NDIS Plan Management
Written by Edwina Wilkens l Marketing + Business Development Manager
What’s the first thing you do when you’re trying to find somewhere to get your tax returns done? You google it! What do you do when you’re looking for a recommendation for somewhere nice to go out for dinner? You ask your friends and family for recommendations! What do you do when you’re looking for a good NDIS Plan Manager? You google it and you ask for recommendations!
How you find something that you’re after and the way that you go about finding it is by your preference and how you feel most comfortable. And that’s the most important thing, making sure that you are comfortable. Canny Plan Management aims to make every interaction with our NDIS Plan Managed clients comfortable.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme is nothing short of a minefield, but our Canny Plan Management team take the time to get to know you to make sure you understand where you stand, what your goals are and assist you to utilise your NDIS funding with the right supports in place.
When you find a good NDIS Plan Manager, or better yet, a great NDIS Plan Management team, like Canny Plan Management you will feel a weight lift off of your shoulders because you know that you are in safe hands. If you’re shopping around and looking to find a good NDIS Plan Manager, this is what we suggest you need to be on the lookout for and if you’re lucky, you might even find a great NDIS Plan Management team, like Canny Plan Management.
What To Look For As An NDIS Participant
With anything that you are looking for, it is important to look for three things – regardless if it is for a good restaurant recommendation, a new book recommendation, a new financial advisor or an NDIS Plan Management team; trust, expertise and understanding – these are the non-negotiables.
1. Trust
What is a relationship if there is no trust? First and foremost you need to be able to trust your NDIS Plan Manager or your NDIS Plan Management team. Your NDIS Plan Manager will be taking care of your NDIS budgets, paying invoices from services providers delivered and keeping you informed of the status of your funding.
A great NDIS Plan Manager will offer you independent advice based on your individual circumstances and will work with you to maximise your NDIS funding.
2. Expertise
What is a trusted relationship if there is no one with expertise? Your NDIS Plan Manager or NDIS Plan Management team should be experts in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Be across the current NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, all of the changes, the upcoming changes, as well as the general ins and outs of the NDIS.
A great NDIS Plan Manager will be able to give you tailored invaluable advice by sharing their knowledge with you on how to maximise your NDIS Funding. Speaking of NDIS expertise, have you had the pleasure of meeting the Head of our NDIS Plan Management Team, Anthea Taylor?
3. Understanding
What is a trusted relationship with an expert NDIS Plan Manager without understanding? Your NDIS Plan Manager or NDIS Plan Management team should be dedicated to helping you understand and manage your NDIS Plan. They need to be ‘in your corner’ and be driven by the determination to help you along your NDIS journey to be able to reach and achieve your goals by offering choice and control.
A great NDIS Plan Manager will form part of your support network, offer you a personal, independent non-biased and responsive service.
Ask The Hard Questions For Your NDIS Management
If we were to offer any advice to anyone that is looking to engage in an NDIS Plan Management team to help them with their NDIS funding it would be to consider these questions about the NDIS Plan Manager;
- Are they registered with the National Disability Insurance Agency?
- Do they provide financial expertise?
- Do they offer transparency?
- What communication options do they offer?
- What is their take on choice and control?
- Do they have an understanding of disability?
Registered And Non Registered Plan Managers
Did you know that to be an NDIS Plan Manager they must be registered with the National Disability Insurance Agency?
A plan manager will receive funds from the NDIA and disburse funds on behalf of a particpant to providers of other services received. Plan management providers, except those in Western Australia, are required to be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commiussion (external) (NDIS Commission).
To become registered, a provider must apply through the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and undergo and pass an audit on suitability to deliver specific services including business financial information and policies and procedures to meet the required NDIS standards. Once approved, registration is granted for three years, after which the provider can make an application for renewal of registration.
Canny Plan Management became a registered NDIS Plan Management provider in 2020.
Financial Expertise For Your NDIS Budgets
A financial expert is commonly known as someone with skills, experience or qualifications to educate others about financial topics such as savings or investment. When you add the National Disability Insurance Scheme into the running of trying to find someone with financial expertise and knowledge of the NDIS, you might find that a few contenders are no longer on your list. Rest assured, this is not a bad thing.
Your NDIS plan Manager or NDIS Plan Management team need to be able to provide you with expertise and advice to help and assist in using your allocated NDIS funding correctly and in line with the rules of the NDIS.
Canny Group as a whole has been providing financial expertise and advice for over 60 years.
Transparency For Managing Your Funding
Want to know what Canny Plan Management offers in terms of transparency?
We have our very own online platform that we can allocate our NDIS plan management clients and their support network access to, to find out at any time of the day or night, exactly where their NDIS funding is sitting with expenditure and balances, and copies of invoices received and processed. This is a separate platform from the NDIS MyPlace portal. The Canny Plan Management portal puts your mind at ease knowing that we are doing what we say we are doing.
As hard as it may be, we’re not afraid to have ‘the hard conversations’ when it comes to our NDIS Plan Management clients and their budgets. We want to make sure that our clients know that we are going in to bat for them when others may not. We will query invoices that don’t align with their schedule of supports and we raise issues quickly and promptly when budget funding is starting to cause concern so we have a game plan in place before it’s too late.
Communication To Manage Your Plan
What is your preferred way of communication?
Is it to be face to face with your allocated NDIS Plan Management team? Would you like your service agreement in a bigger text font to help you with your vision impairment? Do you prefer text messages over phone calls or vice versa?
It is important that your preferred way to communicate with your NDIS Plan Manager or NDIS Plan Management team is done in a way that you are comfortable with and they can accommodate your wants and needs. As an NDIS Participant, you should be left feeling relaxed and should be able to communicate via your preferred channels, easily. Ask the question of the NDIS Plan Manager you are looking at engaging with to ensure that you will have seamless communication channels.
Canny Plan Management is committed to communicating and providing information in preferred formats.
Choice and Control for your NDIS Funds
Under the NDIS, ‘choice and control’ is a term used to give partipants power over the pursuit of personal goals, and the planning, engagement and delivery of supports. This means, you have ‘choice and control’ over where, when and by whom the supports and services you need are provided.
A great NDIS Plan Manager or NDIS Plan Management team, like Canny Plan Management, will give you the flexibility of choice and control in who you choose to provide and deliver your support services.
Understanding Disability + Helping To Choose A Plan Manager, Like Canny Plan Management
Canny Plan Management are real people from real walks of life.
Our team have experience and expertise in the disability sector. We care about you and helping you achieve your goals and aspirations. Trust, expertise and understanding are what you want to be looking for when you start on your journey to find an NDIS Plan Manager who is going to work with you.
Canny Plan Management offers a personal NDIS Plan Manager dedicated to helping you understand and manage your NDIS plan. Get in touch with our team to have a chat and ask us the questions that you have to see if we will be a good fit to form part of your support network.
