You’re in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). You have your funding and you’re ready to spend it, with a burning desire to hit your goals. You’ve locked in a plan manager (us!) and you’re ready to focus on what truly matters – you!
What's next?
At this point, you’re ready to choose your providers and (ideally) start locking in service agreements that will kick start your spending in the Scheme. A signed service agreement should lay out the supports you’ve engaged a provider to deliver, and the terms of your agreement – including the price, delivery dates and conditions.
This is where My Plan Manager’s client portal (web and app) comes into the picture.
Our client portal is a powerful tool that puts you in the driver’s seat of your NDIS journey, by letting you track your plan budget in real time and helping you to see what you’ve spent, right down to the last cent.
It’s like using a banking app that lets you see every transaction and all your available funds – except it’s been custom built for NDIS participants and their budgets. This means you’re never spending in the dark, there’s transparency of every facet of your funding, and you have control and the ability to increase spending or pull it back to make the best use of your NDIS dollars.
We’ve made our client portal as simple and powerful as we can, so you can breeze through the platform and make the most of your funding. And, if you’d like to use it on the go, you can access it via our mobile app too!
Here’s a look at what our client portal can do (with a virtual walk through at the end!).
Our client portal lets you track your NDIS budget in real time to see where your spending is up to. You can view support categories, support areas and monthly reports. You can generate your own reports to track spending too.
You can also see how much funding’s been allocated to different providers, based on what you’ve agreed upon in your service agreements. Allocating funding in this way (by talking to us) means that funding’s set aside – or locked away – for the supports you’ve agreed to, giving you assurance your providers can be paid quickly and simply, when the time comes. Of course, you can unlock funding whenever you want to – just get in touch with us and we’ll assist you.
You can submit claims for reimbursement through our client portal. Alternatively, you can email claims to [email protected].
If you’ve made a purchase out of pocket using a ‘buy now, pay later‘ option like Afterpay and you’re seeking reimbursement, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has specific requirements, which we explain here.
Having visibility of past and current claims and the ability to look over invoices provides a complete record of where you’ve spent your funding and what supports you’ve received. These are securely stored and available for you to see at the click of a button.
With My Plan Manager, you can choose to approve every invoice – or invoices from specific providers – before we process them, offering you an extra layer of control over your funding. If you choose to do this, you can approve them inside our client portal – we’ll notify you once they’re ready to review.
If you’d like your support coordinator or another person in your life to access your information in our client portal, we can easily arrange this with your consent. You and they will need to complete this Client consent to obtain and release information form or alternatively, you can contact us to arrange it.
Our client portal has the latest security features, so your privacy and information are safe and protected. Best of all, there’s no password required! Multifactor identification means you can log in via SMS or email.
If you’re ready to take the next step, we recommend taking our virtual client portal tour to familiarise yourself with the different areas and features of the platform.
If your NDIS plan hasn’t yet transitioned to the NDIA’s new PACE computer system, select the first option below. Otherwise, if you know you have a PACE plan, click option 2.
Once you’re ready to access the My Plan Manager client portal, click this link and log in via SMS or email.
To download and start using our mobile app, click here.
Registration for our client portal is automatic when you join My Plan Manager, which means there’s no need to sign up, but if you need some help, just get in touch.
Read up to this point? You’re clearly serious about taking control of your NDIS funding! Here are a few tips to help ensure a seamless experience with our client portal (web and app).
To address any issues with the client portal, just refresh your browser (that usually works!). You can also try logging out and logging back in, or even clearing your cache.
If you experience any issues with accessing the mobile app, the steps below should help:
If you have any questions about our client portal, our friendly team is here to assist. You can call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am–6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday or email us at [email protected].
We’ve all experienced it at some stage. We’ve sat across from an expert – like a doctor, a chemistry teacher or a financial adviser – who used technical words that didn’t make sense.
What they were saying sounded right, but it felt really complicated. And because of that, we didn’t take action.
If you’re serving clients, this contains a valuable lesson that complicated communication simply doesn’t cut through.
You might be an expert who cares for your clients and has the knowledge to serve them well. But expertise isn’t everything that goes into providing a great service – and communication that’s complicated can be disempowering and cause people to walk away.
FACT: Within the service-based sector, consultants who speak and write to their market at the level you’d expect a child in Year 4 or Year 5 to understand are known to achieve better results. That’s because simple converts.
This means that whether you’re asking a person to buy a luxury car, explaining an exercise program, or recommending technology to assist them, simple works better.
To that end, we wanted to share four free tools that automate clear and simple communication. They can help empower your clients to get better outcomes, which equals better results for your business too.
Whatever you’re writing, simply copy and paste it into these apps (excluding private information) and they’ll do the work for you.
Using these tools can keep you aware of the importance of making verbal conversations simple too.
Hemingway App is a free tool that highlights lengthy, complex sentences and common errors. If you see a red highlight, your sentence is too dense and complicated – so try to simplify it.
Grammarly is a free tool that recommends improvements and highlights mistakes as you write. Unlike Hemingway, you need to download and install it. It contains paid upgrades.
Microsoft Word's readability tool does spelling and grammar checks. When Word finishes checking the spelling and grammar, and errors are corrected, you can choose to display information about the reading level of the document, including readability scores.
ChatGPT certainly disrupted the market when it launched! If you're using it, remember to exclude private information, because everything you put into it trains the technology to become smarter. But, you can remove personal information and run the rest of your content through it, asking ChatGPT to rewrite it to make it easier to read. Then, you can check your content again in Hemingway.
Happy writing and, for your clients, happy reading!
PS. If you’re a client and you think one (or more) of your providers could benefit from knowing about these tools, share this article with them!
Scammers are getting more sophisticated in their attempts to steal people’s private information and move their National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding into their own pockets. This can be done using a variety of simple but increasingly common tactics, like a text message, email or phone call from a scammer masquerading as a disability provider.
You have to be careful to keep your funding secure, so we’re here to guide you on some of the most common scams reported.
Scammers use phishing to steal confidential information through fraudulent messages so they can commit a crime.
In phishing attacks, people typically receive a text message, email or phone call claiming to be from their bank, a company, or a person – and they’re usually asked to click a link to transfer funds or provide information, like a credit card number.
If you’re contacted in this way and asked to provide confidential information – like your NDIS participant number – it could be a scam. Be sure to report it to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) by calling the NDIS Fraud Reporting and Scams Helpline on 1800 650 717 or by emailing [email protected].
A compromised email attack is type of phishing attack that involves a scammer taking over the email account of a business and tricking a person into sending them money or providing confidential information. For example, a scammer may pretend to be a disability provider and send you an email to ask for your myGov password or your NDIS participant number.
When a scammer claims they’re someone they’re not to get hold of confidential information, money or funding, this is known as an impersonation scam.
Scammers are also known to set up fake email addresses that look legitimate but aren’t. Often, they include the name of a well-known company to help to convince a person to share private information.
Another type of cybercrime is email spoofing, which involves a scammer changing an email template to make it look the same as an email from a legitimate sender. They do this so they can get confidential information or money.
When a cybercriminal uses email spoofing to submit fake invoices to a plan manager, this is known as accounting fraud.
When a scammer – claiming to be from a legitimate company – contacts a person and convinces them to hand over control of their electronic devices remotely (by installing malicious software or enabling remote login), that’s known as a remote access scam.
Remote access scams can be initiated via a phone call, email, or text message, or even through pop-up ads that claim the user has a virus and include a phone number to call to fix it.
Remote access scammers gain access to personal information of the person they contact – information like their NDIS participant number, bank account details or credit card number. Often, they try to intimidate the person or use technical words to confuse them and create a sense of urgency.
For more information on scams, click the links below.
If you receive a text message, email or phone call that asks you to share your information, and it’s unexpected or doesn’t look quite right, be sure to stop and think before you do anything.
The NDIA explains how to report suspicious behaviour here. Alternatively, you may wish to contact the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is complex, so no matter where you are on your NDIS journey, you’re bound to have questions that you need reliable answers to. We know this because – as NDIS plan management experts – we receive questions from our clients every day.
On this page we’ve shared our answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the NDIS, in case they’re on your mind too.
To make them easier to unpack, we’ve sorted them by these common topics:
Of course, if you have a burning question (or two or three!) that’s not answered here, help is on hand. You can visit the FAQ section of our website or call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday. You can also email our NDIS plan management experts at [email protected].
Does plan management cost me anything?
No, it doesn’t! Being plan managed means there’s no out of pocket cost to you. That’s because plan management fees are paid from a specific type of funding within your NDIS plan.
It’s a benefit of the NDIS that participants can be supported by a plan manager without having to use the funds set out for their other supports, so if you’d like to engage a plan manager you just need to ask the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to include funding for plan management in your plan.
Does My Plan Manager release funds directly to my providers and to me?
A lot of people think we hold cash and release funds directly to our clients and providers for items approved by the NDIS, but this isn’t true.
We follow a specific process to get invoices and reimbursements paid – a process that protects our clients, their providers, us and the Scheme. You can read more about that here.
What can I spend my NDIS funding on?
You must spend your funding on the supports set out in your NDIS plan. The NDIA usually describes supports flexibly, so you have more choice in how you use your funding.
For example, your plan may describe a support as '$5000 of therapy'. This means you can choose what type of therapy you buy with this funding. You could use $3000 for occupational therapy, and the remaining $2000 for physiotherapy, or you might spend the full amount on one support type.
Other funding in your plan may be fixed. For example, your plan may say you need to buy specific supports or use specific providers with your funding. If so, you must use your funding in the way it’s described in your plan.
Can NDIS funding pay for expenses like rent, medication, courses or a car?
The NDIS can’t fund day-to-day living costs that everyone has to pay – costs that aren’t caused by or resulting from disability support needs.
Vehicles aren’t typically disability-related supports because people need vehicles whether or not they have a disability, which is why the NDIS won’t fund cars (although it may fund modification of vehicles if that’s required).
Similarly, the NDIS won’t fund rent for the majority of participants. However, some NDIS participants may apply for Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) or Supported Independent Living (SIL) funding. An NDIA planner or Local Area Coordinator (LAC) will help you to establish whether you qualify for SDA or SIL or, in some cases, for both.
The NDIS won’t fund medicine which sits inside the Australian health system, but you may want to speak to your NDIA planner or LAC about approval of supports that are similar to those covered by the health system, but which are needed due to disability.
The NDIS will typically fund a requested support if it’s related to your disability needs and also meets the below funding criteria:
You can find out more about the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria here.
Can NDIS funding be used in school?
The NDIS won’t fund school fees, textbooks or other curriculum-based items. However, it can fund extra support needed at school due to disability. These are supports that are not primarily related to your education and learning, and that are beyond what the school is responsible for. For more information, click here.
Do I have to tell a provider I'm paying with NDIS funding?
Not at all! You can negotiate and lock in a provider’s rates up front before telling them you’re an NDIS participant.
I’m having trouble finding service providers in my area. What can I do?
You can look further afield but be sure to consider provider travel fees. Providers can charge a participant’s NDIS budget for the cost of travel when they:
If a provider who comes to you – like a mobile physiotherapist – charges the maximum hourly rate under the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, adding travel to that cost can quickly add up. You can try negotiating a reduction (or elimination) of travel charges to counter this.
If you live in a community where it’s difficult to access good, local providers at a fair price, the NDIS recently introduced Coordinated Funding Proposals (CFPs) to help participants attract specialist providers to underserviced communities. You can find more information about CFPs here.
Can I buy items and claim them from my NDIS funding afterwards?
Yes, you can purchase items out of pocket and submit an invoice or receipt for reimbursement. If you’re not sure if the NDIS will fund an item or a support you want to purchase, here are five questions to ask that may help you to find out.
I’m running out of funding. What do I do?
Call us. Our team has a detailed knowledge of the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits and can support you to use your funding flexibly when it’s running low.
You should also get in touch with your LAC or support coordinator as soon as you feel your funding is getting low.
How do I get things paid for?
Submitting an invoice or a reimbursement to My Plan Manager is easy.
Your providers can send their invoices directly to us (email or via our provider portal), you can email their invoices to us once you receive them, or you can submit an invoice or claim for reimbursement via our client portal and/or mobile app. You can download the app via the App Store or Google Play.
For those using email – to assist with prompt processing, please forward your invoices and receipts directly to our Accounts team via [email protected].
If you’re a My Plan Manager client, and you’re seeking reimbursement, please be sure to include ‘Reimbursement’ in the subject line of your email and make sure we have your up-to-date bank account details on file so we can pay you.
Providers wanting prompt payment should attach a compliant invoice as a PDF. Find out more about invoice payments here. Providers can also use our invoice template to assist with submitting a compliant invoice.
How do I maintain my assistive technology and what happens if it needs repairs?
Here’s everything you need to know about assistive technology repairs, directly from the NDIS.
How long do I need to keep invoices and receipts once I’ve submitted them for processing?
The requirements for keeping invoices and receipts vary depending on how you choose to manage your NDIS plan.
If you’re self managed, you need to keep records of invoices and receipts for five years to show you’ve paid for your supports and used your funding in line with your NDIS plan.
If you’re plan managed, your plan manager is responsible for keeping records on your behalf. As an added bonus, if you’re a My Plan Manager client and you use our client portal or mobile app, you can log in at any time and view any of your invoices.
If you’re Agency managed, the NDIA will store records on your behalf.
I think a provider has claimed from my NDIS plan when they weren’t supposed to. What can I do?
If you use the My Plan Manager client portal and/or mobile app, or you’ve opted to receive SMS notifications from us, you can see who's claiming from your plan and how much, and you can contact us to query invoices if they don’t look quite right.
If you haven’t elected to receive SMS notifications, you can switch them on at any time by calling us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday.
If you suspect someone is doing the wrong thing with your NDIS funding you can report suspicious behaviour by calling the NDIS Fraud Reporting and Scams Helpline on 1800 650 717 or by emailing [email protected].
Do I have to pay for my support worker’s meals?
No, you’re not responsible for covering the cost of your support worker’s meals – including when you dine out together. That’s because each person is responsible for their own food expenses, and the NDIS doesn’t cover your meals or theirs.
If a one-on-one visit with your support worker is going to extend through a regular meal time, you might like to speak with them in advance to let them know your dining preference. Doing this will give your support worker the opportunity to plan ahead by either packing a meal or bringing money to purchase one.
My support worker is going to support me to attend a concert. Do I need to pay for their ticket?
For events, the National Companion Card (if you have one) may cover the cost of a support worker’s ticket. The National Companion Card enables eligible people with disability who require support to participate at venues and activities without incurring the cost of a second ticket for their companion. Click here for more information.
What are the rules of provider travel?
Providers can charge a participant’s NDIS budget for the cost of travel when they:
When a provider charges the maximum hourly rate under the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, adding travel to that cost can quickly add up. That’s why it’s good to consider local providers if and when you can. You can try negotiating a reduction (or elimination) of travel charges, or you might like to visit providers at their premises.
Are unregistered providers ‘riskier’ to use?
Registered providers are verified by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and bound by the NDIS Practice Standards, which means they’re heavily regulated, compliant with NDIA requirements, and providers of verified, quality services.
However, getting NDIS-registered takes time and is costly, which is often a hurdle for smaller businesses, so they choose not to register – even though they may provide a high quality service that suits their clients and is completely covered by the Scheme.
You have choice and control over your providers, and you can decide whether a registered or unregistered provider is going to best meet your needs. Remember that only plan managed and self managed NDIS participants can use unregistered providers!
How do I find the providers I need, including a good support coordinator?
On way you can find the providers you need is by searching the NDIS Provider Finder or by accessing the myplace portal.
You can also connect to trusted providers in Kinora, an online community created by My Plan Manager to help people with disability and their supporters to connect with peers, NDIS experts, disability sector professionals and service providers.
Other ways to find providers include searching free online directories such as Clickability, Disability Support Guide, Karista, and My Care Space, and seeking word of mouth recommendations from your networks.
We’ve created this checklist of what to know and ask to help you engage the right providers (and avoid those who aren’t the right fit).
Can I delete information from a provider’s report?
Redacting (deleting) information from a provider’s report isn’t allowed. That’s because the provider is the owner of the report, even though it’s about you, and even if you’ve paid for it.
If a provider has made a mistake in their report, you can ask them to correct it, and if you don’t agree with their assessment, be sure to ask what they can do to make the changes you need.
If they don’t agree to change the report, you can write your own statement that highlights your differing views and why you believe the assessment isn’t accurate. Then submit that statement with their report to the NDIA.
Can my relatives be NDIS support workers or support coordinators?
Generally, the NDIA will only fund family members to provide supports in exceptional circumstances, like when:
The NDIA will consider the circumstances of each case and any wishes expressed by the participant, and also take into account what it is reasonable to expect others to provide.
The NDIA will not fund a family member to provide personal care or community access supports unless all other options to identify a suitable provider of supports have been exhausted.
Do I need to put service agreements in place with my providers?
Not at all! Having service agreements with your providers is optional, but they are recommended.
When you provide us with signed service agreements, we can set aside funding for the supports you’ve agreed to receive, to give you confidence and certainty that funding is there each time you need it.
When I get a new plan, do current providers need me to sign a new service agreement?
Yes – if there’s a new program of support. A program of support is an agreement between you and a provider that shows the supports you’ll receive.
I’m not happy with the service delivered by one of my providers. Can I end our service agreement?
Yes, you can, but you may have to pay a cancellation fee if it’s stipulated in the service agreement. You may also need to give the provider some time to cancel their services, which is called a notice – or cancellation – period. We recommend checking the terms and conditions, especially for appointment cancellations and cessation of services, before you sign a service agreement.
Before looking to cancel a service agreement, you may want to talk with your current provider and ask them if they can change their supports to meet your needs and preferences.
The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits sets out the conditions for providers to claim cancellation fees.
Do I have to sign a service agreement if I don’t agree with information in it? How enforceable is it?
You don’t have to sign a service agreement. But, if you want to sign it but you don’t agree with the information in it, you can talk with your provider about changing it.
Service agreements are covered by Australian Consumer Law and are enforceable by law if the promised services in it aren’t provided.
How do I pay for Short Term Accommodation (STA)?
The best and easiest way to use your NDIS funding for STA is with a specialist provider that provides all your accommodation, personal care, meals, and activities. However, you can claim these items separately for the period you’re staying in STA (so, you can source them from more than one provider) if they’re within the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits.
If STA isn’t stated in your NDIS plan, but you have enough funding available in your Core Supports budget to ensure your approved supports aren't affected by spending on STA, you may be able to use it.
Accommodation for support workers can also be covered under STA, but you can't claim accommodation for your informal supports.
For more information, we’ve unpacked everything you need to know about STA here.
Whose responsibility is it to find, or assist with finding, Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) housing?
If you need help finding SDA vacancies or would like to discuss if an SDA vacancy is suitable for you, talk to your NDIA planner, LAC or support coordinator. You should check that the dwelling meets your needs before committing to a service agreement.
The NDIS also has an SDA finder that can help you to search for accommodation vacancies that match your needs. If SDA has been included in your NDIS plan, the SDA building type and location will usually need to align with your plan.
I’m confused by what my NDIS plan means. Who can help?
You can contact your LAC or support coordinator, or speak to us.
Can I ask for a different NDIA planner if a planning meeting didn't go well?
No, but you can ask for a review if you’re unhappy about a decision the NDIA made when developing your plan. A review means that an NDIA staff member who wasn’t involved in the development of your plan will have a look to decide if the decision was right.
You can ask for a review for a range of reasons, including what supports are included in your plan, how much they’re funded for, and even how your funding is managed. The important thing to remember is that you need to request a review within three months of the date you received a copy of your plan.
If you’d like a new planner because you’re unhappy with the planner you have, you can lodge a complaint with the NDIA.
To gain more plan funding/keep my current funding, the NDIA has asked me to provide reports and assessments, which cost a lot of money. What can I do?
You can claim the cost of reports and assessments from your Improved Daily Living budget if you already have an NDIS plan.
I'm coming up for a plan reassessment – what do I need?
You may need to provide reports or assessments from some of your providers for your plan reassessment meeting. This is to show how your supports and services are helping you work towards your goals.
Reports and assessments can also make recommendations for supports and services you might need in the future. Your early childhood partner, LAC, support coordinator or NDIA planner will discuss this with you, or you may want to ask them yourself.
For more information and tips for preparing for a plan reassessment, click here.
My child is a participant in the NDIS and they’re turning 18. What do I need to do?
When a child turns 18, they legally become an adult and the NDIA encourages adults to be involved in making their own decisions. If they aren’t ready to, or can’t, a person appointed as a ‘nominee’ can act on their behalf or make some decisions for them. This can be part of a plan to transition towards independence.
If you think your child will need a nominee when they turn 18, contact the NDIA, or your child’s LAC or support coordinator well before their 18th birthday to discuss it.
For more information about appointing a nominee, click here.
If your circumstances have changed, you’ll need to let the NDIA know and you may want to ask for a plan reassessment. To let the NDIA know about a change of circumstances, you can:
The NDIA will respond within 21 days by doing one of the below:
The NDIA will contact you to explain its decision, which you can ask to have reviewed if you don’t agree. You can find more information here.
We’re here to help
If there’s a question we haven’t answered here, you can visit the FAQ section of our website or call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday.
Updated 31 October 2024
Depending on your disability, and its impact on your daily life, there’s an abundance of support you may be able to access through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), without dipping into your personal savings.
In the NDIS, Core Supports funding is designed to help you with daily activities. While participants typically use it to pay support workers to assist with everyday tasks like household chores or going to appointments, it has the flexibility to cover much more.
This means that, within your Core Supports budget, you can move money from one category to another (with some exceptions that you can find here). While you can’t move funding across your NDIS plan, within the Core Supports ‘bucket’ there’s a great deal of flexibility – if spending aligns with your disability, plan and goals. If you’re not quite sure, just ask your plan manager, support coordinator, NDIA planner or Local Area Coordinator (LAC).
Here’s six ways you might be able to spend your Core Supports funding. Read on – then give us a call to see if these might work for you!
Disability can create barriers to everyday tasks like cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, or fixing a broken cupboard, and the cost of hiring a cleaner, gardener or handyman can quickly add up.
The good news is, you can claim these supports out of Core Supports funding if your inability to complete the tasks alone is related to your disability, and if the supports meet the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) reasonable and necessary criteria.
STA is accommodation at a different place to your usual home and is typically provided in a centre or group residence. You can access STA funding (in the right circumstances) for up to 14 days at a time, for a total of 28 days per year.
The cost of your STA – personal care, accommodation, food, and activities you and the provider agree to – may be able to be covered by your Core Supports budget, if you have enough funding in your plan to ensure your approved supports aren't affected by spending on STA.
Supports needs to be delivered by an STA provider, in a traditional STA setting, unless otherwise approved in writing by the NDIA.
STA can be used to build your independence (e.g. develop new skills) or strengthen your informal supports by offering you and them respite – the opportunity to take a break, with the aim of maintaining your current living arrangements.
If you believe your disability means you require non-traditional STA (from a provider offering individual support), the NDIA will need evidence to support your request before funding can be approved (in writing).
You can find more information about STA here and here.
If you have a support worker who assists you with cooking and serving your breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they can’t come in for a while – or if you’re just looking to become a little more independent at home – you may be able to use your Core Supports funding to have meals prepared and delivered to your door.
If meal preparation isn’t specifically written into your NDIS plan, but it meets the NDIA’s reasonable and necessary criteria, it can be claimed from Core Supports funding for 90 days. After that time, you’ll need written approval from an NDIA planner to continue claiming meal preparation, or you might need to submit a change of circumstances or undergo a plan reassessment.
Last year, the NDIS made it easier for participants to access meal preparation support. Find out more here.
If meal preparation isn’t included in your plan but you’re keen to explore your options, give us a call on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday, and we’ll assist you.
Assistive technology is equipment or devices that help you do things you can’t do – or are limited in doing – because of your disability. Using assistive technology can help you to do those tasks more easily or more safely.
There are thousands of products on the market to make your daily life simpler, like adaptive cutlery, non-slip bathmats, laundry and washing line adaptors, and medication management devices. If assistive technology costs less than $1500, it can often be claimed through your Core Supports funding – but check first!
Like all NDIS supports, assistive technology must meet the NDIA’s reasonable and necessary criteria. If you’re not sure if the NDIS will fund a support you want to purchase, here are five questions to help you find out. You can also visit the NDIS website for further advice.
If they help you to participate in everyday activities, you may be able to use your Core Supports funding for a range of disability related health supports.
Specified by the NDIA within the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, these supports – while medical in nature – may be funded when they directly relate to disability:
| Support type | What it is | Example/s |
| Dysphagia supports | Supports for participants who have trouble eating, drinking, or swallowing. | Meal management and planning, pumps, tubes, and antibacterial wipes. |
| Respiratory supports | Supports for participants who require support to assist them to breathe. | Coughing assistance machine. |
| Nutrition supports | Supports for participants who require support to enable them to eat. | Liquid nutrition products. |
| Diabetes management supports | Supports for participants who require assistance to manage their diabetes. | Funding for a support worker to be trained in the delivery of blood sugar testing. |
| Continence supports | Supports for participants who need assistance with continence. | Absorbent pads, nappies, wipes. |
| Wound and pressure care supports | Supports for participants who require assistance to manage wounds or ongoing loss of feeling in their body. | Dressings, barrier creams. |
| Podiatry supports | Supports for participants who need assistance to develop and implement a care plan to support their feet, ankles, and lower limbs. | Assistance by a podiatrist to fit custom orthotics. |
| Epilepsy supports | Supports for participants who require help to manage seizures. | Seizure monitoring devices. |
There are a range of supports that may relate to disability but are more appropriately funded by the health system. Some examples include end of life/palliative care, direct care supports accessed within a hospital, and emergency electrical generators.
You may have heard, or even experienced yourself, that the NDIS can sometimes be complex, time-consuming and difficult to understand. This can be true, but at My Plan Manager – your NDIS un-complicator – we’re focused on making the Scheme easier for our clients to navigate, so they can achieve the outcomes they’re after.
Time and again we hear from NDIS participants who are struggling to understand how to get bang for their NDIS buck and feeling unsure about where to find the providers who can support them to build their capacity so they can manage their funding and their lives.
They want expertise to ensure they use their plans well and make every dollar count so they can achieve their goals that much faster.
We’ve listened, and Kinora – our free online community of solutions – has created training to empower NDIS participants to manage their plans and their providers, right from the start of their NDIS journey.
Kinora’s capacity building training will show you how to use and maximise your NDIS plan funding and how to find and engage the right providers for you. The cost of the training is $210, and the great news is it may be funded by your Core Supports budget if it’s in accordance with your plan.
Click here to learn more.
We're here to help
Here’s some more information from us about your Core Supports budget – including the different categories within it. And here's our NDIS funding explained resource, which unpacks each NDIS plan budget and the categories within them.
If you have any questions about how to use your Core Supports (and wider NDIS) funding, we’re here to help. You can call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday, or email us at [email protected].
‘Would the NDIS fund it?’.
We hear this question every day from people asking about purchases they wish to make for assistive technology – vital supports that can help you to do things you might otherwise find difficult because of your disability.
Perhaps you want to buy an iPad to help you to communicate better, or modified cutlery for a child who’s learning to cut up their own food? Maybe you need a new wheelchair, a bedstick or a washing line to assist you to live more independently?
Whatever purchase you have in mind, if you’re anything like most of our clients, you’re probably wondering whether the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will fund it, and where to turn to next. If you’re not sure, checking the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) rules is a great first step!
Assistive technology covers a broad range of supports that fall into three categories:
Like all NDIS supports, assistive technology must meet the reasonable and necessary criteria that we explain here. The NDIS Act – specifically Section 34 – explains what the reasonable and necessary criteria are and sets out the rules of the NDIA.
The Agency has also developed rules that support the implementation of the NDIS Act, like the Assistive Technology Guidelines that break down low, mid and high cost technology, and what’s considered low and high risk.
Because these documents are quite complex, the NDIA has broken them down into simpler terms, and quicker and easier to understand information can be found on pages like ‘Would we fund it’ on the NDIS website.
The problem is, this simplified information contains rules of thumb – broadly accurate ‘rules’ that may not apply every time.
If the answer is ‘yes’, and the purchase is disability related, then the NDIS is more likely to fund it. However, it doesn’t have to be disability specific.
The value of the NDIS is that the supports it funds don’t have to be made especially for people with disability to help them achieve their plan goals.
For example, many Australians have an iPad lying around their home. To them, their tablet helps them connect with friends via social media or watch their favourite TV shows. To some people with disability, the same tablet is a vital support that enables them to communicate with those around them.
This is a fundamental feature of the NDIS: access to mainstream products and services means better choice and value for money.
Recently, a client asked us if the NDIS can fund a Vegepod – aka a portable raised vegetable garden – and the answer is: ‘it depends’.
If a participant with cerebral palsy has a goal of maintaining independence in their home and has difficulty getting down on their hands and knees in the garden, having a raised garden may increase their independence and support them to achieve their plan goals. In this case, the NDIS may fund the Vegepod.
The NDIS classes assistive technology into two additional categories:
If you’re looking to make a purchase that’s considered high risk, we may ask you to provide a letter of recommendation from an allied health professional – like an occupational therapist. They’re well placed to make an assessment about the item, whether it can help you achieve your plan goals safely, and whether it’s value for money – i.e. that the cost is within the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits – to help us determine if the NDIS will fund it.
The NDIS won’t fund items that are provided by mainstream services – like medication that’s typically covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
However, if you seek a mainstream support and feel it’s directly related to your disability, you should speak to your support coordinator or Local Area Coordinator (LAC). They might know if similar supports have been covered by the NDIS for others in the past (e.g. pharmaceuticals are sometimes approved by NDIA planners).
The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits are a good indicator of what’s considered value for money for a large number of supports. It’s also important to check if you have sufficient funding in your NDIS plan budget to afford the support you want to purchase.
Another good test is to ask how the item stacks up against the cost of other supports you might be accessing. For example, an assistive technology purchase might look expensive, but if it’s going to help reduce your overall support needs and increase your independence, it might actually represent great value for money.
Low-cost assistive technology priced under $1500 can come out of your Core Supports budget, which is designed to be flexible.
Assistive technologies priced over $1500 will need to be written into your plan by the NDIA. When funds are written into your plan, there will usually be a description of how they are designed to be used and how much they cost.
We’re here to help
If you’re unsure if the NDIS will fund a particular support, you can call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday, or email us at [email protected].
We’ll happily assist you and may advise you to request a letter of recommendation from an allied health professional who’s equipped to understand the value for money items you need to help you achieve your plan goals safely.
Getting paid in a timely manner and knowing where you stand financially is vitally important to every provider. That’s why we developed our provider portal – to give you financial transparency, help you to track your invoices, and get you paid faster.
Getting set up is quick and simple, and in case you’re wondering if it’s worth it, here are three things you may not know about the provider portal.
Want to start using My Plan Manager’s provider portal? Register here to get set up, then simply log in with the credentials you receive, and you’re on your way.
Once you reach the home page, you can track all current and past invoices, or search for a specific invoice by entering an invoice number or client name. You can also see if your invoices are ‘in progress’ (being processed) or if they’ve been paid.
Want to send a new invoice our way? Just click ‘submit invoice’ and follow the prompts.
Requesting a payment through the e-invoice function in our provider portal helps us to get the information we need from you quickly. It also allows us to check we have the information needed to generate a compliant e-invoice, with all the necessary details included (e.g. the correct name of your client, their date of birth and their NDIS number).
That means we can get the payment processed through the National Disability Insurance Agency sooner and transfer the money into your bank account faster.
If you prefer, you can submit an invoice via the provider portal by clicking ‘upload’ from the ‘submit invoice’ screen, or you can email it to us at [email protected].
Here’s everything you need to know about submitting a compliant invoice to My Plan Manager.
When it comes to checking the status of invoices, our provider portal has everything you need at the click of a button. And it’s the speediest way to get the information you’re after.
Of course, sometimes you want to talk to a human, and we’re here for you! You can call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday.
If you’ve read up to this point, you’re clearly serious about time and money, and our provider portal can help you to maximise both – without complications or time-consuming tech.
Click here to sign up for My Plan Manager’s provider portal today.
If you have a physical therapy program and struggle to stick to it – you’re not alone. It can be difficult to carve out time each day, and tasks without instant results (like exercise and rehab – where repetition is key!) can often be pushed down the to-do list.
So, it’s not surprising that the level of adherence to prescribed at-home physical therapy programs is estimated to be as low as 15 per cent, according to Robin Sydney from Lusio Rehab – a leader in assistive technology designed to make physical therapy and rehab easier to tackle.
The problem with this, overarching clinical evidence agrees, is that early intervention and regular exercise lead to better outcomes, just like they did for nine-year-old Bailey.
Bailey, who has cerebral palsy, had never been able to put on his own pair of pants until he undertook and committed to a nine-day intensive physical therapy program, where he repeated set exercises hundreds of times a day.
At the end of the nine days, Bailey was able to lift his right ankle over his left knee for the first time, and he celebrated by putting on a pair of shorts all by himself!
Commitment and action can change everything.
Robin shares five quick tips to adhere to a physical therapy program and achieve better outcomes.
Adherence rates increase when a relative, carer or friend is expecting you to show up versus when you’re going it alone – it’s like a layer of extra commitment to make your therapy program stick. You aren't just showing up for you, you’re showing up for them too.
Before we continue, we want to clarify that we don’t believe disability or physical limits are a game or competition. This is purely advice to implement a program.
One of the simplest ways to do this is try to beat your personal best. If you’re doing therapy in a group, you could play 'best of three’ – i.e., where the person who does the highest number of reps in a set block of time (safely) wins.
Don’t forget to add a reward, which can create positive reinforcement and cement a new routine.
This way, you’ll know exactly what to do each day to remove thinking and procrastination.
Then, when the time comes, turn off distractions, close the door, and focus on the goal you’ve set.
Not having a clear understanding of your exercise or goal will make it very difficult for you to get started. If your therapist has a picture of the exercise, take a snap of it on your phone, and if they have a video, even better - ask for the link!
Likewise, not having the proper equipment to carry out your physical therapy can turn into a roadblock. Buying equipment online can remove the extra step of going to a shop and help to get you started faster.
It’s important to know that it takes an average of 66 days to turn a new behaviour into a habit. Based on this theory, if you can stick to a physical therapy program for 66 days, it’ll become second nature without motivation or willpower – neither of which will sustain long term change alone.
Therefore, turning your program into bite-sized steps that you consistently take is key to success.
If you’ve read down the list and arrived at this point, well done! It shows you’re serious about sticking to your physical therapy program to achieve better outcomes and create lasting change.
These tips can help you achieve results, but they’re just the start. Technology has been shown to make physical therapy exercise faster, easier, and more effective to expedite results – and this is where LusioMATE comes in.
LusioMATE is designed to flip thinking from ‘I have to do my therapy’ to ‘Right! Let’s play some Lusio!’ to get you through the 66 days it takes to convert a program to habit.
It’s a physical therapy app with wearable sensors and its helped people aged from 4 to 94 years to achieve their daily physical therapy goals and support a range of disabilities.
Here’s how it works
The great news is, LusioMATE is small enough to fit in your pocket, so you can carry and use it wherever you are, and it can be purchased with National Disability Insurance Scheme plan funding.
Plus, if you want to, you can give your clinical team access to the LusioMATE app to create your unique movement goals and keep them in the loop to let them see your progress.
Interested in LusioMATE? Click here.
Whether it’s motorised mobility aids, Apple’s accessibility features, eye-gaze technology or even more simple things like kettle tippers, grab-sticks or flashing doorbells, there’s no doubt that technology can make life easier, and increase your independence, if you have a disability.
But what about other aspects of life – especially the really fun parts?
How can technology help you to get the most out of going to a gig or a music festival or watching live sport?
There’s lots to explore.
Scottish DJ John McDevitt, who is deaf, said he experienced a festival like never before while wearing a haptic suit at Mighty Hoopla in London this year. Haptics are technology that gives a tactile response – like the way you can feel your phone vibrate when it rings.
Looking a bit like a harness, the suit was fitted with 24 touch pads attached to the torso, wrists and ankles which would vibrate to create a sensory experience. The suit was connected to the Vodafone 5G network so it would connect with the sounds coming from the stage and the crowd reaction.
McDevitt, who DJs under the name ‘Def Beatz’ said it was an experience like no other.
“The vibration is a big thing for a deaf person, so going to a festival…I was apprehensive about how I was going to hear it,” he said. “It’s also a confidence thing. You’d always find me near the speaker so I could feel the vibrations.”
“The guy was doing the drum sound check and I could only feel the drums in a small part of the vest, then the full band kicked in. It was quite surreal – it wasn’t until the first song had finished, I realised the pads were for the crowd reaction.
“It was going off on my wrist and I thought what’s going on here?’. I felt part of it! I felt part of the crowd, it was mind blowing.”
The suit would vibrate differently so McDevitt could experience the feeling of the keys on the keyboard being played, and even people in the crowd raising their hands in the air.
McDevitt’s suite was created by Vodafone, Music Not Impossible, and UNIT9, with the goal of creating a multisensory experience for people who are hearing impaired.
“The motivation is for us to create a full body experience for members of the audience who have been limited in how they can experience live music,” said Dani Valkova, head of audio at UNIT9. “It mirrors and showcases the crowd energy and crowd interactions.”
“We wanted to get a message across of inclusivity and everybody coming together for the enjoyment of music.”
When it comes to live sport, many people who are low vision or vision impaired rely on radio broadcasts while at the game, or even on friends and family to interpret the action (like this interpretation for a Colombian soccer fan who is deaf-blind).
However, technology is opening up sports with the use of Action Audio by AKQA, which combines live commentary with specialised audio to help sports fans who are blind or partially sighted to follow the action.
It was trialled at the Australian Open this year before being offered at Wimbledon.
Filling in the gaps in sensory experience for sight impaired sports fans is what Tim Devine, Executive Innovation Director at AKQA, told Euro News was ‘the datafication of sport’.
“At the moment, there’s an information gap,” said Devine, adding that the sound spatialisation that AKQA uses is similar to that being developed for use in the Metaverse.
“Our role is to work with people who are blind and have low vision to determine what info they’re missing and how we can work on the data they’re missing and spatialised audio to give people a sense of what’s happening in a game.”
With any luck, this technology will soon be coming to a festival or sports sideline near you!
