Starting your Plan

You’ve just received your NDIS approved plan, so what do you do now? Once your plan has been approved it’s time to begin implementation. But how?

Depending on your situation, there are a number of people who can assist you with implementing your plan and help you to start receiving your supports.

If you are self-managed, you can commence your plan by yourself. Self-managed means you have choice and control over your funds, including paying for supports from service providers. You can begin by contacting your preferred service providers and discussing service areas and supports.

Participants can also work with Local Area Coordinators (LAC). The LAC will aid in setting up your plan and should be the first point of contact. If you have Support Coordination in your NDIS Plan you may also seek assistance from existing service provider relationships and Early Childhood Partners.

Remember you can choose the providers you want to deliver the supports you need. It is also important to note that Service Providers also have choice in how they deliver supports and can say no if it falls outside of their scope. Make sure you are clear on your expectations up front.

Whether you are a Self-Managed participant or not, there are a couple of initial steps we recommend before you start using your plan. These steps will ensure you are getting the most out of it.

1. Make sure you understand your plan

Understand your plan. Where you are unsure of some of the details, it’s important you ask your LAC for clarification. When you understand your plan, you can then commence its implementation. It’s important to note, that your plan is considered ‘active’ from the day it is approved. This is detailed on the front of your plan. Any existing funding will cease from this date.

2. Manage your plan online

Participants can view and manage their plan, via the ‘myplace’ website. To access the portal, you will need a myGov account. From here you can link to myplace. Details to ‘myplace’ are included in the letter sent with your plan. Note, the letter includes an activation code that will expire after 10 days. If your code has expired, you will need to contact your planner.

Now that you understand your plan and have your accounts set-up it’s time to being speaking with the people who can support you. These people are either a LAC, a Support Coordinator (if Support Coordination is included in your plan) or your existing provider relationships.

3. Contacting providers

Your LAC or Support Coordinator can assist you with contacting service providers to set up your services and supports. If you want to continue using your existing service provider, you will need to let them know that you have an approved NDIS plan, so they can set up a Service Agreement.

Once you have chosen the provider(s) that you want to deliver service it’s time to enter into an agreement.

4. Enter into a Service Agreement with preferred service providers

Once you have chosen a provider, you will need to sign a Service Agreement with them. Detailed in your Service Agreement will be the expectations of both you and your provider. It will also outline the terms and conditions of your agreement. In conjunction with the Service Agreement, you will be provided with a Schedule of Supports. This Schedule of Supports will detail how your supports/ services will be delivered. Once you’ve signed a Service Agreement, you can start receiving your NDIS supports.

Read more about Service Agreements.

If you require additional information on how to implement your NDIS Plan, please contact Lifebridge on 1800 043 186.

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Before you can begin receiving supports from a Service Provider, you will need to set up a Service Agreement with them. The Service Agreement will outline the supports the provider will deliver and how they will deliver those supports. This is commonly referred to as a Schedule of Supports. In a Schedule of Supports it will also outline the prices of the services you’ve chosen and the part of your NDIS Plan in which funding will be drawn from.

A Service Agreement is a written contract between you and the provider, so it’s important that you understand and are in agreement with all the details included. This means that both you and your provider have obligations and responsibilities to meet as part of this agreement.

At Lifebridge, we’re assisting people to transition to the NDIS every day. And when talking to participants about their Service Agreements, there are some common areas in which people tend to overlook, but are vitally important to understand.

To be as transparent as possible, we’ve outlined these below so you know what questions to ask, and what details to look out for.

Terms

In every Service Agreement, there are terms. These terms relate to a number of different areas, however, the one we would like to draw your attention to is, the terms of cancellation. Many participants don’t realise their obligation when they sign with a provider. Please check these when signing up for service. The terms in a Agreement are there to protect you, but also to protect the provider. If you feel the terms that are detailed are unfair, query them, and then decide if you would like to continue further with that provider.

Provider choice

Because you talk to one provider, doesn’t mean you have to receive all your supports from them. Not all Service Providers will be able to meet all your support needs, and not all providers may be able to meet all your needs to a standard you are comfortable with. As a participant under the NDIS you have choice in who you want to provide service and how. Each provide you agree to provide service will need to provide you with a Service Agreement.

Maintaining existing service

Even if you are an existing customer of a provider and you want to stay with that provider under the NDIS, you will still need to set up a Service Agreement with them. This is necessary, because your supports may have changed, funding changed, and the way in which the organisation operates may also have changed.

Schedule of Supports

Schedule of Supports can also be known as a quote, that is provided to you from the Service Provider you are considering. The Schedule of Supports will be different between each provider you engage with, so it’s important you understand what is detail in this document.

A good Schedule of Supports will offer transparency between the service, the cost and the hours of service able to be provided as well as indicating where the funding allocation against your NDIS Plan. At Lifebridge, we also detail where there are Non-NDIS Supports which are not covered by your funding so that you can make an informed decision whether these are supports that you would like to pursue.

Review thoroughly

Service Agreements between providers will vary and it is importantly if you are receiving services from multiple providers you know and understand the terms within each Agreement.

If you have any questions about a Service Agreement with Lifebridge contact 1800 043 186.

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What is a Service Agreement and what is its purpose?

Understand what a Service Agreement is and what information you should look for in your Service Agreement.

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