Frequently Asked Questions
General NDIS FAQs
Yes, definitely, we encourage you to start planning before your meeting. Mercy Homecare can assist you in the pre-planning meeting. We can support you in; understanding the NDIS, about your eligibility, identify your goals and help you apply for access to the NDIS.
Yes, our dedicated team has over 40 years of combined experience. We’ve been involved in the sector since the rollout of the NDIS in Australia and have been involved ever since.
There are three ways to manage the funds in your NDIS plan:
NDIA Managed
This is where the NDIA manages the funds in your plan.
Plan Managed
This is where you hire a Plan Manager who manages the funds in your plan. They have the responsibility to pay your NDIS related invoices on your behalf.
Self-Managed
This is where you manage the funds in your plan by using the Participant Portal to pay invoices related to your plan.
You don’t have to choose only one of these options. You can use whatever option that suits the goals in the plan.
Yes, the NDIS is all about choice and control. So that means you can invite family members to be included in the planning process.
There are many ways to find your next service provider. The first and most reliable way of finding the right provider is by contacting your Local Area Coordinator. You can also find providers online by searching for keywords in search engines like Google.
Support/Funding FAQs
Your NDIS plan will feature a range of supports which are there to help you reach the goals specified in your plan. These supports can come from:
- Family and friends – also known as informal supports
- Services and community groups
- NDIS reasonable and necessary funded supports
Reasonable and necessary supports are those funded by the NDIS, which will help participants to:
- pursue their goals, objectives and aspirations
- increase their independence
- increase social and economic participation, and
- develop their capacity to actively take part in the community
In order to be considered a support which is reasonable and necessary, it must:
- be related to the participant’s disability
- not include day-to-day living costs that are not related to a participant’s disability support needs
- represent value for money
- be likely to be effective and beneficial to the participant, and
- take into account informal supports given to participants by families, carers, networks, and the community
Daily Living includes four different support categories:
- Assistance with daily life,
- Transport,
- Consumables and;
- Assistance with social and community participation .
In an NDIS plan, your funding under Daily Living will refer to two or more of these support categories.
This support category exists to assist and/or supervise personal tasks of daily life to enable you to live as independently as possible. This may include:
- personal care
- household tasks
- cleaning
- laundry
- meal preparation/delivery
- gardening
- travel and transport
This also includes assistance for people living in a shared environment.
Travel and Transport supports are funds that enable you to access the community and travel for educational, recreational and work purposes. This can include:
- public transport
- taxis
- other transport costs
These funds are generally received fortnightly.
Consumable funds are to help purchase everyday use items. This can include:
- continence products
- Home Enteral Nutrition (HEN) products
- interpreting
- translating
These funds are to enable a participant to engage community/social or recreational activities. This may include the provision of care as well as activity costs. Activities can include:
- camps
- vacation
- outside school hours’ care
- course or membership fees
This can also include funding to document the process and expected outcomes
Unlike other NDIS funding, services that are listed as Stated Supports are not flexible. This means funding has been allocated for a specific support or service, and you can’t use this funding for something else. You cannot swap ‘stated supports’ for any other supports.
If there are supports in your plan that are listed as ‘in-kind’, it means the service has already been paid for by your state, territory or the Australian government. You must use this provider as they have already received payment and will provide all services that are booked. This means you cannot choose a provider for that service, however if you have a concern about using a specific in-kind provider, you are encouraged to raise your concerns with your ECEI Coordinator, LAC or NDIA planner.
As the NDIS roll out continues across Australia, it is expected that in-kind supports will be phased out and you will have choice and control over the providers you use.
