What's the difference between self management and plan management for NDIS plans?

Are you looking for more control over your National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan? Both plan-managed and self-managed options give you a lot more control than agency-management – which is probably the reason these have now overtaken agency management as the most popular choice. NDIS participants who choose self-management or plan-management have access to around four times as many providers, but what are the real differences between plan-managing and self-managing?  

Self Management 

By choosing to self-manage your NDIS funding, you do everything yourself. You are in full control over your supports and all the finances. You can engage any provider (NDIS registered or non-registered), and you are not bound by the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits. However, this does come with a few extra responsibilities that being agency or plan managed doesn’t.  

By self-managing you must:

• Open a separate bank account in the NDIS participant’s name 
• Keep records all your invoices and receipts for up to five years 
• Pay your services providers (usually pay out of pocket before submitting NDIS claim) 
• Claim from the NDIS portal 
• Manage your remaining budgets. 

You can access services such as book-keeping or support coordination out of your core budget to assist you to self-manage. You need to make sure you request extra funds to cover this when you have your planning meeting. 

Self-management is right for you if:

You like to be in full control of your NDIS funding and manage all the administrative tasks such as paying your providers, keeping your records and claiming from the NDIS portal, self-management is a great option for you. 

Plan Management 

If you choose plan management, you get similar benefits to self management but you don’t have to do any of the admin for your plan. You can use both registered and non-registered providers but are bound by the upper price limits in the NDIS price guide. 

Plan Management is free to all NDIS participants, with all fees paid by the NDIS. A good plan manager provides tools and technology to help you keep on top of your spending.

Plan managers are NDIS-registered providers who provide financial administrative services to NDIS participants. Independent plan managers like My Plan Manager specialise in providing plan management services and do not provide any other services to NDIS participants.

Your plan manager at a minimum will:

• Keep all your records in case of an audit 
• Claim from the NDIS on your behalf and pay your providers 
• Reimburse any invoices or receipts for services you have paid out of your pocket 
• Give you updates on your remaining budget amounts 

Plan management is right for you if: 

You like to be in control of your NDIS funding and choose from a wide range of providers, but don’t want to worry about keeping records or paying your providers.

Find out more about what a good plan manager does in Wait... what does a plan manager actually do?