We know most support coordinators are time poor, and waiting in a lengthy phone queue to speak to someone at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is often just not possible.
That’s where My Plan Manager comes in.
The support coordinators who work with our clients and with us have access to a team of experts to answer their NDIS questions and unpack the nuances of the Scheme.
At My Plan Manager, we believe in building strong and enduring relationships with our clients and those who support them – particularly their support coordinators. There’s a lot of information that support coordinators are expected to know about the NDIS, so we make sure we’re on hand to guide them through any funding questions they may have.
Here’s three ways we can help:
We were one of Australia’s first plan managers, and today we are the largest. We do much more than simply paying the bills. We have a dedicated team of NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits experts to help you with things like:
For example, did you know that assistive technology that’s valued at less than $1500 can often come out of a client’s Core Supports budget, rather than from Capital Supports? At My Plan Manager, we've seen so many invoices, and we can advise you what the NDIS will and won't fund and where to claim it from.
To speak to our NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits experts, email us at [email protected] or call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (ACDT) Monday to Friday.
Our client portal and app make it easy to see if your clients have enough funding for the supports they need and want. Sufficient funding is a common concern for many clients because they depend on it and don’t want to see it dry up. Whenever a client asks if they have sufficient funding in their plan for a particular support, a support coordinator may look at:
The reality is, even after doing all of the above, it can be difficult to see what a client has spent and what’s left in their budget. That’s where My Plan Manager’s client portal and app come in handy.
Through the client portal (which can be downloaded as an app too!) you can see a client’s budget snapshot and easily see what funding they have, where they can spend it, and how long it will last. Having great technology that lets you access client information quickly and conveniently is incredibly important, and one of the benefits of working with us.
Clients can provide their support coordinators (and others) with access to their information through the My Plan Manager client portal. To do this, they simply need to complete this consent form. They can fill the form out on a computer or print it out and complete it in writing. Once completed, they can email it to [email protected].
We have a dedicated team of Community Engagement Managers covering the nation - a local support to assist you and your clients in several ways - including:
If you don’t have the details of your dedicated Community Engagement Manager, email us at [email protected] and we’ll point you in the right direction.
For clients, we have a dedicated Relationships team, with expert advisers they can call any time for advice and support with matters like managing their NDIS budget to maximise their plan, NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, current NDIS regulations, and the types of services and supports they can access with their funding.
We’ve organised our teams around specific states, territories and localities too, ensuring our clients and their support coordinators have consistent contact with fewer people who truly understand their needs.
If you have questions or want a second opinion about the funding in an NDIS plan, email us at [email protected] or call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (ACDT) Monday to Friday.
There are a lot of competing priorities when working as a LAC – you’re attending NDIS planning meetings, writing up draft plans, supporting people to use their approved plans, and answering questions. You’re also attending community events and working towards National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) expectations, like meeting a quota for the number of draft plans written.
As a LAC, I often felt like I didn’t have time to support people in the way I would have liked to. There’s a lot going on, and you must choose and prioritise what you will do every day.
Tip: I always made sure I had a to-do list that set out my tasks and what to prioritise – like making sure I was in contact with vulnerable people and writing draft plans for the clients whose plans were set to expire first. It felt great when I could tick off tasks and have a record of what I’d done.
As a LAC, you have a high list of priorities and a large caseload of clients and working with them was the part I loved most. But I did take on people’s situations and the fact that some of them were very much in need of NDIS support – it can be hard to switch off and stop worrying about them and this can lead to burnout.
Tip: I put boundaries in place, like not being available to clients 24/7. I found that looking after my mental health outside of work and doing things like going out for walks in nature, or swimming laps helped me to switch off, and that was really important. It prepared me better for the challenges at work.
Often plans aren’t written in a language that people can easily understand. They can look at their plans and think ‘this doesn’t tell me what supports I can access’, especially if it’s their first NDIS plan. This can be confusing and overwhelming.
Tip: If a person couldn’t understand their plan, I’d take copy and make notes in it, like what they could access under each budget. If they wanted more detail, I’d send them an email explaining further. Then, I’d continue to work with them, and have several conversations to help them understand what was in their plan and how to use it. The NDIS has some great booklets now that explain this in depth (Booklets 1, 2 and 3 in this link: Booklets and factsheets | NDIS).
