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Acknowledgement of Use of NDIS website written material and videos by our website

NDIA website contents like videos and its intellectual property have been re-used in combination with our work at certain specific locations in our website and the sole owner of intellectual property rights of NDIA contents is NDIS launch Transition Agency 2013 and we have only used the information from NDIA website relevant to our services to educate people with disability with no intention of promotion of our business for any commercial benefits. We fully acknowledge the intellectual property ownership of NDIA and Reproduction of any Creative Commons material on the NDIS website is subject to the CC NC licence conditions available on the Creative Commons site
What does NDIS mean?
There are almost 515,000 Australians who have a disability and are currently under the NDIS as of December 31,2021. However, there are also another 4 million Australians with disability who are in the gap who do not meet NDIS individual funding package requirements . For many people, it will be the first time they receive the disability support they need.
National
The NDIS being introduced progressively across all states and territories.
Disability
The NDIS provides support to eligible people with intellectual, physical, sensory, cognitive, and psychosocial disability. Early intervention supports can also be provided for eligible people with disability or children with developmental delay.
Insurance
The NDIS gives all Australians peace of mind if they, their child or loved one is born with or acquires a permanent and significant disability, they will get the support they need.
Scheme
The NDIS is not a welfare system. The NDIS is designed to help people get the support they need so their skills and independence improve over time.
History Of NDIS
In 2010, the Australian Government asked the Productivity Commission to carry out a public inquiry into a long-term disability care and support scheme.
The Productivity Commission received more than 1000 submissions from people with disability and the disability sector. The messages were clear, the existing system didn’t work.
The Prime Minister released the Productivity Commission’s report on 10 August 2011.
At a meeting of the Select Council on Disability Reform in October 2011, it was agreed to lay the foundations for the NDIS by mid-2013 – a year ahead of the timetable set out by the Productivity Commission. This allowed people with disabilities and their carers to access the support they needed sooner.
In March 2013 the NDIS legislation was passed and the NDIS Act 2013 was created, along with the Scheme and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
The NDIS began on 1 July 2013 with trial sites in:
  • Tasmania for young people aged 15-24.
  • South Australia for children aged under 14 (on 1 July 2015).
  • the Barwon area of Victoria and
  • the Hunter area in New South Wales for people up to age 65.
The trial period finished in July 2016 and the full Scheme began rolling out across Australia. The ACT was the first state or territory to completely roll out. For a time in 2013 the NDIS was named ‘Disability Care Australia’. After the federal election on 7 September 2013, the incoming Government changed the name back to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The agency responsible for delivering the scheme is known as the National Disability Insurance Agency.
Frequently Asked Questions
We all know that NDIS is an Ocean of information and sometimes can make our heads spin specially if you are accessing it for the first time! Relax, we are here to support you navigate the stormy world of NDIS!
Types of support budgets
Every person living with a disability has different needs. Your NDIS funding is there to provide you with the support you need for your disability and help you work towards your goals. Your funding is based on what is ‘reasonable’ and ‘necessary’ to pursue your goals, in addition to the support provided by family, friends, and other community and government services. There are three types of support budgets that may be funded in your NDIS plan.

Core supports budget

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

NDIS Plan My Place Portal Description
Assistance with Daily life Daily Activities E.g., showering, dressing, household cleaning and yard maintenance.
Consumables  Consumables  Your everyday items like low-cost 6AT such as modified cutlery and handrails for your independence and mobility.
Assistance with social and community participation Social community and civic participation For example, a support worker to help you participate in community activities.
Transport Transport This support helps you travel to work or places to achieve your goals.
Specialized Disability/Accommodation/SIL funding/Aged care Act related in-kind supports STA/MTA/respite care. i.e., accommodation for participants who require specialist housing solutions due to significant functional impairment and/or very high support needs

Capacity Building budget

The Capacity Building funding is allocated across 9 support sub-categories, each matched with the goals in your plan. You can choose how to spend these funds to purchase any approved individual support within its category but won’t be able to move funding from one category to another.

