Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown

Guidance in this document is not approved for use unless you view it in PACE.

This article provides guidance for an early childhood partner, local area coordinator, planner delegate, participant support officer and National Contact Centre staff to:

understand the plan conversation support tool (PCST)
understand the budget breakdown
action a budget breakdown request
understand what to do when there’s no budget breakdown attached
understand when there’s a variation between the total amount in the budget breakdown and the approved plan
locate and send the budget breakdown
complete the NDIS budget breakdown letter
send the budget breakdown and letter.

Recent updates

14 October 2024

New knowledge article to action a request from a participant or their authorised representative for a budget breakdown.

Before you start

You have:

received a request from a participant, nominee, child representative or authorised representative, for more information on the participant’s total budget amount Note: This applies only to new and reassessed plans approved from the 03 October 2024

V1.0 2024-10-14 Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown - 473023084 Page 1 of 9 This document is uncontrolled when printed

Knowledge Article

For Internal Use Only

read and understood article Understand and update the plan conversation support tool.

Understand the plan conversation support tool (PCST)

The plan conversation support tool (PCST) is a mandatory tool delegates use to record NDIS supports that meet the NDIS funding criteria. Delegates must use the PCST and upload it to the participant’s case when completing new plans and plan reassessments. For more information about the PCST, go to article Generate and upload the budget breakdown.

Understand the budget breakdown

The PCST includes a budget breakdown. The budget breakdown is a summary of supports included in the PCST to develop a participant’s plan. It shows:

the total amount of funding in a component amount, for example, core supports
each support included in the component amount and how much these cost
ratios for how the support will be provided. This is how many other people the participant will share this support with
how much of the support the participant needs, including hours, items or equipment
how often the participant needs this support, including days, weeks, months and years.

The participant’s budget breakdown is a guide to show how we developed their total budget amount. It doesn’t mean they need to purchase their supports exactly in that way. They can go to their approved NDIS plan and plan comments to understand how to spend in accordance with their plan. If a participant would like more details about their total budget amount, they can ask us for a copy of their NDIS budget breakdown.

Action a budget breakdown request

When there’s a request for a budget breakdown, it needs to be actioned at the first point of contact where possible. Before you action the request, you’ll need to:

confirm the plan was approved on or after the 03 October 2024

V1.0 2024-10-14 Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown - 473023084 Page 2 of 9 This document is uncontrolled when printed OFFICIAL Page 23 of 132

Knowledge Article

For Internal Use Only

confirm if the participant or their authorised representative wants a digital copy through email or a hard copy through post
confirm the budget breakdown is available on the Person Account using section Locate the budget breakdown in this article.

If the budget breakdown is:

attached to a Person Account, follow the steps in section Send the budget breakdown and letter in this article Note: If there’s a variation between the total amount in the budget amount and the approved plan, go to section When there’s a variation between the total amount in the budget breakdown and the approved plan in this article.
not attached to a Person Account, follow the steps in section When there’s no budget breakdown attached to a case in this article.

When there’s no budget breakdown attached to a case

For Service Delivery staff

Speak to your team leader about how to progress the request to the planner delegate who was responsible for the plan approval and follow your local process. Note: If the plan was approved by a Higher Decision Delegate (HDD) you shouldn’t assign the request to them.

For Partner staff

Where there’s no budget breakdown attached to a participant’s record, Local Area Coordinator (LAC) and Early Childhood (EC) Partner need to create an Enquiry case for National Contact Centre (NCC) staff to action. Note: This only applies to plans that have been approved from 03 October 2024.

From the Person Account, select the Details tab.
Select Create Enquiry. A pop-up box will appear.

Who is making the request

At Requested By, from the drop-down list select who’s making the enquiry.
At Case Origin, select how the request for budget breakdown was received.
Select Next.

V1.0 2024-10-14 Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown - 473023084 Page 3 of 9 This document is uncontrolled when printed OFFICIAL Page 24 of 132

Knowledge Article

For Internal Use Only

Enquiry Details

At Date/Time Received, select the correct date and time the request was received.
At Enquiry Type, select Planning and Monitoring.
At Category, from the drop-down list select Funding.
At Sub Category, from the drop-down list select Funding Enquiry.
Select Next.

