the funding is expected to assist the person towards an ordinary life.
NDIS places great emphasis on capacity building
and many plans will specify supports that build a person’s skills to manage independently. Equipment, house or vehicle modifications are considered an investment in a participant’s increased independence and are funded as capital expenditure items.
All expenditure must meet a “value for money” test.
No. GPs should ask participants to bring a copy of their plan to a subsequent consultation. It may be useful to be aware of what services can be purchased by the Participant with NDIS funds, as these may compliment those available through Medicare.
Once a plan is approved, a Local Area Coordinator or a funded Support Coordinator will assist the participant to link with mainstream and community services; to select providers for funded services
and develop service agreements with them and
to understand how to track expenditure of
NDIS funds throughout the life of the plan.
