The new NDIS laws allow us to only fund NDIS supports. NDIS supports are the services, items and equipment that can be funded by the NDIS.
NDIS supports should complement, not replace, other supports available to you. That’s why we 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 our aims is to help maximise your independence. We do this 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.
It’s important that you're able to shop for and access providers who meet your needs. We can help you find providers who meet your needs.
Once we’ve considered your circumstances, we need to follow the rules determined under NDIS laws in our planning decisions. After we’ve identified the supports and decided that they meet the reasonable and necessary criteria, we can include the description and funding for the NDIS support in your plan.
You can use the funding in your plan to buy NDIS supports if they are related to your disability and are in line with your plan.
This means we can only fund an NDIS support if it meets all the following criteria:
- the support is for impairments that meet the disability, the early intervention requirements, or both
- the support will help you pursue your goals and aspirations
- the support will help you undertake activities that will help you take part in work, social and community life
- the support is value for money, which means the costs are reasonable:
- when compared to the benefits to be achieved. For example, whether buying the support is likely to reduce the cost of funding other supports in the long term
- when compared to alternative options that may provide you with the same outcome at a similar or lower cost
- the support is likely to be effective and beneficial for you, having regard to good practice and evidence
- the support is required to complement the informal supports you have available. We need to think about what is reasonable for families, carers, informal networks and the community to provide
- the support is an NDIS support.
Spending in line with your plan means only spending your funding on the supports included in your plan. To spend in line with your plan, you need to:
- spend your funding in the way we describe. This includes any stated supports, where we describe the supports you can buy more specifically
- make sure your funding will last for the whole length of your plan
- if your plan includes funding periods and funding component amounts, make sure your funding will last for the length of each funding period.
When you buy supports in line with your plan, you need to make sure they’re NDIS supports or an agreed replacement support that relate to your disability.
For more information on what we can fund, go to NDIS supports.