Melissa: A few things. Firstly, I’d run my own business before – a nanny service. Secondly, I have complex regional pain syndrome and I find having a distraction helps me manage my pain levels. Lastly, I’m a creative person. I’m an artist and I love jewellery, so design was another direction for me to channel my creativity.
Melissa: I’ve done lots of paintings, drawings and portraiture. Working with big canvases can get quite painful though, so working with jewellery is still as enjoyable, but much more manageable.
Melissa: My pain levels in the morning are quite bad, so I usually don’t start until 11 or 12 o’clock. Then, I’ll be doing something jewellery related for the day – that could be designing, constructing, repairing or computer work, like working on my website or social media accounts.
Some days I’m able to do more than others, so it’s important I don’t put too much pressure on myself to achieve a set list of tasks. I’m pretty lucky that my customers are understanding if I need to delay making or sending a piece by a day or two.
Melissa: In three words – intricate, bold and unique. Many people tell me they haven’t seen designs like mine before and that’s great for me to hear. All my jewellery is handmade from materials including silver, gold, jewellers’ wire, crystals, pearls and charms. I’ve created a huge range of necklaces, earrings, rings, and fidget rings for anxiety. Something else you’ll notice about my jewellery is that I like to incorporate the meaning of crystals in my creations.
Melissa: I mostly sell my jewellery through my website, and I’ll sometimes sell at local markets. I also showcase my work on Instagram (@love.creates.jewellery) and Facebook.
Melissa: My jewellery making and my business are part of my NDIS plan goals. My occupational therapist is currently working on my plan with a view to making it more supportive and useful to me. I have a team of support workers that support me with a range of things, and there’s one support worker in particular who assists me on market days by setting up and packing down my stall and speaking with customers. Market days are painful and exhausting for me, but I love being part of them!
Melissa: The main thing I do it for is to be contributing to society. If you live with disability – especially a physical disability – you may feel unable to go and work in an office at set times. When you can work your own hours and do your own thing there’s a double benefit – you get to have flexibility and ownership over what you’re doing, and you can contribute to society at the same time.
I personally hate sitting around doing nothing. I’d much prefer to be earning and contributing.
Melissa: The first thing I’d say is it’s nowhere near as daunting as you might first think! Planning is everything, so working out what you want to do is your first point of call.
Local, state and federal governments all have lots of resources and helpful information that you can access on starting a business, and getting an Australian Business Number (ABN) and a business name can be done online.
Melissa: I’d like my jewellery business to take off a bit more – that would be great! A lot depends on how my condition progresses, but I would also love to do an exhibition with my art.
You can browse and buy Melissa’s jewellery via her website. If you’re in the mood for a podcast episode (or two), check out Melissa’s podcast ‘Shout out – all things disability.’
My Plan Manager acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to Elders past, present, and emerging.
The team behind My Plan Manager’s cultural engagement hub understands both.
ATSI peoples with disability are among the most disadvantaged in Australian society. They often face multiple barriers to accessing services and support, and participating in the community. The cultural engagement hub is a free plan management service for ATSI participants in the NDIS. It exists to support ATSI peoples with disability to get the most out of their NDIS funding so they can live their best lives.
The team behind My Plan Manager’s cultural engagement hub can assist ATSI peoples with disability to use their NDIS funding to support diversity and cultural identity. This begins with an understanding of cultural considerations including:
It isn’t always obvious how NDIS funding can be used to reach goals in a culturally appropriate way, but My Plan Manager’s cultural engagement hub team members are experts at identifying when funding can be used for things like returning to country, connecting with family, language and lore.
Ashley* has a goal to expand his cultural learning and development. Together with his support worker, he has embarked on a project to achieve this goal by creating painted garden beds and a sculpture of an emu. The cultural engagement hub team at My Plan Manager identified that funding in Ashley’s NDIS plan can, and will, cover the cost of the paints for his project.
NDIS participants and their providers can access the cultural engagement hub by telephoning My Plan Manager on 1800 861 272 or by emailing [email protected].
By now, you may already know that plan management is one of four fund management options available to National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants (the others are agency management, self management, or a combination of two or more options).
