National Disability Insurance Scheme, created in 2013, is a way for Australians with a disability to receive the support they need.
What is the NDIS?
The NDIS is a National Disability Insurance Scheme that provides support for Australians with a disability. NDIS provides support not just to the individual itself but to their family and the community. The NDIS recognises people with disabilities as equals and valued members of our society. It allows people with disabilities to have choice and control over the supports they get making Australia a fair, safe and inclusive place for everyone. The NDIS aims to support 460,000 Aussie’s with a disability. The NDIS is all about listening, respecting, and supporting people.
What types of supports are funded by NDIS?
- daily personal activities
- transport to enable participation in community, social, economic, and daily life activities
- workplace help to allow a participant to successfully get or keep employment in the open or supported labour market
- therapeutic supports including behaviour support
- help with household tasks to allow the participant to maintain their home environment
- help to a participant by skilled personnel in aids or equipment assessment, set up and training
- home modification design and construction
- mobility equipment, and
- vehicle modifications.
The NDIS Principals
– Realise and understand the client’s potential
– Participate in social, economic, and cultural life
– Have access to supports throughout their lives
– Being respected as a person
– Living free from abuse and neglect
– Resecting your privacy
What is Plan-managed funding?
The NDIA will provide funding in your plan to pay for a Plan Manager who pays your providers for you, helps you keep track of funds and takes care of financial reporting for you. A plan manager can help you increase you financial and plan management skills, learn how to self-manage your plan, pay providers, increase your choice of providers, and get NDIS plan budget reports and greater budget oversight. To get a plan manager you can tell NDIS staff that you would like a plan manager to support you.
What is Self-management?
The NDIA provides you with funding so you can access the supports that will best help you pursue your goals. The benefits of self-managing include; choice in deciding what supports you get and who provides these supports, flexibility to use any provider that will best help you to pursue your plan goals, capacity to employ or contact staff directly or on your behalf, Ability to negotiate the costs of your supports so you get the best value and control over and responsibility for your NDIS funding so you can manage your own budget for the duration of the plan. Your responsibilities as a self-manager would include purchasing supports, making clear agreements, managing your funding, claiming, and paying for supports, keeping invoices and receipts, meeting your obligations as an employer, showing how you’ve used your self-managed funding, advising the NDIA of any significant changes and participating in any payment auditing.
What is NDIA-Managed funding?
The NDIA pays your providers on your behalf, you are able to choose from a large range of NDIS registered providers, your providers claim payment electronically from your funding, you cannot use unregistered providers, you can look on the myplace portal to see what claims providers are making against your NDIS funding and keep track of your budget and the NDIA will manage your book-keeping and records of your spending.
Understanding your plan
The NDIS allows you to have as much choice and control as possible over the supports funded or provided in your NDIS plan. You plan has information in it that was discussed in your planning meeting which includes:
– Information about you, for example your disability, day-to-day activities, where you live, who you live with, or who cares for you.
– Family and friends, including the supports you get from them and how they can help you pursue your goals.
– Services and community groups, including services and supports funded and delivered by community or other government services like support groups, health centres, libraries, and public transport.
– Your goals, including the current goals you would like to pursue as part of your plan and the long-term goals you have identified for your life. Goal setting is an important part of the NDIS. The supports you receive may help you pursue the goals in your NDIS plan.
– Funded supports, informs what funding you have been allocated in each support category and what this funding is for. You may not have all the support categories funded in your plan. Some people might have one or two support categories funded and others may have more.