Plan management is something we frequently explain to NDIS participants and carers. Let’s dive into the basics of plan management and its role in helping participants navigate the NDIS.
What is NDIS plan management?
Broadly speaking, plan management refers to managing your NDIS funds (such as paying your providers and submitting claims to the NDIS portal).
Many people talk about having a plan manager – this usually means they have engaged a professional to manage their funding. Plan managers will pay your providers, submit claims on your behalf, provide monthly reports, and alert you if your budget is running low. Plan managers often work hand-in-hand with support coordinators to help participants reach their NDIS goals.
Plan management is included in most NDIS plans and is located in the Capacity Building Supports budget under ‘Improved Life Choices’. If you are not sure if plan management is in your plan, you can ask for it at your next planning meeting.
Your plan management options
There are three approaches to managing your NDIS plan: plan management, NDIA managed, and self-managed.
When people refer to having a plan manager, they are usually referring to the plan management approach. The main benefits of having a plan manager are flexibility with providers and quality of service. NDIA managed plans can only use NDIS registered providers, giving you fewer options to which providers you can use.
Self-management means you look after payments and claims yourself. This option is usually undertaken by participants who have few providers or don’t mind keeping up with payments and claims themselves.
Do I need plan management?
As with most things pertaining to the NDIS, everyone’s situation is a little different.
Many NDIS participants choose to use a plan manager so that they don’t need to worry about actioning payments and claims themselves. If you have multiple providers, we usually recommend engaging a plan manager in your first year in the NDIS to help you understand how to use your funding, keep track of your budget, and just generally remove the stress that tends to come with navigating the NDIS.
A good way to determine if you should engage a plan manager is to ask yourself:
- Am I finding it hard to keep up with paying providers or submitting claims on time?
- Do I struggle with using the NDIS portal to submit claims?
- Do I sometimes feel like there is a provider I have forgotten to pay?
- Have I accidentally missed payments or forgotten to submit a claim?
- Do I see multiple providers on a regular basis?
If you find the above applies to you, you may benefit from having a plan manager look after your NDIS funding. If you would like to find out more about plan management or want to have a one-on-one discussion about plan management for your situation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team at Connect Plan Management.