National Disability Insurance Service (NDIS) is a comprehensive facility offered by the Government of Australia for their citizen with disability to live independently and avail equal opportunity to different kinds of services in the community. NDIS will facilitate the support coordination services to the participants to achieve their daily needs and goals through their registered providers. Plan Management Services are disability services offered by different providers to assist and support participants to manage NDIS funding. It provides financial administration of a plan and capacity building supports of NDIS through managing and monitoring participant’s budget, handle the claims and disbursal of services availed from registered and non registered services providers. The management of funding in a participant’s plan can be through variety of their choices. If a participant prefers the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to manage the funds; it acts on behalf of a participant and pay the registered service providers directly. There is an option to choose a plan provider, if so, the plan management provider will assist a participant with management of NDIS plan funds, they can purchase supports on behalf of participant from registered and non-registered providers. The plan management provider receives funds from NDIA and disburses the claim to the other services provider on behalf of participant. Overall the participant can manage the fund without choosing any services providers, the NDIS will reimburse a participant or their plan nominee directly for their NDIS supports received.

The Plan Management service providers (except in Western Australia) need to register with NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission). The commission will regulates the services providers in serving quality services, resolving issues and improvement of the support services and responsible for provider registration. The participant chooses non-registered services providers and they deliver services against NDIS plan funding has to adhere the norms laid by the NDIS commission and comply with the NDIS code of conduct.

The participant can choose to get their funded supports managed by a plan management provider at their NDIS planning meeting and thus separate funding to pay for the services of plan manager will get included in the participant’s plan. ‘Aastha’ – a NDIS support coordination services provider in Perth, Western Australia, is offering various disability services and supports including disability mental health care and psycho social recovery services to the participants to meet their preferences and needs in the community. Even though ‘Aastha’ will not provides the plan management activities but will connect suitable plan management providers with the choice and control of the participant