Getting your NDIS Plan started

Ok, so you went though the pre planning process (with the help of our resource on NDIS Pre Planning of course) and your plan has just arrived in the mail. Now what?

This resource aims to help you find out what happens next (literally) and to help you get your plan into action.

Your next steps are:

1. Your plan is approved

2. Read and understand your plan

3. Connect with the person who will help you start your plan: plan handover meeting

4. Getting ready for your planning handover meeting

5. Accessing the Participant Portal

6. Finding Suppliers and Services

7. Managing and Paying for Supports

Your plan is approved

Once your plan has been approved, it will be posted to you, the new participant, and a copy will be available online in the Participant Portal. 

Read and understand your plan

Read through your plan carefully and understand the support budgets you have received. Make a note of any parts you don't understand so you can ask your NDIS support person.

You can of course check our MyCareSpace resource on Understanding your NDIS Plan.

Connect with the person who will help you start your plan: plan handover meeting

You can start your plan by yourself if you are self-managed or with the support of a Local Area Coordinator, Support Coordinator or an Early Childhood Partner. Some people may also have a Support Coordinator funded in their plan to help them get started.

The NDIS will contact you to set up a time for a plan handover meeting. This may be in person or over the phone depending on your preference and the level of support you need to implement your plan. 

For Participants over 6 years of age you will be contacted by a:

• Local Area Coordinator (LAC) or
• Support Coordinator* (if your plan includes support coordination)

If the participant is 0 -7 years old, you will be contacted by:

• an Early Childhood Partner (previously referred to as Access Partners)

All of these support people will:

• help you understand your plan 
• help you choose and connect with service providers (incl helping you set up service agreements)
• help you explore and link with community and mainstream services
• show you how to register for the myGov website and link to the NDIS Participant Portal myplace 
• show you how to navigate and check you details on myplace 
• become your NDIS contact person to discuss any questions about your plan. 

Getting ready for your hand over meeting

Some things to think about before your meeting are:

• Your current supports. Do you have existing providers that you would like to stay with or would you prefer to find new service providers?

• Service providers in your area. Are there any providers that you already know about? You can ask family or friends about their experiences with local providers. Using online directories like MyCareSpace will help you find new service providers in your area.

• What things are working well for you now? 

• What are the areas of your life or services that you would like your Support Coordinator to focus on helping you with?

• The activities you are currently doing in your community. Would you like help to find social or community based groups or activities to participate in? 

• Would you like help to investigate education, training or employment options?

• Have you thought about developing your self-advocacy skills? The NDIS can help you link with training or peer support groups in your area. 

Accessing the Participant Portal (myPlace)

myPlace is a secure website for participants or their nominee to view their NDIS plan, request payments and manage services with providers.

NDIS participants will need a myGov account to access their plan on myPlace. During your planning handover meeting your support person will help you set this up.

If you are self managed, you can set this up yourself. Visit the myGov 'how to' doc to help you do this.

Once you have a myGov account, you will be able to login to myPlace for the first time using:

• your myGov account details and
• an activation code that is sent to you from the NDIS.

Once your NDIS Plan has been approved a letter confirming your Activation Code will be sent via your preferred method of correspondence. This code will expire after 10 days. You can contact the agency on 1800 800 110 to obtain a new Activation Code if required.

A Nominee can be appointed where requested by a Participant, or as necessary. A Plan Nominee can undertake all activities that a Participant would using myplace. a Child Representative can undertake all activities in myplace on behalf of the Participant.

Both Nominees and Child Representatives must access myplace through their own MyGov account.

Finding suppliers and services

In some instances you may already have suppliers and services that you used prior to your NDIS plan being approved. You will now need the help of your LAC or support coordinator to set up services agreements with them.

If they are not NDIS registered you will only be able to continue using them if you are self managed or plan managed.

In most instances you can change the support items you purchase to other support items within the same support category. Remember each support category links to a budget.

Managing and paying for my supports 

During your planning meeting you will have been able to choose how you wanted to manage the support budgets in your plan. Now that you have your plan in hand, how you manage your payments will depend on this.

1. Self managed budgets 
   You can select your preferred supports and service providers and then submit a Payment Request to the NDIS who will pay you directly. 

2. Agency managed budgets 
   The NDIS will pay your support provider directly.

3. Plan managed budgets 
   Your Plan managers will pay your provider directly for these supports. 

4. Automated transport payments 
   For a transport budget, the NDIS will deposit automated payments directly into your nominated bank account (weekly, fortnightly or monthly). 

* Support coordination is a capacity building support to implement all supports in a participant’s plan, including informal, mainstream, community and funded supports. 
** A Service Agreement is an agreement between a Participant and a Provider. It sets out the expectations for which service types will be delivered, and these agreements do not appear in the myplace portal.