Big NDIS changes to help participants through the Coronavirus
The NDIA are making changes to their system next weekend to make sure NDIS participants and their families have what they need to manage the impact of the Coronavirus.
There is lots of info released today – here’s the main bits:
👉 Plans will no longer end. On the day your plan is due to expire, the NDIA will automatically extend it for 365 days.
👉 You will not have to do anything – it will automatically extend for a year.
👉 You will not need to do anything – it will happen automatically. That way there will be no gaps between plans for anyone to worry about.
👉 The NDIS are trying not to do face-to-face planning meetings at the moment. If you have a plan review coming up you will be called on the phone or sent an email.
👉 If you are happy with your plan the way it is you can extend it for up to 24 months. The amount of funding and the supports will be the same. For example – if you are currently on a 12-month plan at $15,000, and you want it to keep going for another 2 years, you will have $30,000 over the next 2 years.
👉 If you don’t currently have enough support coordination in your plan you can now use some of your core funding to help you. For people trying to juggle their supports at this difficult time, this might really be a help. There are now 3 new line items in the price guide to pay for this.
👉 Participants are being encouraged to use their core funding more flexibly (for example, to send a support worker to the shops for you).
👉 If you don’t have enough money in core, you can move some over from capacity building. Special teams of planners in the NDIA are available to help make these changes. You need to call first.
👉 If you need more funds you will need to ask for a review.
👉 A new price guide was also released today to cover the new prices announced on the weekend (yes we heard you all groan).
👉 Some prices will go up by 10% for 6 months: Assistance with Daily Life (excluding Supported Independent Living), Assistance with Social and Community Participation, Improved Health and Wellbeing (excluding personal training), and improved Daily Living Skills. Unfortunately, plans will NOT be increased to cover the extra cost. If you are going to run out of money, you will need to put in for a review (that’s one stress we all don’t need at the moment).
👉 The cancellation policy has changed – now you have to give you provider 10 days notice. If you don’t your provider can charge 100%. This is to try and help services keep their doors open over this period.
The NDIA have introduced a new page that covers the different situations you might find yourself in. It’s called the What happens when… page.
There was a lot of new information released this afternoon. Here’s a few pages you should check out:
We’re happy to see lots of new questions and answers going up on the NDIS website – but we know there are a lot more questions to be answered. We’re collecting them all and sending them off to the NDIA. If you have any questions you’d like us to ask – leave a comment below or send us an email.
These are really really helpful changes that we are relieved to see. We know it doesn’t solve lots of things for lots of people – but it is a good step forward.
There will be more to come.
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