NDIS Plan My Place Portal Description
Support Coordination Support coordination This is a fixed amount for the Support Coordinator to help you use your plan and engage with providers.
Improved Life Choice    CB choice and control Plan management to help you manage your plan, funding and paying for services. You can use unregistered providers of your choice.
Improved Daily living CB Daily activity Therapy assessment, training to increase your independence and community participation e.g., OT, PT, Speech Therapy.
Increased social community & Participation CB social and community and civic participation Development and training to increase your skills so you can participate in community, social and recreational activities.
Finding & keeping a job CB employment This is employment-related-support, training and assessments that help you find and keep a job such as SLES (school leaver employment supports)
Improved relationships CB relationships This support will help you develop positive behavior and interact with others.
Improved health & Wellbeing CB health and wellbeing This may include dietician or exercise physiologist to manage the impact of your disability.
Improved learning CB lifelong learning This may include training, advice and help for you to move from school to further education such as university or TAFE.
Improved living arrangements CB home living Support to help you find and maintain an appropriate place to live.

Capital Support budget

The Capital Support budget relates to supports such as assistive technology or modifications to your home and as such depends on quotes from suppliers. Funds within this budget can only be used for their specific purpose (e.g., a rail in the bathroom or a wheelchair) and cannot be used to fund other items.

NDIS Plan My Place Portal Description
Assistive Technology Assistive Technology This includes equipment for mobility, personal care, communication, and recreational inclusion such as communication devices, wheelchairs or vehicle modifications.
Home modifications   Home modifications Home modifications such as installation of accessible shower, shower hob removal, car modifications or SDA (specialist Disability Accommodation)
A child’s early years are very important as they set up how they will learn and develop later in life. Our early childhood approach focusses on being both family-centred and strengths-based. We do this by acknowledging that as parents and carers you know your child best.
NDIS early childhood approach aims to:

  • provide timely support to ensure that you can access the supports you need
  • give you information about best-practice early childhood intervention supports and how you can help your child
  • increase your confidence and capacity to manage and respond to your child’s support needs
  • increase your child’s ability to do activities they need or want to do throughout their day
  • increase your child’s inclusion and participation in mainstream and community settings like childcare or recreation
  • give you information about, and referrals to, other support services if needed, like parent support groups.

Please watch the NDIS stories video of lifechanging journey of Devi and Ram’s life

How do I apply?

If you meet the eligibility criteria you can ask to become a participant by completing an Access Request Form. Please visit the Ndis website for more details.https://www.ndis.gov.au/applying-access-ndis/how-apply

https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/2323/download?attachment

What will be funded?

NDIS supports should complement, not replace, other supports available to you. That’s why they consider:

  • the things you’re able to do for yourself
  • support you have from others in your network, including family members, relatives, friends, local community services and mainstream government services.

One of their aims is to help maximise your independence by working with the local mainstream government and community services that help you live an ordinary life. We all do best when we’re connected to our communities.

And as an active consumer, it’s important you can shop for and access providers who meet your needs. We can help you find providers who meet your needs.

What is not funded?

NDIS do not fund a support if:

  • it is likely to cause harm to you or others
  • it is not related to your disability
  • it duplicates other supports delivered by the NDIS
  • it is considered a day-to-day living cost (for example, rent, groceries or utility costs like your water bill) that are not attributable or caused by your disability support needs
  • providing the support would be against the law
  • it consists of income replacement
  • it is the responsibility of other service systems to provide (for example, your state government, the education system, or the health system). These different systems have different responsibilities and are designed to complement each other to form a government safety net. Like all Australians, NDIS participants continue to have access to these systems. We can’t fund a support if it’s the responsibility of another service.
What are Your rights and responsibilities?

You have the right to:

  • choose who delivers your supports and how they do this. You do not have to use just one provider for all your supports
  • not use a provider if you feel they may put their business interests ahead of your needs
  • know about any perceived or actual conflict of interest a provider might have
  • not feel pressured to buy services or supports you don’t want or need
  • pay for supports at a fair and reasonable rate. You should not be charged more than the amount listed in the NDIS price guide
  • decide what personal information you give to a provider so that they can deliver supports and services.

