Protecting Your Privacy as an NDIS Participant
How much information should service providers have about NDIS Participants?
NDIS Providers do NOT have the right to see your / your child’s NDIS Plan.
Your NDIS Plan is private, and belongs to YOU. You have the right to decide who sees your plan, and how much information they have about you.
If your funding is:
Self-Managed
Your providers will need to know:
- That you will pay their invoices.
- You are not required to advise providers that you are an NDIS Participant if your funding is Self-Managed.
- However, NDIS will expect Progress Reports from your Capacity Building support providers explaining how they are supporting you to achieve your goals. So it’s a good idea to tell your Capacity Building supports:
- Your NDIS Plan Goals.
- The end date of your NDIS Plan. This is so that they can write their Progress Report for End of Plan Reassessment.
Your provider does not need to know:
- Your NDIS Participant number.
- The total amount of funding in your NDIS Plan.
- The total amount of funding in each support category of your NDIS Plan.
- Service Agreements are not required. You can choose to negotiate a Service Agreement with your providers, and sign one.
Most NDIS Registered Providers will only agree to support participants with a Service Agreement in place.
Plan Managed
Providers will need to know:
- Your NDIS Plan is Plan Managed.
- The start date and end date of your NDIS Plan.
- How much funding you want to spend with that provider, and which category the funding is in.
Your provider does not need to know:
- Your NDIS Participant number
- The total amount of funding in your NDIS Plan.
- The total amount of funding in each support category of your NDIS Plan.
Service Agreements are not required. You can choose to negotiate a Service Agreement with your providers, and sign one. Most NDIS Registered Providers will only agree to support participants with a Service Agreement in place.
Your Plan Manager will need to know:
- Your NDIS Participant number.
- The start and end date of your NDIS Plan.
- The Goals in your NDIS Plan.
- The total amount of funding in your NDIS Plan.
- What support categories the funding is in, and how much funding is in each category.
- A Service Agreement is required, and the Plan Manager will do a Service Booking for all Plan Managed funds in the Plan.
(Note: You can choose to provide a full copy of your NDIS Plan to your Plan Manager)
NDIA (Agency) Managed
Your providers will need to know:
- Your NDIS number.
- The start date and end date of your NDIS Plan.
- How much funding you want to spend with that provider, and which category the funding is in.
- Service providers providing Capacity Building (CB) supports will need to know the Goals in your NDIS Plan. This is because they will need to write Progress Reports for NDIS about how your support is helping you work toward achieving your Goals.
- You will need a Service Agreement with each provider you use.
- Each provider you use will set up a service booking for the funding you have agreed to spend with them.
Your provider does not need to know:
- The total amount of funding in your NDIS Plan.
- The total amount of funding in each support category of your NDIS Plan.
If you have a Support Coordinator, you can choose to share your full NDIS Plan with them, or choose to share part of your NDIS Plan with them. Part of the role of your Support Coordinator is to help you understand your NDIS Plan, find supports, and use your Plan to support your needs.
If a service provider is pressuring you to give them more information than they have the right to know, you can lodge a complaint with NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission at https://www.ndiscommission.gov.au/about/making-complaint.
YOU are in control. You have the right to decide how much information your service providers have about you.