What Is A Plan-Managed NDIS Plan?

A plan-managed NDIS plan means your plan includes funding for a plan manager to handle the financial side of your supports. A plan manager pays providers for you, helps you keep track of your funding, and manages financial reporting.

At Careseekers, plan management can be a strong fit for people who want more choice over who supports them, but do not want to manage invoices and payments themselves.

The short answer

If you are plan-managed, you still have strong choice and flexibility.

In practice, that usually means you can:

• choose your own support worker
• use registered or unregistered providers
• have your plan manager pay approved invoices for you

The main difference from self-management is that NDIS pricing arrangements and price limits apply where relevant for plan-managed supports.

What does plan-managed mean?

With plan management, the NDIA includes funding in your plan to pay for a plan manager.

Your plan manager helps with:

• paying providers
• tracking your funding
• handling financial reporting

That gives you more support with the admin side of your plan, while still keeping a high level of choice over who provides your support. 

How is plan-managed different from self-managed?

Both options give you flexibility, but they are not the same.

With self-management, you manage your own funding, pay providers yourself, and have the most pricing flexibility.

With plan management, your plan manager handles the payments and reporting for you, but pricing rules apply where relevant.

For many participants, plan management feels like a good middle ground:

• more choice than NDIA-managed funding

• less admin than self-management

   

Can plan-managed participants choose their own support worker?

Yes.

If you are plan-managed, you can still choose your own support worker through Careseekers. Plan-managed participants can use registered or unregistered providers, which means you still have direct choice over the person providing your support.

Through Careseekers, that means you can:

• browse worker profiles
• compare experience and qualifications
• speak directly with workers
• choose the worker who feels right for you

Can plan-managed participants negotiate rates?

Yes, but with an important limit.

You can speak directly with workers on Careseekers and agree on a rate, but for plan-managed supports the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits still apply where relevant. That means there is still room for direct discussion, but the final rate needs to fit within the relevant pricing rules.

How do payments work?

If you are plan-managed, your plan manager usually pays approved invoices using your NDIS funding.

Through Careseekers, once the worker’s hours are approved, the invoice can be forwarded to a third party such as your plan manager for payment. Once payment reaches us, we transfer it to the worker.