You are responsible for making sure the supports are:

Which disability is included in accessing NDIS?

The following disability types are eligible for NDIS plan:

  • ABI
  • Autism
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Developmental Delay
  • Global developmental delay
  • Down’s Syndrome
  • Intellectual disability
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Psychosocial disability
  • Spinal cord disability
  • Stroke
  • Sensory disability like visual, speech and hearing
  • Neurological and physical disabilities.
  • What is an NDIS plan?

A NDIS plan is a document that includes information about:

  • you and your goals
  • what supports you need
  • the funding the NDIS will give you.
  • the support you need to reach those goals.

You might get support from a:

  • Early Childhood Early intervention (ECEI) Coordinator: For families and carers of children aged 0-6yrs.
  • Local Area Coordinator (LAC): For NDIS participants aged 7 or more.

LACs can help you to:

  • Understand and access the NDIS – This can include workshops or individual conversations about the NDIS.
  • Create a plan – If you are eligible for an NDIS support plan, your LAC will have a conversation with you to learn about your current situation, supports, and goals to help develop your plan. It is important to know that LACs cannot approve an NDIS plan, this is done by someone from the NDIA.
  • Implement your plan – Your LAC will help you to find and start receiving the services in your NDIS plan. Your LAC can also aid throughout your plan if you have any questions.
  • Review your plan – Your LAC will work with you to make changes to your plan through a plan review. This generally occurs 12 months after your plan is implemented.
  • Support Coordinator: If you need more help coordinating your supports, the NDIA may fund a support coordinator who can implement your plan and build your ability to connect with supports and services. Once you have built your capacity, this funding is expected to be reduced or fully taken off your plan. Your NDIA planner may also appoint a Specialist Support Coordinator if your situation is socially complex requiring higher level of support interventions through L3 -Specialist Support Coordination funding.
What is funding management?

There are 4 different ways to manage your plan:

  • Self-managed – you manage your plan by yourself
  • Plan-managed – a Plan Manager helps you manage part of your plan. Your service providers need to send their invoices to your Plan Manager.
  • NDIA-managed – the NDIA manages your plan for you.
  • A Combination of the above options!
  • What is a nominee under the NDIS?

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act) recognises that there may be circumstances where it is necessary for a person to be appointed as a nominee of a participant to act on behalf of or make decisions on behalf of a participant.  It is important to remember that this is a last resort measure.

Appointments of nominees will be justified only when it is not possible for participants to be assisted to make decisions for themselves

Under the NDIS, there are 2 types of nominees:

  1. Plan nominee
  2. Correspondence nominee.

A single person can be appointed as both plan nominee and correspondence nominee. Either type of nominee can be appointed either indefinitely or for a specified term.

Plan nominee definition

A person can be a plan nominee with or without being a payment nominee.

A plan nominee is appointed to undertake specific duties for the participant such as; the preparation, review or replacement of the plan (planning and implementation).

Effectively, the plan nominees should have the participant at the forefront of all the decisions they make. The plan nominee would take on the participants role of making decisions about:

  • engaging providers
  • attend planning meetings and include the participant in conversations and decisions that affect them
  • ensure the plan is implemented and working effectively for the participant
  • where required, be an advocate for the participant

A plan nominee does not have the power to discuss financial matters with providers or the Agency.

A participant can have several plan nominees who may work collaboratively to the benefit of the participant but there can only be one payment nominee. Alternatively, the NDIA might appoint 2 or more plan nominees, and, in each instrument of appointment, limit the matters in relation to which each person is the plan nominee.

Correspondence Nominee 

In contrast, the role of a correspondence nominee is significantly narrower. Although a correspondence nominee can do a range of acts on behalf of a participant under the NDIS, they are not able to do any of the acts by a plan nominee. The acts that a correspondence nominee can do include making requests to the NDIA (for example, requests for information), and receiving notices from the NDIA, on behalf of the participant.

