NDIA Accountability Project

Decide whether to vary the participant’s Notice

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FOI 24/25-1473 DOCUMENT 38 OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only The contents of this document are OFFICIAL. Decide whether to vary the participant’s Notice of impairments

Guidance in this document is not approved for use unless you view it in PACE. This article provides guidance for an access delegate to:

  • review the application
  • record your decision
  • send an automated letter
  • check disabilities tab
  • contact participant to advise outcome
  • record contact attempts.

Recent updates 17 March 2025 Guidance updated to:

  • Include the following wording changes in PACE:

    • ‘Update Impairment’ case to ‘Vary Impairment Categories’ case
    • ‘Update Impairment’ tab to ‘Update Impairment Categories’ tab
    • ‘New or Updated Impairments’ to ‘Update Impairment Category Requests’.
    • ‘Remove’ impairment category to ‘end’ impairment category

  • Include section ‘Complete decision correspondence’

  • Remove section ‘Send a manual letter’

  • Include additional resources to consider in section Before you start

  • Clarify how to change a decision outcome in section Record your decision

  • Explain the term impairments as listed in the Disabilities tab in section Check disabilities tab.

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OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only Before you start You have:

  • read Our Guideline – Applying to the NDIS (external), including sections What happens after we decide? (external) and How do we weigh evidence of disability? (external)
  • been allocated an Vary Impairment Categories case for decision.
  • read articles Impairment categories guide and Descriptions of impairment categories.

Review the application

  1. From the Vary Impairment Categories case, select the Request tab.

  2. Review the details of the application.

  3. Review Describe the Request. If the participant has requested specific categories, they will be listed here.

  4. Select the Update Impairment Categories tab.

    Note: Update Impairment Category Requests will list all categories not currently in the Notice of impairments. This is because you need to consider all categories and you can’t add any that aren’t part of the initial request in PACE. This is a temporary workaround for PACE.

  5. Review the participant’s categories of impairments under Current Impairment Categories.

    Note: as part of this decision, you’ll need to consider if any of the categories not listed as current need to be added. They should all be listed under Update Impairment Category Requests.

  6. Select the Evidence tab.

  7. Review all evidence. You’ll also need to review the evidence in the Documents tab of the Person Account.

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OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only 8. Review the Disabilities tab in the My Profile tab of the Person Account to consider what impairments met the requirements for disability, early intervention or both.

  1. Decide what impairments meet the requirements for disability, early intervention or both. Note: if you need to add or remove any impairments from the Disabilities tab, this will be completed in a later step.

  2. If you decide the participant no longer meets the requirements for either disability or early intervention, or both:

    • continue to finalise this Vary Impairment Categories case

    • make a decision to not vary the categories of impairments, then

    • refer the participant for an eligibility reassessment.

      If required, use article Complete an eligibility reassessment referral. Only use sections Create the Eligibility Reassessment case and Complete the eligibility reassessment referral. Note: you can create the eligibility reassessment referral, however an eligibility reassessment can’t commence until 14 months after the access initial decision.

  3. Use article Impairment categories guide to help you decide which categories apply for all eligible impairments that meet the requirements for disability, early intervention or both.

  4. Search the ICD 10 Code or Condition name for all eligible impairments.

  5. Note the Required impairment category column.

  6. Consider if any of the Optional impairment categories in the guide apply based on the evidence provided:

    • Intellectual
    • Cognitive
    • Neurological
    • Sensory
    • Physical
    • Psychosocial Decide whether to vary the participant’s Notice of impairments 516394382 V3.0 2025-03-06 Page 3 of 12 This document is uncontrolled when printed OFFICIAL

OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only For more information, go to section What are the categories of impairments? in Our Guideline – Applying to the NDIS (external). 15. From the Vary Impairment Categories case, select the Update Impairment Categories tab.

  1. Decide if you need to vary the Notice of impairments. The Notice of impairments needs to be varied if either:

    • there are impairments that meet the requirements for disability, early intervention or both within a category not listed in Current Impairment Categories in the Update Impairment Categories tab.
    • there are no impairments that meet the requirements for disability, early intervention or both within a category listed in Current Impairment Categories in the Update Impairment Categories tab.

  2. If the participant now meets a different eligibility requirement than what they initially met access for (for example, the participant met the early intervention requirements and now meets the disability requirements), you will need to check the Case Reason:

    • From the Vary Impairment Categories case, select the Details tab.

