Making changes to your NDIS plan

There are different types of NDIS plan reviews:

• Annual or scheduled plan reviews
• Reviews of plans that you request
• Change of circumstances

 

Making It Easier To Change Your Plan

All the different language around changes to your NDIS Plan used to be a bit confusing. There were ‘Plan reviews’, ‘Scheduled and Unscheduled Plan reviews’, Change of Circumstances reviews’, ‘S48 reviews’, ‘Light touch reviews’, ‘S100 reviews’ and ‘Reviews of reviewable decisions’ It could often get confusing.

This has now been made a bit clearer by simply calling things;

• Plan reassessments
• Plan variations, and
• Internal reviews of a decision

You still have the same rights and abilities to ask and discuss the supports you want and need in your NDIS Plan. They have hopefully just made it easier and clearer to talk to them about making changes to  your plan.

There are more explanations and questions answered and the options available to you about Changing your plan on the NDIS Our Guidelines website here.

Plan Reassessments
These are what we used to know as full Plan reviews. They would happen at the end of your Plan to make a new one, or if you requested a review of your Plan, or you had a change of your circumstances that affected your need for supports.

• You can ask for a reassessment at any time.
• When they do a plan reassessment, they can decide to create a new plan or vary the current plan, depending on your situation.

If your plan isn’t working for you, or you’ve had a change in your circumstances, you might need a plan reassessment.

You can read more information about Plan Reassessments and why you may need one on this page here

If you need a Plan reassessment, you have to be prepared for it, think about all your needs and questions, and have all your information ready. Find out how to prepare for a Plan reassessment here.

Find out more information about what to expect in your Plan reassessment meeting here.

Get in touch with your LAC or the NDIS if your plan is nearing its end date and you haven’t heard from them. They are meant to get in touch with you at least 6 weeks before your plan end date, but this does not always happen. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from them, because if your plan reaches its end date and you haven’t heard from them, or your new plan hasn’t been finalised, your current plan will be automatically extended for up to 12 months. This is so you don’t have any gaps in funding for your supports.
There is more information about Plan end dates on this page here.

Always get in touch with your LAC or the NDIS as soon as possible if you have questions or concerns about your NDIS plan or the funding in it.

Plan Variations
These are what we used to know as ‘Light touch’ plan reviews. This also includes what were called Plan extensions, rollovers or continuation.

• You can ask for a variation at any time
• The NDIS can vary your plan, depending on what is needed, without doing a full reassessment

Get in touch with your LAC or the NDIS if you need minor changes to your plan, but don’t need a full plan reassessment

You can read more details about Plan variations on the NDIS website here.

There is more information about and questions answered and the options available to you about Plan variations and Plan reassessments on the NDIS Our Guidelines page here.

For more information about the planning process  you can also visit the NDIS website.

Access to your information

You have the right to request access to your personal information that the NDIS has on file about you. You can request information about your access to the NDIS or your NDIS plan or plan reassessment.

For example, if your Access Request to join the NDIS was denied, you can find out why by asking for your:

• Access Request Form (ARF)
• Evidence of Disability (EOD)
• Supporting Evidence Form (SEF)
• Access Decision
• reasons for your Access Decision.

 

Or maybe you want information about your plan reassessments or decisions the NDIS have made with your plan, you can ask them for:

• your approved plan
• information collected at your planning meeting
• assessments and other information collected in support of your plan or plan reassessment
• reasons for your plan or plan reassessment decision.

This type of information may help you if you request an Internal review of an NDIS decision because you are not happy with it. More on that below under the next heading.

You can find more information about your Participant information access on this page here.

 

Internal Review of a Decision

If you are not happy with your NDIS plan, or think that a decision the NDIA has made about you is wrong, you can ask for an internal review to have that decision checked.

By law, they have to look at the facts and circumstances of their decision and check if it was right

There is more information and details about reviews of decisions about your NDIS plan, and the options available to you, on the Request a review of a decision page here.

There is more information and details about reviewing decisions about your NDIS plan, and the options available to you, on the NDIS Our Guidelines page here.

You can find a list of the decisions they can review and more information about them here.

We will discuss this in more detail, and what to do if you are not happy with this review, in Topic 4 - Safeguarding your Success.
 

If Things Change in Your Life

You need to tell the NDIA if things change in your life that may affect your support needs.

These changes could include:

• Changing where you live
• Significant changes with your family and informal supports
• Changing jobs
• Accidents or illness that affect your support needs

If there are important changes like these that affect your needs or the supports in your plan, you need to contact your LAC or the NDIS as soon as possible to let them know. You will need a Plan variation or a Plan reassessment so you can continue to have access to the most suitable amount and types of support for your situation. You can read more about what to do in a change of circumstances here.​​​​

 

Congratulations on completing Topic 3! You have learnt about:

• Available supports
• The options to manage your plan 
• How to maximise your choice and control under the NDIS system

 

You were also given tips on how to manage your support team and prepare for your next NDIS plan review. There’s been quite a lot to think about in this workshop!

 

Write down any other notes or things you want to remember or research more here.

Topic 4 is up next and it’s all about building your capacity and what to do if things don’t go to plan! See you there!

Click below to move on when you are ready…