I used get asked a lot of questions like ‘how long will it take the NDIA to approve my plan?’, and there is no answer. It varies for everybody - some plans get approved quickly and others take time. Then there are things like assistive technology requests. Recently a lot of people’s NDIS plans expired before they could have their review meeting. When this happens, a plan rolls over, but it’s not ideal. It can take a long time for the NDIA to make a decision, and this is something that would constantly happen when I was a LAC.
Tip: I always erred on the side of caution when speaking with people (to manage their expectations) and supported them to enquire about updates from the NDIA. If a support they really needed wasn’t coming back to them, we would investigate mainstream or community supports, and any creative ways they could use their budget - like using a therapy assistant instead of a qualified therapist and having shorter therapy sessions.
Having difficult conversations with clients when their budgets were reduced, or when the NDIA declined items they’d requested was very common.
Tip: You have to be understanding and supportive of the person you’re speaking to. You can support them by letting them know about the review process in place, and helping them gather additional evidence, then looking at using their budget more creatively and exploring mainstream supports they could access, like a general practitioner care plan.
A question that frequently pops up from clients is ‘I’m in the NDIS – what's next for me?'. Here’s a simple answer.
Often after a person is approved to access the NDIS, they will receive an invitation to a pre-planning meeting with a Local Area Coordinator – or LAC. LACs help many people with disability to develop, review and implement their plans.
During the 90-minute catch-up, the LAC will gather information and work with the person to determine what to put in their plan.
Their first plan will set the tone for the rest of their journey in the NDIS and how their budgets are structured in the following years. That’s why it’s important to prepare for this meeting.
If a person receives an invitation to a pre-planning meeting with a LAC, they will also receive information to help them prepare to prepare for the meeting. When preparing, they may want to consider:
Making a list of things a person wants to potentially claim for from the NDIS can help the LAC in their assessment. When writing this list, they may want to ask ‘are the items on it reasonable and necessary?’. If the answer is yes, they can keep them in.
Blocking time out to answer these questions can help people to prepare and achieve better plan outcomes. They can ask their current providers to help them, or even to join in their pre-planning meeting.
For example, one of our Kinora community members has a daughter who is on the autism spectrum. The clinical psychologist who diagnosed her daughter specialises in supporting children on the spectrum and, by joining the pre-planning call, they were able to suggest many inclusions and goals that our community member may not otherwise have thought of.
If your client has a question about applying for the NDIS or the pre-planning phase, they can log on to Kinora to connect with a coach, who can point them in the right direction.
On Kinora, people with disability can:
For service providers, Kinora can open your services up to new clients. This can be done through:
To learn more about Kinora, and the value it can add to your business, click here.
However, often delays in processing invoices occur because critical information is left off the claim.
To avoid payment delays, be sure to include the following information on every invoice you submit to My Plan Manager:
Invoices should be submitted to us after each service has been provided. My Plan Manager’s preferred way to receive invoices is through the My Plan Manager provider portal, where it is quick and simple to upload a client invoice.
Submitting invoices through the My Plan Manager provider portal offers the added convenience of being able to view invoices and check payment status. You can access the My Plan Manager provider portal at here.
Alternatively, you can find more information about the provider portal here.
You can also email invoices directly to us at [email protected]. Our preferred file type for all provider documentation, including invoices, is PDF.
Once we receive your invoice, My Plan Manager will claim from the National Disability Insurance Agency and payment will be made to your nominated bank account within three business days.
My Plan Manager recently welcomed Georgia, Community Engagement Facilitator at Mission Australia, to explain exactly what LACs do. Georgia spent time working as a LAC for the organisation, which runs local area coordination in South Australia and provides early childhood intervention services nationally to participants aged under seven years.
Side bar: There are a lot of different roles in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which can get very confusing whether or not you are new to the Scheme. We explain who’s who in the NDIS when you click this link.
