Plan Management is one of the ways that you can choose to manage your NDIS funds. There are three options that NDIS participants can choose from, they are:

1. Self-managed – participants choose to manage their own finances including organising invoices and receipts and accessing the NDIS portal to make claims
2. Agency managed – participants elect to have the NDIA manage funds and pay providers on their behalf
3. Plan managed – participants nominate an independent provider to communicate with service providers and manage payments

What does a Plan Manager do?

If you choose to have a Plan Manager, they will connect with other service providers on your behalf. Your Plan Manager will be responsible for:

• Helping you with all your NDIS enquiries including how you can spend your funding
• Receiving invoices from both providers and participants
• Managing your service agreements
• Making claims via the NDIS portal
• Tracking expenditure against your budget
• Paying invoices to your service providers and private carers
• Providing you with regular updates on your budgets

Why choose Plan Management?

Participants choose Plan Management for many different reasons based on their individual and/or family circumstances. The following table shows you the benefits of Plan Management in comparison to agency or self-management.

How do you choose a Plan Manager?

When choosing a provider to manage your plan, you could feel like you don’t know where to start or what to look for.  There are a wide variety of businesses that provide Plan Management services which can add to the confusion. Types of businesses range from small accounting firms to disability service providers and organisations who specialise only in Plan Management.

The key to finding the right Plan Manager to suit your needs is to do your research. There are a number of online resources that enable people to rate disability services and Plan Managers such as clickability. Talking to other families or individuals who use a Plan Manager to get their recommendation is also a good idea as they will be able to provide first-hand experience of their chosen Plan Manager.

Plan Manager checklist

Once you have a short-list of Plan Managers that you think will suit your individual needs, this quick checklist of questions to answer may be helpful to make your final choice. Give your shortlisted providers a call or check out their websites to see how they measure up.

Trust

• Do you trust the Plan Manager to give you independent advice?
• Are the lines of communication open and is activity transparent?

Customer Service

• Do they provide multiple ways for you to contact them?
• Are they prompt to respond to queries?
• Is their sign-up process simple and easy?
• Is their feedback procedure straightforward?
• Is feedback taken onboard to rectify any issues?

Payments & Budgets

• What reports does the Plan Manager provide?
• Is the process for paying invoices clear?
• What is their payment approval process?
• Is there a free mobile app available to track spending and payments, and check your budgets?

Further Information

Find out more about InFocus Plan Management or call 1800 928 437 to chat with one of our friendly team members. Or sign-up online today.