Choice means that you have more than one option. Control means that you can ask for what you want, arrange your own supports, and make changes when you need to.
The NDIS has a ‘person-centred’ approach to funding. This approach looks at what you need and what you want. It is based on your right to self-determination, the right to make your own decisions and choices about how you want to live your life and have your needs met.
With your NDIS funding, you can buy the supports and services you want. You can look at different services and ways of being supported. Then you can choose the one that suits you best. The NDIS also lets you decide whether you want to manage all the funds in your plan yourself, or have a Plan Manager, or let the National Disability Insurance Agency manage your funds for you.
Choosing Supports and Services
You can choose a service provider and follow their programs and activities or choose a provider that will set up a program just for you. You can ask the provider to let you choose the workers who will work with you. You can change your mind about a service or worker that you have chosen and decide to go with another service or ask for a different worker.
Another option is to employ your own staff and decide on your own programs and activities. You can decide on the times you want support and how often you want it.
If you use allied health services, you can choose the service you want, and you can work with allied health services in new and different ways that suit your needs and goals best. The NDIS lets you work in useful and creative ways with traditional therapies and non-traditional therapies.
Rules about choice and control
There are some rules that affect your choice and control. One rule is that you need to prove that your choice is reasonable and necessary for you to achieve your goals.
Other rules are that If you are under 18 years you need your parents or guardian to act as a nominee to support your choices and decisions. Some people over 18 have a guardian to help support their decisions and choices. If you have a guardian, the guardian will have to be your nominee. These rules help the NDIS be sure that the choices and decisions made are in your best interests.
A third rule is that you, or your nominee, should sign a contract, or service agreement with any provider that you choose. The service agreement tells the provider how you want them to support you.
The agreement tells you how the provider will get paid from your funds. The agreement will talk about things like cancelling service, and how long a support shift will be. Some providers have minimum 2-hour shifts. Think about how this would affect you. You can talk with the provider about these things and about what to do if you change your mind about activities or the service.
If you decide to employ your own workers directly instead of through an organisation, you will need to sign an agreement with each person you employ. Unless you pay the workers on invoice, you will be responsible for making sure that their income tax, insurances, and superannuation is paid when you pay their wages.
Talk to your NDIS planner, Local Area Coordinator or Support Coordinator if you want to employ your own staff. They will be able to talk to you about how the NDIS can help you with employing and paying your own staff.
Options for managing your NDIS plan.
The NDIS gives you choices of how your funding will be managed. This means how you and providers will be paid the money from the plan. The choices are:
– The NDIA manages the funds (agency managed). Providers who are registered with the NDIS can claim their money through the NDIS portal, and the NDIA pays the money to them. If you are paid transport allowance it is paid to you directly;
– A plan manager is paid to manage the funds in your plan and organise all the payments to providers and reimbursements to you (plan managed);
– You manage your plan yourself (self managed). The funds are all claimed by you and paid to you to use to pay your providers and for equipment. You must keep good accounting records, and make sure the money lasts for the whole time of the plan;
– Remember, you are legally responsible for these funds. For more information on Self Management and your responsibilities as a self-manager, see Get Started;
– Some plans may fund a financial intermediary who can claim from the plan to pay providers who are not NDIS registered.
The NDIS may fund you to have a support coordinator to help you with starting your plan and using services. They can show you how to manage your own plan.
GET STARTED
What supports do you have now?
Think about the supports you have now. You might have equipment or support workers or both.
Are you happy with these supports or would you like somethings to change?
Perhaps you want to change:
– who works with you
– when they work with you
– what you want support with
– how that support is provided
– where you want to go
– the equipment you use
Have a look at Fining Your Way – Reasonable and Necessary for more information about supports and the NDIS.
Start the conversation
Speak to your parent/s or guardian about the things you want to do, how you want to be supported and anything you would like to change.
Talk to friends, family and other people who already use the NDIS about your wishes, and all the different options that may be available to you. Take a look at The Growing Space’s Can I Buy It? checklist for help on what you can buy using your self-managed funds.
Talking to other people about their experiences, both good can bad, can help you to make good choices and decisions.
Think about how you want your plan to be managed. Take a look at the NDIS Ways to manage your funding page for information about self-management, plan-management and NDIA-management to decide what is best for you. Remember, if you choose to self-manage you are legally responsible for the funds you are managing.
The Raising Children Network also have a great resource with lots of information on their website. Take a look at Your child’s NDIS funds: options for managing them
ACTION STEPS
Here you can find a simple list of the best actions to take if you are interested in this topic:
1 .
Think about how you make decisions and what control you have. If you are still under 18, or over 18 but have a guardian, talk openly with your parent/s or guardian about what you want for your life. Your parent/s guardian will support you, or act for you to talk to the NDIS about your needs and wants, and your choices. If you have full control over your choices and decisions, share what you want clearly with the NDIS. Remember, what you want needs to fit with your goals and be reasonable and necessary. Some of what you want can happen right away, while some may be long term goals to work towards.
2 .
Talk to other people who also use supports about what works for them and about what service providers they use. Ask them about what hasn’t worked or has been difficult as well. Talk to your family or friends about your options to change things.
3 .
Find out about different services. If you have a Local Area Coordinator or Coordinator of Supports for your NDIS plan, they will be able to tell you about different options and providers. You can talk to people who use providers, or you can read provider’s websites and pamphlets. It is always useful to visit a service provider to see what happens and what they do during the day. Ask people from the service to visit you to see how you do things.
4 .
Ask to meet the support workers and whether you will be able to choose the people who support you.
5 .
Ask the provider about programs they run, and whether you can work out your own program with them.
6 .
Talk about the times you need support and whether the provider can be available at those times. Many providers have minimum 2-hour shifts. If you need less than 2 hours at a time, talk to the provider about what they will do about this.
7 .
Ask a service provider about their service agreements and what they will expect from you in the agreement.
8 .
Find out about equipment that might assist you. Talk to your Local Area Coordinator, coordinator of supports or an occupational therapist about the best equipment for you. Your occupational therapist will need to get quotes on the costs of the equipment and send them to the NDIS.
9 .
Think about how you want your NDIS plan to be managed. Do you want providers to claim their fees directly from the NDIS? This option is the least work for you. Do you want someone else to manage the plan for you? Do you want to manage everything yourself? This means paying bills and keeping good records of everything you do.
10 .
Think about how you want your NDIS plan to be managed. Do you want providers to claim their fees directly from the NDIS? This option is the least work for you. Do you want someone else to manage the plan for you? Do you want to manage everything yourself? This means paying bills and keeping good records of everything you do.