    • Check the Case Reason is Eligibility Reassessment.

      Note: Eligibility Reassessment must be selected. If any other option is selected, you can’t add the category under a new eligibility criteria (disability, early intervention or both) that the participant hadn’t initially met access for. This doesn’t mean an Eligibility Reassessment referral is submitted. This is a temporary workaround for PACE.

    • If correct, continue to next step.

    • If not correct, withdraw the case with Closure Reason of Administrative error. Then create a new Vary Impairment Categories case with Case Reason of Eligibility Reassessment. Use article Submit an application to vary the participant’s Notice of impairments.

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OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only 18. If the category of impairment you need to add or end is not listed under Update Impairment Category Requests, you’ll need to withdraw the Vary Impairment Categories case and create a new one. Use article Submit an application to vary the participant’s Notice of impairments to:

    * withdraw the Vary Impairment Categories case.
    * create a new Vary Impairment Categories case with the missing category of
      impairments added.

19. If based on the participant’s request you decide to end all current categories and replace with new categories:

    * Continue to finalise this Vary Impairment Categories case to first add new
       categories.
    * Then create a new Vary Impairment Categories case with categories that need to
     be ended. Use article Submit an application to vary the participant's Notice of
       impairments.
    * Then follow the steps in this article to make a decision.

Record your decision

  1. From the Vary Impairment Categories case, select the Decision tab.

  2. Select Record Decision next to the first request (if there is more than one). This will open the decision screen. You’ll need to do this for each request if there is more than one.

  3. At Reviewable Indicator, select Reviewable under NDIS Act s99. This is the only relevant option.

  4. At Decision Outcome, select Approved or Declined.

  5. Select Next – Justification.

  6. At Justification, select the relevant option.

  7. At Sub-Justification, select the relevant option.

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OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only 8. Select Next - Evidence.

  1. At Evidence Name, enter the title of the document used to make the decision.

  2. At Evidence Type, select Document or Other.

  3. If Document, link the relevant document at Evidence Link.

  4. At Explanation, enter the reason for the decision using one of the following templates:

 Decision to vary – Add impairment category

  Evidence shows that the participant has one or more impairments that meet the
  <disability / early intervention requirements / disability and early intervention
 requirements> within the requested impairment category.
 Decision not to vary – impairment category not added
  Evidence does not show that the participant has one or more impairments that meet the
  requirements for disability, early intervention or both within the impairment category.
 Decision to vary – End impairment category
  Evidence does not show that the participant has one or more impairments that meet the
  requirements for disability, early intervention or both, within the impairment category.
 Decision not to vary – impairment category not ended
  Evidence shows that the participant has one or more impairments that meet the
  <disability / early intervention requirements / disability and early intervention
 requirements> within the impairment category. Therefore I have not ended the
  impairment category.

13. Select Next.

  1. Select Done.

  2. Repeat the steps above for any other requests to add or remove any other impairment categories.

  3. Select Submit Decisions.

Note: If you select an incorrect option at Decision Outcome, you can select Record Decision to change the outcome before selecting Submit Decisions. The Justification and Sub-Justification will remain pre-filled. You will need to update these fields by selecting the Decide whether to vary the participant’s Notice of impairments 516394382 V3.0 2025-03-06 Page 6 of 12 This document is uncontrolled when printed OFFICIAL

OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only pre-filled response. You will then be able to select the relevant option from the drop down list to reflect the change made at Decision Outcome.

Complete decision correspondence

  1. At Recipient Details in the Decision tab, the persons who will receive the decision correspondence will be listed. If one of the persons listed is not the participant, check they have the authority to receive the correspondence. To do this, return to the Person Account, select the Relationships tab and review the information at Authorised Reps and Providers.

  2. Return to Recipient Details in the Decision tab and select Next.

  3. At Do you want to preview the document before sending it? select Yes or No. If you select Yes, go to step 4. If you select No, select Next and go to step 6.

  4. At Select a Recipient for preview?, select the person you wish to preview correspondence and select Next. A letter preview will generate.

  5. Review the information in the letter preview to confirm it is correct. If the information is incorrect, select Previous to update the fields that populate the letter. If the information is correct, select Next.

  6. At Correspondence Confirmation, select Submit Correspondence. An automatic decision letter will be sent to the applicant or their authorised representative.

