Self Managing your NDIS plan gives you the flexibility and choice to decide what supports you buy to meet your NDIS plan goals. It lets you think creatively about how you can use your funds to best meet your needs.

If you self manage your plan you can use ANY service provider and pay ANY price so long as the purchases meets the Self Management Can I buy that? checklist

When asked what advice you would give someone who had just decided to Self Manage, this is what our community said:

Banking

• Open a separate bank account that doesn’t charge fees. 
• Your bank account should be in the name of the participant. 
• Consider a bank account that has a credit card attached which you can use to pay for services - make sure its one that you get frequent flyer points on!
• Find the best bank account with no fees here.

Engaging Service Providers

• Don't set up all your services to start at once, start withthey what you already have that is working and build from there. 
• You can engage someone you know as a support worker if they have an ABN.
• You can also employ a support worker yourself if your care budget is large.
• Check the NDIS page 8 checklist when deciding CAN I  BUY THAT?  

Budgeting

• Set up an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all your claims and upload each claim and supporting docs on the portal. That way the NDIS can see what you are claiming.
• At the beginning of your plan, if possible set aside 5-10% of your NDIS plan budgets as "emergency funds".
  This can be used through the year if a crisis or awesome opportunity arises that means you need extra support for a period (if it's an ongoing situation, be sure to ask for a "Change of Circumstances" review).

  You should otherwise have a buffer at the end of your plan in case you overspend a little, and you also have extra fund to use to stock up on consumables or low cost assistive technologies, or some extra support for trips out and about in that final month of your plan.

Paying Bills

• Make sure your invoices have the right info on them. Find out what's needed here.
• Set up a gmail account just for invoices, receipts etc that way it’s all together and not mixed in with your personal stuff. I wish I had done this!
• Relax and remind yourself that you have managed to pay bills and budget for all your needs up til now. This is no different, but if you make a mistake you can fill out a form or make a call and correct it. Enjoy.

Record Keeping

• You will need to be able to demonstrate that you've made decisions that follow the requirements of being reasonable and necessary.
• Keep all of your paperwork for five years: What records you need to keep
• Have a system in place: be organized and keep all paperwork.
• Always get a copy of the invoices from your provider - never have them 'just send to the Plan Manager'.
• Make separate folders in Gmail for each service providers' email/invoices.

Help with Self Managing

You don't have to do this alone, especially not to start off with.

• You can hire someone to help you (bookkeeper, admin assistant, accountant) or buy software/programs (MYOB, Excel etc) to assist in budgeting, paying workers or record keeping.
• Your CORE funding can be used to pay for these services. See extract from the Support Catalogue:

  01_134_0117_8_1   

  Self-Management Capacity Building

  $63.23/hr, $88.52/hr(remote), $94.85/hr (very remote)

Do you have a tip for someone starting at a Self Manager?

Add a comment below with your advice.