Duplicate Check

This screen will only appear if there’s an open enquiry case on the person account that has similar categorisation. You’ll need to review the Existing Case Number link to make sure you’re not duplicating an enquiry that already exists.

Risk Matrix

At Risk Matrix step, select Yes to see a list of risks and select all that apply. Otherwise, select No if there are no risks.
Select Next.

Notes and Next Steps

At Enquiry Notes, in the free text field provide a detailed explanation of the budget breakdown support request you’ve received. Note: You’ll also need to include what you’ve discussed with the participant or their authorised representative and if they would like the budget breakdown copy through email or post.
At Enquiry Outcome, select Re-assign this enquiry to another user.
At Case Re-assignment Reason, select Referral to other business area.
At Select User or Queue, from the drop-down list select Queue.
At Case Owner, select NCC Enquiry High Cost AT queue.
Select Next.

Review and Submit

At the Review and Submit step, review the information in the enquiry.
Select Submit.

Subject Line

Enter s33 Budget Summary Request in the subject line.

For National Contact Centre staff V1.0 2024-10-14 Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown - 473023084 Page 4 of 9 This document is uncontrolled when printed OFFICIAL Page 25 of 132

Knowledge Article

For Internal Use Only

Follow KNOWA Budget Breakdown Knowledge Article to create an Enquiry case and assign it to the relevant area.

When there’s a variation between the total amount in the budget breakdown and the approved plan

For Service delivery staff

Speak to your team leader about how to progress the request to the planner delegate who was responsible for the plan approval and follow your local process.

Note: If the plan was approved by a Higher Decision Delegate (HDD) you shouldn’t assign the request to them.

For Partner staff

Where there’s a variation that exceeds $5 more or less between the total amount in the budget breakdown and the approved plan, you’ll need to create an Enquiry case and assign it to NCC. Follow steps in section When there’s no budget breakdown attached to a case of this article to create an Enquiry Case.

For National Contact Centre staff

Follow KNOWA Budget Breakdown Knowledge Article to create an Enquiry case and assign it to the relevant area.

Locate the budget breakdown

To locate the budget breakdown, from the Person Account:

Select the Documents tab.
Find the budget breakdown document that aligns to the current plan approval date. Select the Document name. For example NDIS budget breakdown 12345678 25 November 2024.

Note: There may be multiple budget breakdown documents attached to the record. You may need to open these documents to determine if they match the approved budget.

Select Download and the document will appear in your computer’s Downloads folder.
You’ll need to confirm the total amount in the budget breakdown is the same as the approved plan.

If:

V1.0 2024-10-14 Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown - 473023084 Page 5 of 9 This document is uncontrolled when printed OFFICIAL Page 26 of 132

Knowledge Article

For Internal Use Only

The amounts are the same, go to step 5.
There’s a variation in the amount that exceeds $5 more or less, you’ll need to follow the steps in section When there’s a variation between the total amount in the budget breakdown and the approved plan in this article.

You’ll need to create a manual letter before you can send the budget breakdown to the participant or their authorised representative. Go to section Complete the NDIS budget breakdown letter in this article.

Complete the NDIS budget breakdown letter

Check the participant record for who to send the letter to. This may be the participant, child representative, nominee or authorised representative.
From article Send a manual letter, open the relevant letter, either Letter – NDIS budget breakdown for participant or Letter – NDIS budget breakdown for nominee.
Add the recipient’s personal details and address to the letter.
Check all fields and angled brackets are correct.
Complete the signature block.
Once all fields are complete, save the letter as a PDF using the following format: Recipient surname, Recipient first name, NDIS number, Letter Type, Date. For example, Jones Ruby 88888888 NDIS Budget breakdown for participant, 2024-Oct-07.
Upload a copy of the letter to the Person account in PACE. This will make sure we have a record that it was sent. Go to section Upload a manual letter to a case in article Send a manual letter.

Note: Make sure you delete the file from your local device after you have added it to the person record.