The matters the correspondence nominee can deal with cannot be limited further by the instrument of appointment.

A plan nominee or a correspondence nominee may be appointed:

  1. at the request of the participant; or
  2. on the initiative of the CEO of the NDIA.
  • What is Guardianship under NDIS?

Guardianship is different from nominees. Guardianship is the authority to manage the legal and non-legal affairs of a person such as power of attorney or Centrelink nominations. Guardians are not nominees under the NDIS and there is no automatic process for guardians to be made nominees. Where it has been identified by the NDIA that the participant requires a nominee and there is a guardianship arrangement in place, the presumption is that the guardian will be appointed as the nominee.

NDIS participants under 18

For a participant under 18 years of age child representatives instead of nominees can be appointed. A child representative is only appointed where the NDIA is deciding that a person other than the person or persons with parental responsibility should be the child representative. There are rules about who has parental responsibility for a child participant and when a child representative can be appointed by the NDIA.

Three new participant transport support levels

Level 1 – The NDIS will provide up to $1,606 per year for participants who are not working, studying, or attending day programs but are seeking to enhance their community access.

Level 2 – The NDIS will provide up to $2,472 per year for participants who are currently working or studying part-time (up to 15 hours a week), participating in day programs and for other social, recreational or leisure activities.

Level 3 – The NDIS will provide up to $3,456 per year for participants who are currently working, looking for work, or studying, at least 15 hours a week, and are unable to use public transport because of their disability.

Exceptional circumstances: participants may receive higher funding if the participant has either general or funded supports in their plan to enable their participation in employment.

Reviewing your plan

Your plan will have an end date on it.

NDIA will contact you before your plan ends to organise a plan review.

The plan review might happen:

  • in person
  • over the phone.

You can have another person with you when we review your plan, such as:

  • a family member
  • a friend
  • an advocate – someone who speaks up for you if you can’t speak up
    for yourself.

There are processes that NDIS must follow to review our decisions. This is called doing an internal or an external review.

At First NDIA makes the decision. You can’t ask for a review before we make the decision. They call this the original decision. For example, they could decide you’re not eligible for the NDIS. Or if you’re a participant, they could decide to approve your plan.

Internal review:

If you don’t think their original decision is right, you may be able to ask for an internal review. This is where a different staff member not involved in the first decision makes the decision, checks if they made the right decision the first time.

External review:

If you don’t agree with the internal review decision, you may then ask the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for an external review. This is where the Tribunal checks if the internal review decision was the right decision.

The Tribunal is separate to NDIA, so external reviews are independent from NDIA’s decisions. You can’t have an external review until NDIA have done the internal review. Please check the Tribunal website for more details.

 

Targeting FRAUD and NON-COMPLIANCE

The NDIA protects the NDIS from fraud and non-compliance that results in the misuse of NDIS funds through the NDIS Fraud Taskforce which is a multi-agency partnership between the Australian Federal Police (AFP), The NDIA and Services Australia.

Their goal is to safeguard NDIS funds for participants so that the NDIS is there for Australians with disability when they need it.

We want to make sure participants get the maximum benefit from their NDIS funds so that they can pursue their goals and live an ordinary life.

Fraud and non-compliance hurts participants

When people do the wrong thing with NDIS funds it:

  • takes money from a participant’s NDIS budget
  • stops participants from being able to purchase the supports they genuinely need
  • makes it harder for participants to pursue their goals
  • puts additional pressure on carers, family, friends, and support networks.

Participants who have been the victim of fraud and non-compliance have also told us they:

  • feel fear or shame
  • have lost trust in their providers and the NDIS
  • are worried they will lose supports if they report suspicious behaviour to us.

If you are the victim of fraud or intentional non-compliance, it is important to remember it is not your fault. Criminals and dishonest people who target the NDIS all have the same goal – to rip off people with disability and the taxpayers who fund the NDIS.

Anyone with concerns that fraud is being committed against the NDIS should contact the NDIS fraud hotline on 1800 650 717, or email [email protected].