What is Plan Management, and how does it work with your NDIS Plan?
We know the lives of people with disability are different than us, and therefore, they need additional support to live their lives independently and confidently. Every country has an organization that provides various supports to people with disabilities.
NDIS stands for National Disability Insurance Scheme .it is an organization that provides supports to the people with disability of Australia. NDIS has various benefits for people with disabilities as with the help of these supports, they will be able to live a confident and independent life.
With an NDIS plan, you get three core options of how you can manage your funding. However, finding the right option for you might take some time. Every NDIS participant has the freedom to choose the management option in their NDIS planning meeting. There are three core management options, which are-
-
Agency managed
-
Plan managed
-
Self-managed
In this blog, we are going to talk in detail about the plan management and how it works with the participant's NDIS plan. So, let's begin discussing plan management and its functioning.
What is Plan Management?
Let us understand what plan management is. Plan management is one of the management options you get for managing your funding in the NDIS plan. NDIS Plan management gives you the freedom and control to use your NDIS budget with the help of a plan manager who manages your funds, pays your bills, and keeps an eye on your budget. A plan manager also claims from the NDIS portal on your behalf.
Anyone having an NDIS plan can go for plan management, and there are no unnecessary expenses. When you go for NDIS plan management, the NDIS will add extra funds to pay your NDIS plan manager.
Plan Management allows you to do the following tasks-
-
Choose and engage with support providers who suit your needs
-
Negotiate the pricing to suit your budget
-
You get better experience, choice, and control when someone else completes the administrative tasks for you.
When your funding is plan-managed, you are not restricted to receive NDIS supports via only registered NDIS providers. You can also use non-registered service providers if you choose plan management. A key benefit of plan management is that it won't cost you more to have a plan manager as NDIS itself takes care of it. In plan management, you are funded by NDIS to have someone else do your paperwork and manage your funding.
What does a Plan Manager do?
An NDIS plan manager helps people with disabilities with many things and has many responsibilities. Generally, a plan manager will-
-
Pay your support providers on your behalf
-
Help you keep track of your funding and budget
-
Manage and monitor your bills and invoices
-
Provide you updates on your funding
-
It gives you a list of the NDIS support providers in your area
Having the right plan manager can tremendously improve your NDIS plan's effectiveness and help to create strong relationships with other experienced professionals.
How does a Plan Manager help you with your NDIS Plan?
As we said above, the right plan manager can be quite effective and helpful, and therefore, they will help you make the most of your NDIS plan. People who choose to be plan managed for their NDIS plan have several benefits.
Here are some of those benefits-
-
Freedom to hire the unregistered providers who provide effective services but have decided not to register with NDIS.
-
It is funded separately in your NDIS plan, so there is no cost that you have to pay. It also doesn't take away money from your other supports
-
The NDIS plan manager can help you get a partner to navigate the NDIS, and you will make the most of your NDIS plan.
-
When you choose plan management, you don't have to burden yourself with any paperwork because the plan managers will handle all of that.
These were some of the core benefits of NDIS plan management for managing the NDIS plan. Out of the three management options, plan-management is much talked about. As we know, plan management allows the participants to choose both registered and unregistered NDIS providers, and you have the right to choose an NDIS service provider that works the best for you.
If your NDIS funding is plan managed, you can get in touch with Access Foundation, a registered disability service provider in West Australia. We have been working to uplift people's lives with disabilities by providing quality and trust-worthy services. You can use our services to experience more independence and better control of your supports. We will help you get access to the funding provided by NDIS and make sure that the participants achieve their good NDIS goals. Our team works dedicatedly to support you to live a great life.