Your options for managing your funding
You have three options for how you can manage the funding in your plan .
- Self-managed: you, or your plan nominee or child representative, manage the funding and pay your providers.
- A registered plan manager manages the funding and pays your providers.
- Agency-managed: we manage the funding and pay your providers.
You can also choose a mix of these options. For example, you might like to manage some of the funding yourself, and we’ll manage the rest.
There are different benefits for each plan management option.
Self-management gives you the most flexibility. You manage every decision when it comes to spending your funds on NDIS supports in line with your plan.
Using a registered plan manager provides you with support and assistance to manage your funding.
Having your funding agency-managed means you’ll have fewer things to do when it comes to managing your funding.
Whether your funding is managed by you, us, or a registered plan manager, managing NDIS funding means:
- buying the NDIS supports as described in your plan, including paying GST related to those supports. This means paying for NDIS supports in your plan:
- in line with the funding periods
- within the total funding amount and funding component amounts
- receiving and managing your NDIS funding, including paying for NDIS supports on time
- keeping track of what you buy with your funding, including keeping receipts and invoices.
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 are NDIS supports or an agreed replacement support that relate to your disability.
We’re committed to helping you have more choice and control when it comes to managing your funding if that’s what you want.
We’ll talk to you about what you want and what suits you when it comes to managing your funding.
We’ll talk more about the different plan management options in the following sections.
Your plan will say who manages your NDIS funding.
Learn more about ways to manage the funding in your plan.
How do we decide who manages your funding?
We’ll ask you who you want to manage your funding. We’ll discuss strategies to help you do this the way you want to.
We’ll let you know what your plan management options will mean for you.
You can also ask your friends or family for advice.
You can ask to self-manage your plan or use a registered NDIS plan manager.
If you’re under 18, your child representative can choose how to manage your plan funding.
We’ll agree to your request, unless:
- you want to self-manage the funding but that would be an unreasonable risk to you
- you already have a plan nominee, in which case we’ll talk to your nominee about your plan management options
- your plan nominee wants to self-manage your funding but that would be an unreasonable risk to you
- you want to self-manage the funding but you, or your plan nominee or child representative, are bankrupt or insolvent under administration
- you want a registered plan manager to manage your funding but that would be an unreasonable risk to you
- you’re unlikely to spend your funding on only NDIS supports and in line with your plan
- you or your nominee have been convicted of an offence punishable by 2 or more years
- you or your nominee have been convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
- it’s for in-kind supports, or cross-billing payments for younger people in residential aged care.
If we don’t agree to your request, we’ll let you know our decision and explain our reasons. We’ll talk to you about the risks, and if there are ways we can help you manage the risks in the future.
If you’re not happy with the decision we make, you can ask for a review of our decision.
Learn more about requesting a review of decisions we make.
If you don’t let us know how you want your plan to be managed, we can manage it for you.