An NDIS plan manager is a registered provider who looks after the funding in a participant’s NDIS plan. They pay providers, check invoices against the plan and keep track of how much funding is left, so the participant and their family don’t have to handle the financial paperwork themselves.
Plan management is one of three ways to manage NDIS funding. The others are self-management, where the participant manages their own funding, and NDIA-management, where the agency pays providers directly. Many plans use a mix of these options.
What does a plan manager do?
According to the NDIS, a plan manager’s role includes:
- Helping the participant understand their plan and what counts as an NDIS support
- Paying NDIS providers and submitting claims
- Making sure claims match the participant’s plan, budgets and NDIS supports
- Keeping track of spending and letting the participant know when funding is running low or not being used
A plan manager should also report regularly on plan spending, usually once a month. Before they submit a claim, they check with the participant that the support on the invoice is what was actually delivered.
What a plan manager doesn’t do
A plan manager handles money, not services. They don’t find therapists, organise supports or help build skills. That’s the role of a support coordinator, and many participants have funding for both.
The participant also stays responsible for understanding their plan and not overspending their budgets. A plan manager helps with that, but the decisions about which supports to use still belong to the participant and their family.
How is a plan manager paid?
Plan management doesn’t come out of the participant’s pocket or their other supports. When a plan includes plan-managed supports, the NDIS adds separate funding for a plan manager in the Capacity Building budget. This is a stated support, so it can only be used to pay for plan management.
Anyone who’d like a plan manager can say so at their planning meeting, and the NDIA will consider whether to include it in the NDIS plan.
Why choose plan management?
Plan management sits between the other two options. It offers more choice than NDIA-management with less paperwork than self-management.
With plan-managed funding, participants can choose registered or unregistered providers for most supports. NDIA-managed funding can only be used with registered providers.
There’s one important exception. Behaviour support, including Positive Behaviour Support and writing a behaviour support plan, must always come from a registered provider, however the plan is managed.
How to choose a plan manager
Participants can choose their own plan manager, but they must be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Once chosen, the plan manager is recorded as a “my provider” in the my NDIS portal, and providers send their invoices to the plan manager instead of the participant.
When comparing plan managers, it helps to ask how often they’ll report on spending, how quickly they pay invoices, and how they’ll let you know if a budget is running low. Participants can also change their plan manager if it isn’t working out.
Getting started with Helping Hands Behaviour Support
Helping Hands Behaviour Support (HHBS) is an NDIS-registered provider of Positive Behaviour Support, ABA therapy and early childhood intervention. We work with children and adults at home or at school. As a registered provider, we can work with NDIA-managed, plan-managed and self-managed plans.
If you’re a participant, parent or carer, call us on 0406 920 296 or get in touch through our contact page, and we’ll help you get the right support in place. If you’re a support coordinator, you can make a referral online.
Note: This article is general information about NDIS plan management, not financial advice or advice about an individual NDIS plan. The NDIA makes all funding decisions.