And, if you’ve been plan managed for a while, you’re probably aware of some of the upsides – like being able to access more providers and having someone on hand to take time-consuming paperwork off your plate.
But at My Plan Manager, there’s a lot more to what we do – and that translates into a whole lot more that our clients and their supports can expect from us!
We believe that utilising our services to their full capacity is your basic right as a customer. Our core responsibility is to support our clients to manage their NDIS funds, and to educate them about the opportunities, resources and services available, so they’re better supported to exercise choice and control in every area of life.
We’re Australia’s largest (and leading!) plan management service, and we’ve been around the longest too! That means we’ve learned a lot along the way and refined our systems and processes so they’re the best in the business.
Not all plan managers are created equal, and that’s why choice and control is everything! Weighing up your options? Here’s just a few of the benefits of life as a My Plan Manager client.
We see NDIS plans every single day – hundreds, if not thousands of them come across our desks each week, so our people know the ins and outs of using them effectively and maximising every dollar. We also have a commitment to ensuring you have the opportunity to achieve your goals, like every other Australian, and that vision drives every aspect of our business.
If you have a sticky question about your plan – like what it will fund or how to use it – we’re here to answer it. No question is too tricky for our plan management experts, who’ll give you more confidence and certainty with using your plan.
Budgeting your NDIS funding can help you to access the supports you need for the entire duration of your plan. Here’s how we can help you do this:
This can create a clearer picture of how much funding you have available to spend with the providers you want to use.
If you haven’t had this conversation with us, it’s not too late to get in touch. If one of your budgets is running low, we’ll send you an SMS to let you know, and we can have a conversation about what to do next – like what other budgets you may be able to claim from.
We can also work with you to lock in service agreements with providers, which basically locks in funding to access them for the period of time you want. This can create confidence and certainty with using their services, because you and they know right from the start that there’s funding set aside.
It’s true – a plan manager exists to remove time-consuming paperwork so you can focus on what’s important, like growing capacity to achieve the outcomes you’re after. However, just one of the many things that sets great plan managers apart from the rest is the technology they use to support clients to self service and gain greater oversight of their funding.
At My Plan Manager, we’ll help you to track plan spending, see your budget in a snapshot and check the payment status of invoices to give you more control over your plan. This all happens via our simple-to-use client portal and mobile app, which show your budget in real time whenever you want to access it.
Our tech tools will also give you complete visibility of how much funding you have left, to help avoid a budget blow out. For the clearest picture of your funds, we recommend referring to the budgets we’ve set up with you and to the client portal/mobile app.
We scrutinise every invoice to make sure providers aren’t charging more than the rates set out in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (formerly known as the NDIS Price Guide). Our technology is the most sophisticated system in the sector and allows 32 checks (and counting) to be completed on every invoice, to provide confidence that your finances are in safe hands.
We can also help you to verify the services you’ve been invoiced for, and to make sure they’re being billed against the correct budgets. You can also let us know if you have any concerns about invoices or the charges being made by your providers, and we’ll happily assist you.
Today, there are more than half a million Australians participating in the NDIS, and a substantial number of those people and their families place their trust and confidence in My Plan Manager. They invite us into their lives to assist them with managing their funding, and to educate them about the opportunities, resources and services available to them, so they are better supported to exercise choice and control in every area of life.
However, our role also brings with it a responsibility to promote and protect the rights and dignity of people with disability, and to ensure their voices are heard and prioritised in every discussion about them. It is through this lens that My Plan Manager actively promotes an environment of zero tolerance of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability.
We know that people with significant or profound disability are particularly vulnerable to systemic and opportunistic harm, and we’re often their first line of defence in raising concerns about actual and potential risks. That’s why we proactively work to detect and report vulnerability, safety and safeguarding concerns, to improve outcomes for the thousands of Australians with disability who we support.
We work to promote and protect the rights of people with disability and to ensure their voices are heard. If you have concerns about fraud, if something goes wrong with your supports or services, or if you’re at risk of danger, we’re here to listen, and we can provide guidance on who to report to and how.
