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In recent years, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has provided an opportunity for businesses to help and support people with disabilities, along with their families and carers.
However, to become a part of this scheme, businesses must understand what type of service they wish to provide. So, you can provide NDIS services as either:
- An NDIS Service Provider
- An NDIS Plan Manager
- NDIS Contractor
If you wish to learn more about what legal documents you’ll need as an NDIS Service Provider, we’ve put together this guide to help you get started.
In this article, however, we’ll shift our focus onto NDIS Plan Managers and what you’ll need to hit the ground running.
What Is An NDIS Plan Manager?
While service providers directly provide the NDIS services to participants, NDIS Plan Managers effectively act as a middleman between service providers and participants to assist in managing their plan. For instance, plan managers may assist in paying invoices to service providers on behalf of the participants.
What NDIS Documents Do I Need?
Since the NDIS is heavily regulated, you want to make sure you’re compliant with all the rules. NDIS Plan Managers must be registered with the NDIS to provide their services. And, just like any business, you need a contract with your clients.
NDIS Plan Management Service Agreement
Our NDIS lawyers can help you draft an NDIS Plan Management Service Agreement that is tailored to your business’ specific requirements. This agreement generally covers the following:
- Limitation of liability: your business can limit matters that you are legally responsible for (e.g. things that are out of your control)
- Payment details: you can secure your payments to ensure that you’re paid on time for the work you’ve completed
- Roles and responsibilities: set clear expectations with your clients, so both of you are on the same page
Get in touch with our team to learn more about our NDIS Plan Management Service Agreement package.
Do Privacy Laws Apply To My NDIS Business?
In addition to a strong Service Agreement, you’ll also need to have an NDIS Privacy Policy in place. Since the NDIS is under the health sector, health information that is being managed under the scheme will be treated extra carefully under the law.
This is because health information is considered to be highly sensitive personal information. As such, every business handling health information (including NDIS Plan Managers) need to have an NDIS Privacy Policy in place.
Accordingly, an NDIS Plan Manager should also have a consent form to complement this privacy policy.
Our NDIS lawyers can help you draft these documents according to your business’ specific requirements. Get in touch to learn more about your next steps and how you can protect your business.
What NDIS Laws Should I Look Out For?
Like we mentioned earlier, the NDIS is a highly regulated area. More specifically, it’s worth paying special attention to the regulations set out by the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission.
If you don’t comply with their rules, penalties may come your way!
Since NDIS businesses are dealing with sensitive information and people with disabilities in Australia, there are strict requirements around managing complaints and any incidents that occur. However, these in-house processes and systems will look different depending on the specific nature of your business’ services.
At Sprintlaw, our NDIS lawyers can help you with the following:
- NDIS Incident Management Policy
- NDIS Complaints Management and Resolution Policy
Key Takeaways
If you plan on becoming an NDIS Plan Manager, it’s important that you look into the relevant NDIS regulations that will apply to you and what legal documents you’ll need to protect your business moving forward.
Our NDIS lawyers are always happy to chat you through your next steps.
To summarise what we’ve discussed:
- NDIS Plan Managers are different to service providers in that they act as a middleman between an organisation providing NDIS services and the NDIS participants
- NDIS Plan Managers need key documents to get started and to comply with the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission’s requirements
- You’ll need an NDIS Plan Manager Service Agreement, NDIS Consent Form, NDIS Privacy Policy and key in–house systems to manage complaints and incidents.
If you would like a consultation on your options going forward as an NDIS Plan Manager, you can reach us at 1800 730 617 or team@sprintlaw.com.au for a free, no-obligations chat.
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