FAQ’s

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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industrys standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.

I am able to assist you with your Level 2 Support Coordination needs.

Some people only want short-term assistance to get their services and supports in place and prefer to self-manage from then onwards. I can assist you with this however I

I prefer to work through the entire length of your plan with you. Whether you’re due for a planning meeting, or just received your first plan. We can look at your current supports, community connections, day-to-day lives and work out what's working well and what's standing in the way and preventing your life from looking the way you want it to. I want to help you to strive for a great life.

Whether this is your first plan or not, some participants still struggle to understand exactly what their plan means, what their funding can be spent on and how budget flexibility works.

In recent updates from NDIS they have added line items for Support Coordination into Core budget to assist participants during this challenging time to navigate the challenges of decreased community connection.

NDIS participants who are eligible will have Support Coordination funding included as a ‘Stated Support' under Capacity building in your NDIS plan. Your eligibility for access to this service will be determined during your Plan Review. Some reasons people may be given access to ‘Support Coordination’ funding include:

• -new to NDIS
• -language barriers or cultural diversity
• -limited informal supports to help navigate the system
• -complex support needs
• -multiple disabilities
• -communication difficulties
• -limited support network
• -complex family dynamics

There are many reasons that ‘Support Coordination’ may be included in your plan. Navigating the NDIS can take some getting used to and having a Support Coordinator help guide you through the process, assist you in making informed choices and finding service providers to meet your needs and preference can be invaluable. Support Coordination assists participants in building confidence and skills to enable them to better manage their plans moving forward.

We are currently working towards becoming an NDIS Registered Provider, which will enable us to provide Support Coordination services to NDIS managed, Plan-managed and Self-managed participants. At the moment however, we are only able to take on Plan managed or Self-managed participants.

Absolutely, in fact being self-managed or plan managed means that you have a much broader range of providers to choose from. There are an abundance of fantastic service providers (Support Coordinators but also Support workers) who due to being Sole Traders or small businesses with lower annual revenues chose not to go through the expensive registration process with NDIS.

A support coordinator and a specialist support coordinator are very similar however there are some key differences.
A specialist support coordinator will be funded where there are additional high or complex needs in your situation and will be a qualified and experienced practitioner such as an Occupational Therapist, Psychologist or Social Worker.
Specialist support coordinators will support you to manage challenges in your support environment which may include health, education, or justice services. Specialist support coordination aims to reduce barriers to implementing or using your NDIS plan.

For NDIS to approve spending under your plan, it must be deemed to be ‘Reasonable and Necessary'. The guidelines to follow to determine if a specific support would be approved are as follows: They must:

• Must be related to the participants disability
• Not for day-to-day costs of living (such as groceries)
• Help the participant achieve the goals identified in their NDIS plan
• Improve the participants connection to community either socially or for work purposes
• Be good value for money – if there are cheaper options that will achieve the same outcome then NDIS is less likely to fund it.
• Have research-based evidence that the support or therapy is likely to be beneficial to the participant.
• Not fund a support that could be funded by another government agency, such as Medicare or the Education system.

The rules on what NDIS funds can and cannot be used for is very difficult to navigate at times and confusing even for people who have working in the industry for a long time. These guidelines ensure funding flexibility and they can be used to justify why funding for particular items or supports is appropriate for your specific circumstances. Each participant is different and has different needs and goals but knowing these rules is a great start to exploring all the possibilities for spending from your NDIS plan.

No, Support Coordination is generally a ‘Stated Support’ with its own budget so it will not affect any other funding category. Support Coordination can be requested at your planning meeting or may be included due to a range of different reasons includingparticipants having more complex needs, or limited network of support. The funding in this case comes out of your ‘Capacity Building’ budget. Due to the global pandemicNDIS have included line items for Support Coordination under ‘Core Funding’ to enable participants who haven't previously had access to Support Coordination to use their core funding to receive extra support during this period. It is also beneficial for participants who are running low on their ‘Capacity Building’ Support Coordination funding.

Absolutely! As part of the induction process with your Support Coordinator they will ensure that you are able to access your MyGov account and MyPlace portal and then walk you through step-by -step through the site and explain how to navigate and use to effectively monitor your spending across the life of the plan.

A Plan manager is responsible for the financial and administrative side of your plan. They are responsible for tracking your budgets, processing claims, organising payments to providers and claiming money back from the NDIS portal. During your NDIS Plan Meeting you will discuss how you wish to have the ‘financial’ part of your plan managed. You can be plan-managed, self-managed or Agency managed. Being Agency managed can affect the range of services participants are able to access and restricts the choice of providers as they are only able to use NDIS registered providers. There are thousands of top-quality business providing services to NDIS participants that have not gone through the process of NDIS registration. For smaller businesses or sole traders, the process is often too expensive and very time consuming to make financially viable.

A Support Coordinator will empower participants to exercise their choice and control in managing what their NDIS funding will be spent on. They will assist in building the participants capacity to connect with services, manage issues that arise and build confidence in navigating their NDIS plan, support options and funding flexibility. They assist by providing recommendations and options for supports and services that meet the participants individual personal preferences and desires. They will identify the participants support needs as well as their goals and aspirations, monitor and document progress towards their goals.