Georgia: Firstly, LACs hold a range of discussions to help people understand and access the NDIS. They talk to people who’ve never heard of the Scheme, as well as those who want to know more, or need help in understanding how they may apply. They can help those who are eligible for the NDIS to develop, review and implement their plan.
Secondly, LACs help people who are ineligible for the NDIS, or who don’t want to apply, by linking them to services in the community. For example, LACs can support people with disability to know more about what is available to them in their local community (like what community centres are close by, what volunteer transport services there are in their local area, and what support programs are available for carers). LACs want to make sure that all people with disabilities are well connected.
Thirdly, LAC’s work in the community to grow people’s understanding of disability, the NDIS and inclusion. For example, LACs can work collaboratively on projects with a range of community stakeholders such as people with disability, advocates, councils, job network providers, schools and more.
Georgia: The great news is, LACs are very accessible! They will often be in community spaces like libraries and community centres, and running workshops where anyone who wants to know more about the disability landscape can drop in and ask questions. They can meet wherever a person is comfortable and can even do home visits.
To find your local LAC office, visit www.ndis.gov.au/contact/locations.
Georgia: If there’s a community or mainstream support that’s not funded through an NDIS plan, LACs can easily refer people to them. It may be that there’s a person with disability who’s on a low income and really struggling to pay their bills. A LAC can connect them to a community centre that has cheap meals, financial counselling and can provide vouchers.
Without a participant’s consent, LAC’s can’t refer them to NDIS providers, but they can help people with disability to find providers using search engines like the provider finder in the myGov portal and Clickability.
Georgia: Local area coordination at Mission Australia is a completely free service, and a lot of people in the community don’t know this. We’ve had participants who didn’t seek assistance earlier because they thought they couldn’t afford it.
Then, there’s limited understanding of the role of mainstream services and the NDIS. The NDIS is going to complement, not replace, the services a person with disability is already getting - like Medicare.
Georgia: A LAC is a community support to assist people with disability to understand more about the NDIS and how they may access it. An NDIS planner is a person who works at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and is a delegated decision maker.
A LAC will meet with a participant for a planning meeting, will gather their information and submit this to the NDIA. Then, the LAC and the NDIS planner have opportunity to collaborate, by discussing the information gathered in the planning meeting and reviewing any progress reports, quotes, and recommendations provided to determine plan funding. If a plan is approved and the participant doesn’t agree with the amount that’s in it, or it doesn’t meet their needs, the LAC can support the participant with identifying their review rights and next steps.
Georgia: Open communication - it could be a situation where a plan manager says ‘I’m not sure if this is something that the NDIS has approved in a plan, can you please confirm if they can claim it?’. Or maybe it’s a LAC who’s had an implementation meeting with a participant who’s looking at My Plan Manager, and the participant is really nervous to initiate the contact. This is where a LAC can make contact with My Plan Manager and say ‘I just want to give you the heads up, they’re really nervous about this process, here’s what we’ve discussed today. I’ll leave it in your safe hands and please feel free to contact me’. Communicating well can lead to great outcomes.
Georgia: The NDIS events page, conversations with a range of NDIS stakeholders and close relationships in the community are great points of knowledge. Training - like cultural competency training to support how you connect with culturally and linguistically diverse communities - with the NDIS and external organisations can also be helpful.
Participants can find their local LAC office at www.ndis.gov.au/contact/locations.
If you’ve submitted a provider invoice that shows an incorrect charge, not to worry. There's a simple fix to avoid double handling so we can process your payment faster, and avoid you having to return funds back to My Plan Manager.
Don't: Resubmit an amended invoice with the same invoice number. This confuses our processing system, causes double handling and will take longer to process your payment or result an overpayment.
Do: Submit a credit note, or a new invoice, or a debit adjustment for the difference.
Send the new invoice with a new invoice number or debit adjustment by using the existing process.
Forward a credit note to [email protected] using the following template:
Subject: Credit note
Hi My Plan Manager,
Invoice #: {invoice number} was submitted for the incorrect amount.
Please find attached a credit note for the balance.
{Your Name}
From there, our Finance team will work with you to apply the credit to future payments.