  7. At Correspondence Summary, select Next. The case will now be closed.

Check disabilities tab The Disabilities tab must include all impairments that meet the requirements for disability, early intervention or both as this supports planning. Note: the impairments listed in the Disabilities tab are the conditions that the access delegate selected when they assessed the person against the disability and early intervention requirements. There may be impairments that you need to add or remove.

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OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only

  1. From the Person Account, select My Profile.

  2. Select the Disabilities tab.

  3. Review the Active column to see what impairments are current.

  4. If required, use articles Update a person account and Add a new primary disability to:

    • add impairments that meet the eligibility requirements
    • remove any impairments that don’t meet the eligibility requirements by adding an End Date.

Contact participant to advise outcome

  1. Check the person’s preferred contact method. Go to article Check a person’s preferred contact method.

    Note: you must contact the participant using their preferred contact method, which can include calling.

  2. If you need to call the person, continue to next step.

  3. Check which state the person lives in to consider if there’s a time difference. This will help you to decide what time of day to call.

  4. Send an SMS to let the person know you’re going to call them from a private number. Use template We are going to call you in article Send an SMS in PACE.

  5. When making the call, follow the guidelines in article Guide - Conversation style guide.

Required contact attempts You must make at least 3 contact attempts to advise the participant or authorised representative of the outcome of the application to vary their Notice of impairments. The contact attempts must take place:

  • Over 2 days, and
  • At different times of day.

Make the call

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OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only

  1. Introduce yourself and confirm if this is a suitable time for the call.

  2. Perform a security check to verify you’re speaking to the correct person. For more information, refer to section How to complete a security check in article Consider a request for personal information.

  3. Let the person know that you’re calling to let them know the outcome of the application to vary their Notice of impairments.

  4. Let them know if you’ve decided to <vary / not vary> their Notice of impairments.

  5. Confirm the categories of impairments that are listed on their Notice of impairments, noting if any categories have been added or removed.

  6. Explain the reasons for the decision:

    • Not vary: The evidence shows that their <impairment / impairments> <is / are> already covered by the <category / categories> of impairments listed on their Notice of impairments.
    • Vary: The evidence shows the updated <category / categories> of impairments <covers / cover> their <impairment / impairments> that meet the requirements for disability, early intervention or both.

  7. Explain that they’ll continue to receive NDIS supports and there’s no change to their eligibility to be an NDIS participant. If the participant feels their funded supports no longer meet their support needs, they can contact their my NDIS contact to discuss their plan.

  8. If you need further support to explain the decision to the person, ask your Team Leader.

  9. Refer to the letter to give information about their review rights for the decision to vary or not vary their Notice of impairments.

  10. Let them know they’ll also receive a letter explaining this information.

  11. Respond to any questions or concerns they might have.

  12. For more information, refer to:

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OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only * section Can I apply to change my Notice of impairments? in Our Guideline - Applying to the NDIS (external) * Frequently asked questions about legislation – Notice of impairments (s32BA) (external).

 You can also refer the participant to this information.

Record contact attempts After attempting to contact the person (successfully or not), you must log an activity to record this.

  1. Use article Log an activity or internal note to record an internal note using one of the following templates:

    Successful contact Phone call made to <Participant/Authorised Representative> to explain the outcome of their request to vary their Notice of impairments. I explained the reason for the decision. I confirmed their categories of impairments. I provided information about their review rights.

    . Unsuccessful contact attempt phone call attempt made to on all available numbers to explain the outcome of their request to vary their Notice of impairments. Call not answered.

Next steps No further action is required. Article labels

PACE user role names

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OFFICIAL ndis Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only No change. Topics No change.

Case names

No change.

Ownership

No change.

Version control

Version Amended by Brief Description of Change Status Date
1.0 AT0022 Class 3 approval.

New article to decide whether to add or remove an impairment category		 APPROVED 2025-01-14
2.0 VFK746 Class 1 review and approval. Progress to QA and publishing activities.

Update to link name from Add a new primary disability to Update the participant’s disabilities in section Check disabilities tab

Note: Not published. Held back from scheduled publishing on 10 February due to further consultation being required. Rescheduled for 24 February.		 APPROVED 2025-01-28
3.0 IIW664 Class 2 approval. Updates to align with March 10 feature release. APPROVED 2025-03-06

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OFFICIAL Knowledge Article For Internal Use Only Note: Release and publication rescheduled to 17 March due to BCP.

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