The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a national scheme that provides funding to eligible people with disabilities and connects them to services in their community, including counselling. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is responsible for implementing the NDIS and delivering it to Australians who have significant and permanent disabilities. There are common misconceptions around NDIS registration and who can provide counselling under the NDIS. This will hopefully help to clarify what is required and not required by the NDIA in order to provide your services to a client with a disability.
Unregistered NDIS providers
The NDIS Commission clearly states that if your client’s package is self-managed, then you are not required to be a registered NDIS provider to provide NDIS services to them in most cases. A self-managed plan is one that is not managed by the NDIA, where an NDIS participant or their plan nominee engages with NDIS support and services themselves. Additionally, they can choose a “plan managed plan” where they engage a registered NDIS provider to provide them with plan management services.
There are some exceptions, an NDIS participant whose plan is self-managed or plan managed has to use registered NDIS providers for these supports or services:
- Specialist disability accommodation
- Supports or services that need or likely need regulated restrictive practice to be used
- Specialist behaviour supports involving behaviour support assessment of the participant or the development of a behaviour support plan
NDIS Code of Conduct and provider obligations
Whether you are a registered or unregistered NDIS provider, you and your workers are still required to be compliant with the NDIS Code of Conduct. Self-managed participants and registered plan managers can make unregistered providers and their workers aware of their obligations under the Code. The Code of Conduct and guidelines for NDIS providers and workers to help them understand their obligations can be downloaded on the NDIS Commission’s website.
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