FAQs
WHAT IS NDIS?
The NDIS is the new way of providing support for people with disability, their families and carers.
The NDIS will provide all Australians under the age of 65 who have a permanent and significant disability with the reasonable and necessary supports they need to enjoy an ordinary life.
The NDIS began with some trial sites around Australia from July 2013. From 1 July 2016 the Scheme started to roll out gradually around the rest of Australia.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (the Agency) is responsible for delivering the NDIS.
WHAT IS NDIA?
NDIA is the independent agency responsible for implementing the NDIS. It provides information and referrals, links to services and activities, individualised plans and where necessary, funded supports over a lifetime. We recommend you contact the NDIA before making any decisions about your NDIS plan
HOW CAN I GET NDIS SUPPORT?
WHAT CAN BE FUNDED?
One of the great things about the NDIS is that, it is designed to suit the needs of every individual. For most people, funding will cover things like:
• Daily personal activities
• Transport for community, social & daily activities
• Workplace support to gain or maintain employment
• Therapeutic supports, including behavior support
• Assessment of aids including set up and training
• Home modification design and installation
• Mobility equipment
• Vehicle modifications.
WHAT WILL NOT BE FUNDED?
A support will not be funded if it does not relate to your disability, if it duplicates support that is already funded (eg Medicare or Department of Education), if it relates to day-to-day living costs that are not related to a participant’s support needs, or if it is likely to cause harm to the participant or others.
TRANSITIONING TO THE NDIS
The Agency is committed to ensuring that NDIS participants receive funding so they can exercise choice and control over the services they receive and providers are paid quickly for the services they deliver.
The transition phase is a unique period for the NDIS. We have a large number of people joining the Scheme during a short period of time.
Our priority is to ensure that participants continue to get the supports and services they need while the Scheme is rolled out nationally.
The Commonwealth and State governments have implemented interim arrangements to ensure providers are not disadvantaged during the transition to the NDIS.
The Agency has arrangements in place to support participants transitioning into the NDIS with participants who are living in state funded supported accommodation receiving a component for supported independent living in their first plan.
GETTING STARTED – PARTICIPANT JOURNEY
If a person already receives supports from a State or Territory government disability program, they will be contacted by a National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) representative when it is time to transition to the NDIS.
For some people already receiving supports from State and Territory disability programs, evidence of their disability may not be needed. This is because some State and Territory programs have the same eligibility criteria as the NDIS.
If a person does not currently receive disability supports and the NDIS is available in their area theycan request access by calling the NDIS.
Once access is granted, the participant or their nominee will receive a letter from the NDIA advising that they meet the access requirements to become a participant under the NDIS.
Further information is available at www.ndis.gov.au
PLANNING CONVERSATION
Once a participant has access to the NDIS confirmed, they and/or their nominee will be contacted by a representative of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to have a planning conversation.
Most people’s first plans will be completed over the phone, through a planning conversation between the participant (and/or their nominee) and an NDIA representative about their existing supports, needs and main goals.
If people are not able to complete their planning conversation over the phone or are not in a position to do so, the NDIS will make alternative planning arrangements.
Everyone will have the same access to supports and services irrespective of how their planning conversation takes place.
Further information is available at
PLAN APPROVAL
When a plan is finalised the participant will be sent a letter confirming that their plan has been approved, along with a copy of the plan, and when the plan commenced.
The participant will also be contacted by an NDIS representative to discuss how to implement their plan and use the funding they have received. This will happen within seven days of plan approval.
The participant will be able to contact this NDIS representative at any stage and they will check in with the participant to discuss ideas to help achieve goals that build on their funded supports and better connections to community activities and mainstream support.
Depending on a participant’s situation there are a range of people they can work with to implement their plan and support them to start receiving supports.
If a participant is self-managed they might start by themselves or they may work with a Local Area Coordinator or an Early Childhood Partner. Some people may also have a Support Coordinator funded in their plan to help them get started.
STARTING WITH A PARTICIPANT
Once a plan is approved participants need to confirm which services, that are aligned to their plan, they choose to receive from which providers. Participants may choose to continue to obtain supports from their existing providers when they transition into the NDIS.
Service Agreements and Service Bookings
When a participant chooses to engage a provider to deliver supports under an NDIS plan they will generally enter into a written agreement with the provider called a Service Agreement. A Service Agreement will help to ensure that the participant and provider have an agreed set of expectations of what supports will be delivered and how they will be delivered.
Developing a Service Agreement is a collaborative process between the participant, any other person (such as a participant’s family member or friend) and the provider.
A Service Booking is the way a participant engages with their chosen provider(s) online and nominates the type of service, dates of support and funding to be allocated to a given provider.
Providers delivering continuous services to a participant transitioning into the NDIS still need to create a service booking so they can claim for the supports that they have been selected by the participant to provide from the date the plan is approved.
Where the continuous service is one that requires a quote, the quotes have to have been accepted by the NDIA before a service booking can be made.
QUOTING INFORMATION
Some supports will have a capped price and others will require a provider to submit a quote – the different types of pricing are indicated in the Price Guide.
Quoting is an additional step the participant’s selected provider must go through to agree on pricing before service bookings can be made.
The approval process for quotes does not pause or halt the implementation of a participant’s plan, but experience shows that it can take time because quotes need to be submitted in a transparent format to allow for checks against whether the services included are reasonable and necessary, and not duplicated elsewhere in the participant’s plan.
As some services have previously been packaged by providers as part of program delivery ensuring a transparent quote requires providers to “unbundle” their services to ensure transparency of choice; what is being funded; and to eliminate duplication of funding.
SOURCE: www.ndis.gov.au
Further information
There are a range of information on www.ndis.gov.au/providers to support you learn more about the NDIS including: