Are you wanting more value from your National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) budget? Or perhaps you live in a community where it’s difficult to access good, local providers at a fair price?
If either – or both – of these sound familiar, we’ve got some news that might help you out.
The NDIS recently introduced Coordinated Funding Proposals (CFP) to help participants get better bang for their NDIS buck, exercise the purchasing power of a group, or attract specialist providers to underserviced communities.
Like most participants in the NDIS, you no doubt want maximum value from your budget so you can access the supports you need and work towards achieving your plan goals.
The problem is, a lot of providers charge the maximum price that’s set in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, leaving little space for competitive pricing.
And many of them are not available in remote communities – which reduces your options for exercising choice and control over the providers you see.
This is where CFPs can help.
CFPs let you form a group of people with the same or similar support needs and combine funding to:
CFPs provide an option for every NDIS participant – regardless of location – to group together with peers and maximise their return on investment by ‘buying in bulk’ from providers of choice.
The win for providers is they get multiple participants on their books, while people with support needs can drive down costs per session or improve efficiency by sharing associated fees (such as travel).
We’ve listed the steps below, taken from the NDIS (2023), and added a few extra tips to get maximum success from your CFPs.
1. Find other NDIS participants with the same or similar support needs to build a CFP group
If you have a support coordinator, chances are they know a lot of people just like you, so they may be able to help you find others with similar needs by asking their client base.
They may also be willing to act as a ‘team leader’. While a team leader in a CFP group isn’t compulsory, it can help to have a person dedicated to contacting providers and locking in services to get things underway.
If you don’t have a support coordinator, a team leader can be any trusted person who supports you or any member of the CFP group.
2. Agree on the supports you want to buy
When discussing your plans for a CFP, make sure every member of the group creates descriptions of the supports they want to purchase and that you agree the volume of supports together.
Check that everyone in the group has the funding in their NDIS plans to purchase them, and then start searching!
3. Ask providers how and if they can provide NDIS supports and request a quote
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) recommends picking three providers the group has agreed on and approaching them to discuss suitability, availability, fees and charges, and willingness to enter into a CFP.
Let the providers know the number of participants in your group, where they’re located, and the supports required.
You can ask the providers if they’re willing to offer a more competitive price point for a higher volume group purchase.
4. Choose a provider
Come together as a group to talk about the quotes and the scope of services they cover, and agree which provider – or providers – the group wants to use.
This decision can factor in the providers’ credentials, whether they can provide a specialist service, and their cost, availability and cultural awareness.
5. Notify the providers that are chosen and initiate service agreements
You – or the team leader – may want to meet with the agreed providers to discuss start dates first.
Each participant in the group will need to have their own service agreement and bookings in place before the CFP can be formalised.
At My Plan Manager, we can help you initiate a service agreement if you’re a client of ours.
6. Keep in contact with your group to make sure everyone receives their supports.
The provider should deliver the supports as per the service agreements. To make sure you and everyone in your CFP is happy, it might be worth considering a group meeting or discussion every couple of months.
Below are some NDIS templates which aim to assist in the development of a CFP.
For more information about CFPs, you can email [email protected] or call the NDIS on 1800 800 110.
If you have any questions, we can also assist. You can email us at [email protected] or call us on 1800 861 272 from 8am-6pm (SA time), Monday to Friday.
