Preparing for an NDIS Review

As your plan comes to an end, expect to be contacted by your NDIA planner, Support Coordinator or Local Area Coordinator (LAC) to schedule a time to review your NDIS plan and set goals for the period ahead.

This meeting is an opportunity for you to decide how your NDIS plan helps you, and to make the adjustments needed to make the year ahead one of personal progress for you.

The meeting will cover:

• the things you like and dislike about your plan,
• what progress you’re making toward your goals,
• how your needs or circumstances may have changed in the last year.

The idea of a plan review meeting can seem intimidating, but it’s the perfect chance for you to modify your plan into something that works for your needs as they change. With our help and some preparation, you can confidently head into plan review with everything you need, and hopefully leave knowing you’ve derived maximum benefit from this meeting.

12 weeks until the end of your plan.

Time to get organised.

It’s never too early to start thinking about plan review. As early as 12 weeks before your plan ends, have a look through your budgets and balances.

Consider your Budgets: 

Avoid underspending

When you come in under budget for supports that you rely on and the NDIS looks at this during your plan review, they may decide the allocated funds in the previous plan were too much and therefore reduce your budgets in your following plan.

If there are funds remaining in any of your support categories that you have not already allocated to your providers, we can help you go through your options of services or supplies that may help you achieve your goals. Given our knowledge of the NDIS and our ability to understand your plan in particular, we can make general recommendations on how to best maximise the supports and services available to you within the limits of your NDIS plan, as long as they are deemed ‘reasonable and necessary’.    

Some examples of this might be making modifications to home or transport, accessing a support worker to assist you in accessing the community through various activities like going to the movies or to a football game, or engaging in capacity-building services, like Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy or Speech Pathology if it falls in line with your goals.

Avoid overspending

Think of your NDIS funding like you would your own bank account: before you shop or make significant purchases, you likely consider whether or not this is something you’re financially able to afford. Most overspending within the NDIS usually occurs when participants don’t have the tools to understand their plan budget, and consequently agree to engage services without considering or being familiar with their available funding.

Another key thing to consider is that providers send invoices at different times. Not everyone is as expedient as the next, and providers who take longer to send through their invoices can have an impact on your budget. It’s for these reasons that understanding your budget and having the resources to guide you in areas that can be confusing are important.

The best way to avoid overspending is to regularly check in on your budgets and balances, and see if you’re on track. Luckily, we provide all of the tools and resources to assist and prevent overspending. Our Blitzit Online Portal makes it easy for you to see if you’re remaining within your budget. Our Blitzit App even comes with a traffic light system, which sends you a notification to check your budgets, especially if your current rate of spending runs you the risk of overspending.

You’ll be advised to reassess your services engaged, which you’ll then have to talk to your service provider about or consider lower cost alternatives, should your current service provider be unable to accommodate your situation. If any of these next steps are confusing or if you feel you need more guidance, feel free to get in touch with us and we’re more than happy to assist!