Send the budget breakdown and letter

You’ll now need to send the budget breakdown and the letter through an email, go to section Email the budget breakdown and letter in this article.

If you need to post the budget breakdown and the letter, go to section Post the budget breakdown and letter in this article.

Email the budget breakdown and letter

V1.0 2024-10-14 Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown - 473023084 Page 6 of 9 This document is uncontrolled when printed OFFICIAL Page 27 of 132

Knowledge Article

For Internal Use Only

All emails to applicants, participants, authorised representatives or providers, must be sent via PACE instead of Outlook. Don’t send emails from your personal Outlook email address or a partner organisation email address.

From the case view, go to the Activity panel on the right of the screen. Select the Send Email tab. Note: If you can’t access the Activity panel in a case, please create an Enquiry case. Go to article Create an enquiry case.
In the From field, select xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx from the drop-down list. Note: Don’t use your personal NDIS email address or a partner organisation email address.
Enter the email addresses for all recipients in the To field. You can also select the Cc button to add addresses to the Cc field.
Remove any personal addresses from the Bcc field by selecting the X.
Select OFFICIAL in Sensitivity Label Category. For more information on choosing the right classification, go to Information Security intranet page.
Enter a Subject and complete the content of your email.
Attach the budget breakdown and the letter by selecting Attach file (paperclip), select the letter and select Open. Note: While selecting the Attach file button is preferred, you can also drag and drop the files into the body of the email to attach documents.
Select Send.

Note: Make sure you delete the file from your local device after you’ve completed the process.

Post the budget breakdown and letter

You’ll only need to print and send a hard copy of the budget breakdown and the NDIS budget breakdown letter if the participant:

has requested a hard copy to be posted to their address or
doesn’t have an email address.

Open the PDF file.
Select Print this file. A Print pop-up box will appear.
At Printer, use the drop-down list to select the printer you want to use.
Select Print.

V1.0 2024-10-14 Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown - 473023084 Page 7 of 9 This document is uncontrolled when printed OFFICIAL Page 28 of 132

Knowledge Article

For Internal Use Only

When you have a hard copy of the budget breakdown summary and the NDIS budget breakdown letter use your local process to post them to the participant or authorised representative’s address.

Note: NCC staff should follow their usual processes for assigning a manual letter request to the network support team. Attach both documents and send an email to 47E(d) - Certain operations of agencies with the relevant email template.

Article labels

PACE user role names

Add:

dc_users_earlychildhoodpartner
dc_users_localareacoordinator
dc_users_nationalcontactcentre
dc_users_participantsupportofficer
dc_users_plannerdelegate

Topics

Add:

t_createaplan
t_planchanges
t_planmanagement
t_reasonableandnecessary
t_reviewingdecisions

Case names

Add:

dc_case_enquiry
dc_case_planapproval
dc_case_planchange

Ownership

V1.0 2024-10-14 Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown - 473023084 Page 8 of 9 This document is uncontrolled when printed OFFICIAL Page 29 of 132

Knowledge Article

For Internal Use Only Add:

own_sgplanchangesandconnections

Version control

Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
0.1	JS0082	New article.	DRAFT	2024-10-03
0.2	SGH107	Article taken over by SGH107 to make amendments.	DRAFT	2024-10-03
0.3	DCM308	Peer review	DRAFT	2024-10-08
0.4	SGH107	Action peer review feedback	DRAFT	2024-10-08
0.5	AT0022	EL2 review	DRAFT	2024-10-09
0.6	SGH107	BIL review Transfer BIL feedback	DRAFT	2024-10-10
0.7	SGH107	Action BIL feedback	DRAFT	2024-10-10
0.8	SDO001	EL1 endorsement	DRAFT	2024-10-10
0.9	AT0022	EL2 endorsement	DRAFT	2024-10-14
1.0	CS0074	Class 3 Approval New knowledge article to action a request from the participant or their authorised representative for a budget breakdown.	APPROVED	2024-10-14

V1.0 2024-10-14 Receive and action a request for a budget breakdown - 473023084 Page 9 of 9 This document is uncontrolled when printed