With your permission, we can speak with your providers to improve the invoicing process. This includes meeting Australian Taxation Office and NDIA requirements, and providing every piece of information we require upfront to avoid a payment delay which may impact their services.
If you’re a client of My Plan Manager, we hope this information has reinforced your decision to entrust your plan to Australia’s largest (and leading!) plan manager. If you’re not yet a client, we hope it’s given you confidence and certainty with choosing a plan manager that’s right for you.
If you have any questions, or if you want to know more about the services we offer at My Plan Manager, be sure to call or email us:
Existing clients – email [email protected] or call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday.
Not a client? Email [email protected] or call us on 1800 934 170 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday.
Managing your National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding to achieve a perfect spend is challenging. If you find yourself at the end of your plan with funding left over, here are three helpful things to know.
Firstly, it’s important to know unspent funds won’t be rolled over from your current NDIS plan into your next one.
So, does that mean you should spend as much as you can while you can? Well, if you have time before your plan ends, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t access services and supports with your funding. But if you don’t have time, it’s a good idea to think about why funds were underspent in preparation for your next plan reassessment. Doing so will help you to make clear for your Local Area Coordinator (LAC) or NDIS planner what your reasonable and necessary needs are so your next plan supports you and your goals!
Everyone’s individual circumstances are unique, but there are some common reasons why funding goes unspent. Do any of these apply to you?
Record the reasons why there are left over funds in your NDIS plan and share them with your LAC or planner. You might also find it helpful to use the My Plan Manager budget calculator to make a personalised budget to inform your plan reassessment. Your budget will show your LAC or planner what funding you require to meet your needs and achieve your goals when you have your supports, services and providers in place.
Your providers can also provide you with reports to share with your LAC or planner. The reports can detail any periods you were unable to access services, and what ongoing support they recommend and why.
Engaging a support coordinator and a plan manager (like My Plan Manager!) can assist you to understand your plan, to find the right service providers and to keep on top of your budgets so you don’t underspend or overspend your funds next time. Consider talking to your LAC or planner about including funding for support coordination and plan management in your next plan, and learn more about what My Plan Manager can do for you here.
Having National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding approved is just the first milestone in a long process that can be overwhelming at times. If it’s working optimally, an NDIS plan should support you to achieve your goals, remove barriers to your participation in the community, and enhance your life – but it does require time, attention and administration. That’s why knowing about NDIS plan management is crucial for you to make the most of your funding and to access supports with minimal stress.
Below are the different types of NDIS plan management available to you, what they involve, and the pros and cons of each.
The default option that participants are generally offered for funding management is agency management. This means that the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) will have responsibility for paying the people and businesses that provide you with services. When your plan is agency-managed, these service providers must come from the NDIA’s approved list of registered providers and meet the criteria for pricing. This can be inconvenient for many reasons – you may not have registered service providers local to you, you may already be working with someone you like, who knows your history, that you are comfortable with, or the providers that work best for you might not meet the price guide.
The second option available to you is self management, where you are personally responsible for paying the invoices for the services you receive under your NDIS. While this gives you more flexibility for choosing your service providers, it can be quite a large commitment in terms of the paper work, taking time and effort to manage budgets and keep invoices up to date. It can also mean paying for services up front and being reimbursed later, which can be difficult.
Plan management is the third choice available to you, and it combines the ease of being agency managed, where someone else takes care of your paperwork, pays your invoices and files them for safe-keeping, with the choice and flexibility of being self managed. As an NDIS participant, you’re entitled to funding for a plan manager to help make your life easier. Unlike any other funding request, you don’t have to demonstrate your need for a plan manager, you simply have to ask for it.
You also have the option of choosing a combination of agency, self and plan management that best suits your needs.
If you decide a Plan Manager is best for you, you need to get funding allocated on your plan. You can do this at your very first meeting with your planner or Local Area Coordinator. If you’ve already got your plan, but did not specifically request Plan Management, you can either wait for your review at the completion of your current plan, or call up to request a review of your plan sooner to have it included.
If you have any questions about Plan Management and how My Plan Manager can work for you, please contact us.