Due to the current Pandemic, NDIS have made it easier for participants to switch from NDIS managed to Plan Management because they are acknowledging that there is a much larger choice of providers when not restricted to solely using NDIS registered providers. As per the NDIS update on 25th March - To make the switch, call the NDIS on 1800 800 110 and request a plan review over the phone.

The types of supports that would be covered by your NDIS plan can include

• -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 a job
• -therapeutic supports including behavioural support
• -Help with household tasks and maintenance
• -Home modification
• -Mobility equipment
• -Vehicle modification

Your NDIS funding won’t cover your general everyday expenses or anything that a person without a disability would also have to pay for eg rent, mobile phone, groceries, public transport etcc. They also won’t pay for things that are covered by other government agencies such as medical expenses covered by Medicare.

Your NDIS plan may have money allocated for a specific support or product. 'Plan management' is a 'Stated Support'. Often Support Coordination is also a stated support. This means there is no flexibility on what that funded can be used for. If the full amount is not used within the duration of the plan, it is unable to be transferred into any other budget categories. Based on the amount of funding for Support Coordination we can work out how to 'budget' your hours throughout the year to ensure adequate hours to assist you in preparing for your next review and to write reports to support increases in funding etc.

Core funding is the most flexible of all the funding types.

Core Budget – includes supports to help you complete activities related to daily living and work towards your longer-term goals

Your Core Budget is the most flexible, and includes four categories of support:

• Consumables (e.g. purchasing everyday use items such as continence aids)
• Daily Activities (e.g. assistance with self-care activities during the day or evening)
• Assistance with Social and Community Participation (e.g. supports to enable you to engage in social or recreational activities)
• Transport (e.g. if you are unable to use public transport because of your disability).

The good news is you can generally use Core Budget funds allocated against one support category to purchase supports under another support category unless funds have been set aside for a specific purpose such as periodic payments for transportation.

Your capital funding is for assistive technologies or equipment and also for modifications to your home or vehicle. An OT (Occupational Therapist will do an assessment and make recommendations on what equipment and modifications you would benefit from.

Your Capacity Building budget is allocated to be spent of reaching your goals. It can include therapies, support workers to assist in community engagement etc. It also includes Support Coordination. These are supports that assist in building your skills and independence and work towards achieving your goals. There are 9 sub-categories under Çapacity Building:

1. Support Coordination: To strengthen participants ability to connect with informal, mainstream and funded supports. To assist with researching and engaging service providers and assisting in resolving delivery issues and during times of crisis.
2. Improved Living Arrangements: Support participant to find and maintain appropriate accommodation
3. Increased Social and Community Participation: Development and training to increase skills to participate more widely in community, social or recreational activities.
4. Finding and Keeping a Job: Employment related support, assessment, counselling and training
5. Improved Relationships: Assistance to assist participant to develop positive behaviours and interact well with others. This can include behavioural intervention and management plans, and social skills development.
6. Improved Health and Wellbeing: like exercise advice you need due to the impact of your disability Exercise physiology, personal training, dietician consultation and plan development. Including exercise or diet advice to manage the impact of your disability. The NDIS does not fund gym memberships.
7. Improved Learning: assistance, advice or training to transition to school or to further education
8. Improved Life Choices: Costs associated with Plan management or funding to teach you how to self-manage your plan
9. Improved Daily Living Skills: Assessment, training or therapy to help increase your skills, independence and community participation. These services can be delivered in groups or individually.

It is best practice to have Service Agreements in place to ensure that I both you as a participant and the service provider have a clear understanding of the expectations regarding the services to be delivered, cancellation policy, an agreement on price etc. Your Service Coordinator will assist in formulating these agreements and ensuring that both you and the service providers are on the same page about what services are to be provided.

Absolutely! You have complete 'choice and control' over who you have as part of your circle of support. Depending on the terms of the service agreement a period of notice or a cancellation fee may be required on terminating a service. A Support Coordinator can assist you in having these conversations with Service Providers or to guide conversation to assist in implementing changes to improve the service or relationship with that provider. Many participants find these conversations difficult to have but your Support Coordinator can be there to guide you through the process and empower you to manage your supports in a way that improves your quality of life.

Both overspending and underspending should be avoided. Support Coordination can assist you to keep track of your spending and set up a projected budget across the year which takes into account your weekly/fortnightly support expenditure.

Keeping track of your budget is key to the successful management of your NDIS plan. If you overspend and run out of funding before the end of your plan period, you may need to pay for necessary supports out of your own pocket. If you underspend, you are at risk of having your funding decreased at the next review.

Sometimes underspending is unavoidable. Sometimes it occurs when people are on their first plans or have struggled to find appropriate providers and have had delays in commencing supports. Whatever the reason, you must ensure that appropriate evidence and information is provided about what the barriers were that prevented you from implementing your plan effectively and request that funding not be reduced. If there have been a range of issues affecting your ability to connect with services, do not hesitate to request for funding for Support Coordination to be included in your subsequent plan to assist you in implementing the plan more effectively and assisting to build participant capacity into the future.