Self-managed, plan-managed or NDIA-managed
How your plan is managed decides which providers you can use. It is the first thing to check and the least explained.
In short
- Plan management decides which providers you can use, not how much funding you get.
- NDIA-managed plans can only use NDIS registered providers.
- Plan-managed and self-managed participants can use any provider, registered or not.
- You can ask for plan management at a review, and it does not reduce your other funding.
Of everything in a plan, how it is managed has the biggest effect on your day-to-day choices, and it is the part least often explained properly.
The three ways
NDIA-managed. The agency pays providers directly. You can only use providers registered with the NDIS Commission. Least admin, least choice.
Plan-managed. A plan manager pays invoices on your behalf, funded separately in your plan at no cost to your other budgets. You can use any provider, registered or not. Most people land here, and for good reason.
Self-managed. You receive the funds and pay providers yourself, keeping records. Most choice, most admin, and you can negotiate prices.
You can mix them across categories, which few people realise.
Why it decides who you can use
Registration with the NDIS Commission is mandatory for some supports and for anyone being paid by the agency directly. It is not a quality ranking. Plenty of good small providers are unregistered because the audit cost is significant for a small operation, and plenty of registered providers are mediocre.
What registration does mean is external audit against the NDIS Practice Standards and oversight from the Commission. That is a genuine safeguard and worth something.
Vivid Support is not yet registered. Our application is in progress. Until it is confirmed, we can work with plan-managed and self-managed participants but not with participants whose plans are NDIA-managed.
Choosing between them
Plan management suits most people. It costs you nothing from your support budgets, it opens the whole market of providers, and someone else checks and pays the invoices.
Self-management suits people who want maximum control and are comfortable with records, receipts and the occasional argument about what is a reasonable and necessary expense.
NDIA management suits people who want no admin at all and are content with the registered provider market.
Changing how your plan is managed
Ask at a plan review, or request a plan variation if the need is pressing. Adding plan management does not reduce your other funding: it is funded separately.
If you are being told you cannot have plan management, ask why in writing. It is routinely approved.
Safeguards either way
Whoever manages your plan, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission covers you. You can complain about any provider, registered or not, on 1800 035 544. The Code of Conduct applies to everyone delivering NDIS supports.
Questions
Is an unregistered provider less safe?
Not automatically. Registration means external audit against the Practice Standards, which is a real safeguard. But the Code of Conduct and the Commission's complaints powers apply to every provider regardless of registration.
Does plan management cost me anything?
No. It is funded separately in your plan and does not come out of your support budgets.
Can I be plan-managed for some things and NDIA-managed for others?
Yes. Plans can be managed differently across support categories, though it is not always offered up front.
How do I check whether a provider is registered?
The NDIS Commission publishes a register of registered providers. Ask the provider directly as well; the answer, and how readily it comes, tells you something.
Make a referral or ask about a placement
Tell us the supports the plan funds and when they need to start. We respond the same business day.