NDIS funding running low? Act quickly

Every day, people across Australia are waiting for funding decisions from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

You know the drill – first you need to submit evidence of your disability and its impact, then you have to provide information about the supports you need, and after that… you just have to wait.

It might be your first encounter with the Agency, or maybe you’ve been a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant for a while, but when it comes to requesting funding, everyone’s the same – and everyone plays the waiting game.

That’s why, when those hard-fought dollars are finally approved and the funding lands in your plan, it’s vital you balance your budget, so you don’t run out of cash early.

But sometimes – despite the best-laid plans – unexpected expenses arise, and your budget takes a hit. We’ve got some tips to minimise the impact if it happens to you.

Start as you mean to go on

With every new NDIS plan, it’s important to manage your funding so you can stay within budget and pay for the supports that’ve been approved for you.

Talking to us at the start of your plan period is a great place to begin. We can have a conversation and help you set up budgets for all your expenses, so you know exactly how much you can spend – and on what – and be sure your funding lasts.

These days, NDIS plans contain more stated supports than they did in the past and they often prescribe exactly what you can spend on, and how much. But you may also have some funding categories that are flexible, and if you do, we can help you to choose the supports you want to purchase.

Having a service agreement in place with your providers is also a great idea, because it means we can set aside funding to be sure it’s there when it comes time to pay them.

You can use our client portal (available via web and app) to track your spending, submit your claims, and generate monthly reports – which means you have all the information you need at the click of a button. If you haven’t used our client portal yet, you can get started here.

Seek help when you need it

If you’re spending faster than you want to and you’re worried about your funding, contact your support coordinator, early childhood partner or local area coordinator as soon as possible to ask for help. The earlier you get in touch, the more likely they are to be able to identify ways to turn the situation around.

Working with them, you should be able to identify the supports you really can’t do without, and areas where you can potentially cut down on spending so you can see out your current plan period. For example, they may be able to help you with:

• identifying unwanted expenses (like provider travel charges) and seeing where you can trim some costs (e.g. by opting to visit allied health professionals at their premises, rather than asking them to travel to you).
• finding ways to stretch your funding out – like changing therapy appointments from weekly to fortnightly, getting a support worker to help you with implementing recommendations made by a therapist (such as an exercise plan), or considering telehealth appointments in place of face-to-face consults. You can read about ways to stretch your NDIS plan funding here.
• dividing your available funding by the weeks remaining in your plan, then allocating it to the supports you need the most. Our NDIS experts can also help you with this, so don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Ask for changes to be made to your plan

If you need changes made to your NDIS plan before your reassessment date, you can ask your support coordinator or your NDIA contact to help you with next steps.

Overspending before the end of your funding period isn’t, by itself, considered valid grounds for a plan reassessment, but if your circumstances have changed significantly and your existing budget is no longer adequate, you can let the Agency know and complete a change of details or change of situation form. You can read more about how to address a change in your circumstances here.

If you’ve gone through the process with the NDIA and you don’t get the funding you hoped for (and you predict your funding will run out as a consequence), you can ask for an internal review of the Agency’s decision. An internal review involves someone at the NDIA who wasn’t involved in the original decision looking at it to check if it’s correct under the law.

Be prepared for your plan check-in and plan reassessment

Plan check-ins and reassessments provide the NDIA with the information the Agency needs to make funding decisions and develop new plans. It’s important to prepare for these discussions so you have the best shot at getting the funding you need in the future.

The NDIA will contact you before the end of your current plan to see how you’re going and if your circumstances have changed. If your situation is stable, the Agency will usually check in every 12 months – at least two months before the reassessment date in your plan.

We explain how to prepare for your plan check-in here, and the NDIA provides plenty of tips for plan reassessments on this page on its website.

Don’t wait

If there’s a roadblock with your funding, remember to act quickly. The NDIS is complex, but there are people who can help, and the earlier problems are addressed, the better the outcome is likely to be.

Don’t forget, you can email us or pick up the phone to talk to our friendly team of NDIS experts. We can look at your funding and provide advice about what to do next.

To contact us, email enquiries@myplanmanager.com.au or call us on 1800 954 294 from 8am-5.30pm (SA time), Monday to Friday.