The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and NDIS plan management, can be really complex, and it is still very new. The launch of the scheme saw the creation of new services which previously did not exist. Plan management and support coordination were two of these, and sometimes people can become confused about what they are and what are the differences between.
So the basics – NDIS support coordination is a service that is provided through your plan that will assist you to understand your plan and the NDIS, help you to link to services that you need related to your disability, and help you to meet your NDIS goals. Support coordinators are often people with extensive experience working in the disability sector and who may have a qualification like a degree or certificate in a disability or human services related field. Support coordination is included in plans to help you build capacity to manage your plan in the future. As such, it is often only included for a few plans so that, as you build skills, the support coordination is not required anymore.
So what is NDIS plan management then, and how is it different? Plan management is a service included in your plan that will help you to manage the financial aspects of your plan. This assists you to pay your NDIS providers, to manage your budgets, and to manage the administrative aspects of your plan. They help you to build capacity by assisting you to understand the portal, how your budgets work, how to track a budget, how a service agreement works, and how to pay invoices. Having a plan manager gives you more choice and control in providers as they allow you to use non-registered providers as well as NDIS registered providers in your support. A plan manager is usually someone who has some qualifications in financial management like a bookkeeper or accountant. They may or may not have experience working in the disability sector, but often they do, and they may have lived experience of disability too.
Both a plan manager and support coordinator are very useful to participants of the NDIS. They can work together well to help you to get the most out of your plan, and to help you build skills for future plans. Both plan management and support coordination are only included if they meet the reasonable and necessary criteria, and these will be funded as separate areas in your plan. You will be more likely to have these included if you have evidence that you have some difficulties that prevent you from using your plan and achieving your goals without them. You can ask your Local Area Coordinator (LAC) or planner to include these, but not everyone will have them.
See our next blog about how to choose a good plan manager.
