The festive season is here and with it comes fuller diaries, more social plans and a lot more getting around. From family catch ups to community events, it’s common to lean on your transport funding a little more at this time of year. To help you stay on track, we’ve put together a clear and practical guide to how transport funding works under the NDIS and how to use it with confidence over the holidays.
What is Transport funding?
Transport funding is a sub-category of Core funding, it’s used for supports that are solely used to get you from one location to another location. This might include examples such as a taxi, uber or public transport.
It’s important to know that they’re different from other supports (such as a Support Worker) who might transport you, but will also continue supporting you after you’ve reached the location.
The NDIS doesn't include Transport funding in everybody’s plan, so you’ll need to check your NDIS Plan to see if you have Transport funding.
If you’re interested to learn more about how the NDIS decides if you’re eligible for Transport funding, you can read more at NDIS | Transport funding
How is my Transport funding managed?
First, let’s find it in your plan
In your NDIS Plan, you would find this in one of two spots:
- Towards the start of the plan, along with the other Core funding types or
- Towards the end of your plan, under the Recurring Supports heading
Next, let’s find out how it’s managed
Once you’ve located the funding in your plan, the plan will confirm how that funding is managed:
- Self-Managed - the plan will either state that it’s self-managed, or it will use wording like ‘paid into your nominated bank account fortnightly’
- Plan-Managed
- NDIA-Managed / Agency-Managed - these both mean the same thing
What’s the difference between the management styles?
Self-Managed (allowed to use both NDIS-registered and unregistered providers)
This means that the NDIS will put money into your account every fortnight. You’ll need to contact NDIS directly to let them know your bank details. You may like this style if you’re happy to pay the provider and don’t want to handle any invoices or administration.
Plan-Managed (allowed to use both NDIS-registered and unregistered providers)
This means that your providers will need to send their invoice to your Plan Manager for payment. Alternatively, you might pay your provider and then ask your Plan Manager to reimburse you for it.
You might like this style if you’d like added flexibility in using your Core funding. Core is a flexible category, so as an example, you might not use much Transport, and this would allow you to use the funding across the other categories of Core.
NDIA-Managed / Agency-Managed (must use NDIS-registered providers)
This means that your provider will claim for their services with NDIS directly. You may like this style if you don’t want to handle invoices or administration, however, it’s not possible to use unregistered providers, so this may be a pain point for you
What if I want to change it?
If you’d like to change your Transport funding management style, you’ll need the NDIS to make the change for you. You can get support with this from your Support Coordinator.
If you don’t have a Support Coordinator, you can contact your LAC (Local Area Coordinator) instead. If you’re not sure of your LAC’s details, you can contact NDIS and request them.
If you have questions about your funding, book a FREE Guru Session and let one of our experts give you personalised help.
