Consider your plan review as an opportunity to see which of your supports and services are helping you to achieve your goals. Your NDIS plan and funding are there to help your goals become a reality, so it’s important that they continue to work for you and are adjusted as necessary when your goals, priorities and life begin to change.

Decide what you need from your plan

When deciding on what you need from your future plan, it helps to consider the following questions:

• What worked well in your plan?
• What are the supports you have that you wish to continue?
• Have you achieved your goals or made progress towards achieving them?
• Are you currently using any assistive technology that is ageing, needs replacement or is no longer suitable?
• What didn’t work well for you?
• Are there areas of support that you feel were not met and that you need more help with, especially in terms of achieving your more long-term goals?
• Are there any supports that were allocated but you didn’t end up using?
• Are there supports you would like to receive that were not allocated in your current plan?
• Were there any other issues with this plan that should be addressed and resolved in your next plan?
• Which goals you need to continue to work on and which goals you need to change?

Please bear in mind that you do not need to pick new goals at each plan review, but your plan, supports and services should help you make progress and achieve your long-term goals.

Now that you’ve made progress as far as your goals are concerned, have your goals changed?

• Do you any have new goals in mind?
• Who can help you achieve your goals?
• Considering your existing and future goals, what supports and/or services will assist you?
• Would you like to change how all or some of your plan funding is managed?
• Did you run out of funds for any of your support categories?
• Will you need NDIS support in the future?

Build your own plan

Allow yourself to take control by letting your coordinator know exactly what you need, as well as how and where you wish to spend your NDIS-allocated funds. And now that you’ve assessed what your plan has done for you and what you need from your next one, build your own prospective plan and budget to take along with you to your plan review meeting.

In each plan period, we send through the total budget NDIS allocated for each support category and balances for the services that are plan managed, along with the total amounts that you have spent with each provider. This information will be extremely helpful in preparing for your future funding request.

Gather reports and quotes

Reports are important as they give your planner a detailed understanding of the disability support you require, so use this time wisely and gather the reports and quotes from your various service providers on the services and supports you need.

For example, if you think you’ll need a new wheelchair within the next year, talk to an occupational therapist to discuss what you need, gather a report, then get a quote for the particular wheelchair you’re after. Gather reports on the services from the appropriate support provider. Remember that reports can take time to write and will incur an additional charge from your service provider, who will advise you on the fee. (Make sure you allocate funding in your current plan to cover any report writing!)

This would also be a fantastic time to begin requesting progress reports from therapists or health professionals. Compile all this information together in a folder to make it easier to pass on all information relevant to your plan and goals to your support coordinator, LAC, or planner. Prepare a brief overview as a cover page for the NDIS planner – short, easy-to-read dot points are best. Include your disability, the support and service, as well as the total amount you have requested for each service and attach your quotes and reports.

Questions? The Blitzit Team are available to answer your questions - Reach out to one of our knowledgeable staff anytime on 1300 966 119, email hello@blitzit.com.au or use the chat box on our website.