How to Manage Your NDIS Funds

The method your National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan’s funds is managed is referred to as NDIS plan management. There are various types of plan management, so picking the proper one is crucial.

A financial transaction occurs whenever you use your NDIS plan to access a service or piece of equipment. Every transaction involving your plan’s funds must adhere to the NDIS’s criteria and be tracked and accounted for. Plan management refers to the decision you make about who will be in charge of keeping track of your finances and paying your service providers.

3 ways to do your NDIS Fund Management:

• Self Management

When you manage your NDIS money, this is known as self-management. It provides you the freedom and choice to purchase the support you need to achieve your plan’s objectives. But you must be thinking of how to self manage my NDIS plan? Here is how you can move forward. Speak with your Local Area Coordinator (LAC) or NDIA planner if you want to self-manage all or part of your NDIS plan. You might also connect with a self-management peer support group or talk to someone you know who is self-managing about their experience. The NDIA is dedicated to helping self-managers have a better experience.

Benefits of Self Managing 

Control, independence, and flexibility in organising and paying for your services are all advantages of self-managing your NDIS funding. You have a say in what supports you buy, who offers them, and how they’re delivered, as long as they’re in compliance with your plan’s requirements.

The ability to choose any provider who can best help you achieve the goals of your strategy.

Ability to hire or contract personnel directly or have it done for you.

Ability to negotiate support charges so that you receive the best value for your money and save money to buy additional or better quality supports.

You’ll have complete control and responsibility over managing NDIS funding, allowing you to manage your own budget for the life of your plan.

• Plan Managed Funding 

The third alternative is to hire a “plan manager” to handle your plan on your behalf. This might be an accountant or one of the numerous plan management companies that have sprung up since the NDIS’s inception.

Instead of meeting with your support coordinator or local area coordinator to discuss services as you would with an agency-managed plan, you will meet with a plan manager.

The plan managed option offers many of the benefits of the self-managed option while also decreasing your administrative workload. However, you are still responsible for ensuring that funds are spent properly.

Your plan manager will charge you a fee for their services, but you may be able to get financing for plan administration through your plan.

• NDIA Managed Funding

The National Disability Insurance Agency is in charge of agency-managed programmes (NDIA). This is how the vast majority of NDIS plans are run.

The NDIA is responsible for paying providers for any equipment or services you book with them if your plan is agency managed. Service providers can bill the NDIS directly, or if your plan includes support coordination funds, you can get aid from an NDIA-employed support coordinator or a third-party local area coordinator.

The biggest advantage is that you may focus on organising and getting services rather than tracking expenditure and managing your plan’s budget.

The key disadvantage of this method is that it is less adaptable. You can only book services from NDIS-registered providers, and all purchases, including modest items made under your consumables budget, must be approved by the NDIA.