You’ll meet a wide variety of people with a variety of job titles as you make your way through the NDIS. While it’s important to know what services they offer and what their duties are, it’s not always clear who should be handling our difficulties… Is there somebody you’d like to know about?
Local Area Coordinators (LACs)
Planners and Local Area Coordinators (LACs) are responsible for ensuring that the needs of their respective communities are met.
LACs and planners are employed by “Partner organisations,” which are companies contracted by the NDIA to handle all planning meetings in a specific geographic area. In addition to connecting you to the NDIS, they can also help you find local mainstream and community resources. You don’t have to pay for them yourself, because they’re paid for by the NDIA.
LACs are in charge of
Group workshops or one-on-one consultations can be used to help you understand and access the NDIS.
As part of the plan-making process, your LAC will sit down with you to discuss your present circumstances and the resources and goals that are most important to you. Because LACs cannot approve an NDIS plan, someone from the NDIA must do so in their place.
It is stated on the NDIS website that your Local Area Coordinator (LAC) is responsible for helping you identify and begin receiving the services included in your NDIS plan. If you run into any problems while implementing your strategy, your LAC is there to help.
An unscheduled review can be requested by you or your LAC when your plan is about to expire (typically 12 months) or when it’s time to make modifications.
– Helping you find information and resources in your area.
– Providing you with information on resources in your area.
NDIS and other government services including education, health, and transportation are explained in detail.
At any point in time, you can consult with your LAC if you have any concerns or questions about your strategy. By phone or email, you can get in touch with them.
Support Coordinators (SC)
A support coordinator acts as a ‘plan coach’ for the organisation. They usually show up when a person begins their officially sanctioned treatment plan. You have the option to work with any SC you like. They operate as a separate company sponsored by your insurance policy. During your planning meeting, you can request several degrees of support coordination (with your planner or LAC).
A support coordinator’s job consists of the following:
Understanding and using your plan is easier when you know how your money can be put to best use to achieve your goals.
Making sure that you have a wide range of support options to help you retain your relationships, live more independently, and participate in your community is a primary focus of our work with you.
To help you make the right decisions about how to spend your money, we’ll help you understand what each item in your plan means.
Our goal is to connect you with service providers with whom you’d like to do business.
Making sure that you get the most out of your insurance plan by negotiating with providers about what they will offer and how much it will cost.
Maintaining service contracts and scheduling appointments.
– Ensure that the services you use are aligned with your objectives. –
Preparing you for the plan evaluations that are coming soon.
It’s up to you and your SC to decide how you communicate with each other. You can switch support coordinators if they aren’t giving these items in a way that works for you because they are a distinct business. Just as with any other service provider, you have a variety of options and a say in how your help is coordinated.
Plan Manager
The NDIS equivalent of an accountant, a plan manager keeps track of all your bills and explains how and where you can spend the money you’ve been allocated. At your planning meeting, you can ask for plan management, and the cash will come from a separate budget that is only dedicated to this purpose. Without plan management, your only options are to either hire an agency (NDIA) or manage your own funds. Plan management allows you to choose from a wide range of providers, and it relieves you of the burden of making payments to those providers.
Providers enrolled with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) must be plan managers.
– Using your plan’s budgets to pay your service providers directly.
Reimbursing your service providers for the products and services you’ve purchased.
Making it easier to monitor your finances (this can be through offering emailed reports or optional online portals or mobile phone apps).
Reporting your financial status for you.
In the event of an audit, we will save all of your invoices and information for a minimum of five years.
As a result, keeping track of how promptly your invoices are paid is critical to your financial well-being. However, there are no set regulations, and processing timeframes might vary amongst plan managers. To avoid conflicts of interest, it is better to pick a plan manager that does not provide any of your other support services, such as financial advice.