If you have any questions, contact My Plan Manager here and we will happily assist.
My Plan Manager’s Provider Portal is a simple way for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) service providers to keep on top of business, just like it is for Ala Mobedi (pictured above).
Ala has a company called Mentoring All Men, and uses the My Plan Manager Provider Portal to submit and track invoices, and cut down time-consuming paperwork.
Watch this video to see how he does it:
He said the portal is quick, efficient and very easy to use, and lets him focus on what he’s good at, and what he cares about doing.
“The passion we have is the work that we do. We don’t have passion in sitting behind a laptop and sending invoices and doing paperwork,” he said.
“The less time I spend behind a laptop and the more I’m out there helping and exercising with {my clients}; that’s the dream.
Here’s a quick video that shows how the portal works:
The My Plan Manager Provider Portal lets you to submit and track invoice payments whether you’re at work or on the go without complicated tech.
It’s a simple process to view your invoices and to check your payment status.
And it’s just as easy to upload an invoice or create an e-invoice within the portal.
Click here for more information about our provider portal.
The code helps to ensure that NDIS participants receive quality supports, in a respectful way. Providers and employees need to understand the rights of people with disability, how to prevent harm and how respond appropriately if harm occurs.
It’s not just a tick-and-flick exercise – using the principles of the code to guide your business can make a real difference to the lives of your clients and contribute to a fairer society. Making sure the code is part of the way you operate also makes good business sense.
Here’s a summary of what’s in the code, but we also recommend checking out the NDIS Commission’s website, which includes helpful guidelines, fact sheets and posters.
The NDIS Commission has put together some useful resources to help providers understand and communicate to their staff the code of conduct and what it means. There are guidelines available to help both NDIS providers and workers understand their obligations under the NDIS Code of Conduct. There is also a code of conduct poster, a code of conduct fact sheet and a code of conduct summary for workers.
Service agreements might seem complicated but really their purpose is quite simple: to put in writing the details of the service you will deliver to a client (what they can expect from you) and what you expect from the client in return (primarily an agreed payment amount). The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) requires all registered providers to have a written service agreement, but if you're not registered, there are still advantages in having one.
Why might you think about having them in place? Let’s look at some of the benefits of service agreements.
When a client agrees to use their NDIS funding to pay for your supports, you are entering into an arrangement with each other. A service agreement is a document outlining what services have been agreed to between you and your client so both parties have clear expectations of what supports will be delivered and how they will be delivered. Like any other agreement, a service agreement is covered by Australian Consumer Law.
As you can negotiate with the client about what they will pay for your services, the service agreement is a good way to put the agreed cost in writing. By having a standard service agreement for your business, you can then tailor this to the individual client depending on the level of support or treatment they require.
While not compulsory for non-registered providers, the NDIA strongly suggests when entering into an agreement to provide supports, a service agreement is set up, so each party is clear about what they have agreed to. It’s important that you support the client to understand what they are agreeing to in the language or way of communicating they understand.
When creating a service agreement, it’s important to think about the below when outlining your contract:
The NDIA have a handy checklist of things to consider including when creating a service agreement. It’s in place to protect both you and your client, so the terms need to be fair and understandable by all parties involved.
A service agreement must be made between the provider and participant. The agreement can only be signed by the client or an appointed substitute who is a decision maker with the relevant powers to sign on behalf of the participant. This might be a plan nominee, guardian, administrator (or financial manager) or an attorney if the terms of the agreement are within their legal authority.
People without formal authorisation, such as a trusted friend, family member or support worker, can help the participant to understand the terms of the agreement but they are not able to sign on behalf of the participant.
Both the client and provider should keep copies of the signed agreement for reference.
Service agreements can be confusing to navigate, but they are also worth considering as you never know when you might need to refer to it. Having an agreement can actually help avoid unnecessary confusion down the track. It’s important that the agreement has fair and reasonable terms. Would you be happy for yourself, or perhaps your loved one, to sign your service agreement? Essentially, it’s about making sure the client has choice and control over their supports and how your services will help meet their needs. If you’re interested to find out more about how to meet the needs of your clients, we have a detailed article on this very topic.
