Complete personal and environmental circumstances case

This article provides guidance for a local area coordinator, early childhood coordinator and all NDIA staff (planner, payment officer, internal review officer, complaints officer, participant service officer, access officer, quality officer, technical advisor, SDA officer, NCC officer, provider support) to understand:

why we complete the personal and environmental circumstances (PEC) case
the PEC steps and questions
how to prepare for the conversation to complete the PEC case
how to complete the PEC
what to do when an applicant doesn’t want to complete the PEC case
next steps.

Recent updates

July 2023

Update to system steps and language to align with PACE and knowledge consistency.

Before you start

You have:

read and understood Our Guideline – Creating Your Plan
read and understood Our Guideline – Disability-related health supports
checked if:
- there is an application exception
- the applicant has a priority situation
- there are any identified risks
- they have already applied within the last 6 months

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The applicant doesn’t want to complete the PEC

read the Conversation Style Guide
read article Checking and updating a participant’s preferred communication method.

Note: PEC case questions will be different for:

child applicants younger than 7. To learn more, read early childhood articles:
- Early childhood – Overview – Personal Environmental Circumstances (PEC) including Capacity Building questions
- Early childhood – How to complete the Personal Environmental Circumstances (PEC) Capacity Building questions
applicants 7 to 14 years
applicants over 15.

Understanding the personal and environmental circumstances case

Why do we complete the PEC case?

We complete the Personal and Environmental Circumstances case when a person is applying to the NDIS. Completing the questions in the PEC case helps us to understand:

The person’s support needs
How the person manages daily life

We will use the information from the PEC case to understand the types of supports that could help an applicant. This can include:

Family, friends, and unpaid carers
Community
Mainstream
Funded supports (if they become a participant of the NDIS).

Understand Personal and Environmental Circumstances steps and questions

In the PEC case, you must first review the applicant’s:

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identity details, including their primary reported disability, if relevant
authorised representative details, if relevant.

Continue the conversation and select or enter responses for all required questions in the case Steps marked with an asterisk.

The PEC case Steps and questions will vary depending on the person’s situation. The case Steps are shown on the right of the PEC case screen. To learn more, go to articles:

Record Housing information
Record Daily Support information
Record Carers information
Record Capacity Building information
Record Support Coordination information
Record Employment and Training information
Record Equipment and Consumables information
Record Assistive Technology information.

Note: You can’t go forward in the Steps sequence until you complete all required questions and select Next. You can view or update previous Steps by selecting Previous. Once you complete the PEC case you can’t edit your responses.

Prepare for the conversation to complete the PEC case

You need to:

use the Conversation Style Guide and your interpersonal skills to have a free flowing, person-centred conversation with the applicant
select the appropriate answers. Don’t read the questions out loud to the person. Listen carefully to their answers so you can choose the most appropriate answers in PACE, based on the information they provide.
avoid selecting blank or unanswered answers in PACE when entering responses. This may result in a Typical Support Package (TSP) being created that doesn’t reflect the participant’s real circumstances. Instead, ask the person open-ended questions to help them provide more detailed responses.

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Note: The PEC case questions are dynamic and may change in PACE. This will depend on the person’s situation, age and some of the response options you select.

How to complete the PEC case for children living in statutory out of home care

During your conversation, record responses to the questions on the basis that the child has a capable parent who provides the same level of informal supports that would be expected from a parent of a child of that age. For example, the state or territory.

When asking these questions, remember to consider the role of the state/territory as the parent and holding parental responsibility, rather than the foster carers. Your responses need to consider the state/territory’s statutory responsibility as well as considering valuable matters raised by the individual foster parent responses.

For example, when asking if they can continue to care for the child in the way they currently do you should always respond - Yes. Do not answer No to this question. If the foster carer cannot continue to care for the child, the state/territory remains responsible for the child’s care and providing a suitable care arrangement at all times.

The planning conversation allows you the opportunity to gather detailed and concise information. This is also a great opportunity for the child to tell their story and voice their goals and aspirations where possible. The following points can support you to have a high-quality conversation:

Ask the child the relevant questions where appropriate and where they can understand and respond. When you can’t direct questions to the child, you should ask the person with parental responsibility.
Include the child representative in all conversations and decisions.
Don’t give a service provider or support coordinator any decision-making power in relation to the child’s plan at any time.
Never presume to know what the family is going through or why the child is in statutory out of home care.
It is possible that the child has experienced trauma, and this should be considered in the context of their vulnerability when discussing some subjects that may be difficult for them.
Refer to NDIS Intranet page guidance by searching Disability Snapshots and Disability Navigator for further and specific guidance relating the child’s disability.

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How to complete the PEC case

You should help the applicant feel comfortable during the discussion. When speaking face-to-face or over the phone you must:

prepare for the conversation
build rapport and listen actively
tailor the wording from the assessment questions
understand the question you are asking
understand the person-centred approach
ask effective questions
manage expectations with the person so they understand this doesn’t necessarily mean they will get a funded NDIS plan.

You should note the following when completing the PEC questions.

Consumable supports

consumable support has different levels for adults and children
continence products include catheter consumables such as tubing and bags
for children younger than 18 the available answers to choose from include:
- level 1 (high user only, or moderate use and higher cost). For example, the child uses 6 or more continence products per day and higher cost tube feeding.
- level 2 (moderate use, moderate cost). For example, the child uses 4-6 continence products and low-cost tube feeding, or high-cost tube feeding and less than 4 continence products.
- level 3 (low to moderate use, low to moderate cost). For example, the child uses less than 4 continence products and low-cost tube feeding.
- level 4 (low use, low cost). For example, the participant uses continence products only (less than 4), or low-cost tube feeding only.

Note: In rare situations we may include funding for continence supports for an eligible child participant younger than 5 with disability related medical conditions. To learn more refer to Our Guidelines – Continence Supports.

Capacity building supports (for applicants over 6)

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Use the following examples as a guide to understand the different levels of capacity building support. Select the most appropriate option when answer the PEC questions about capacity building.

Note: As a guide to understanding an applicant’s goals, consider:

for simple goals:
- these are likely to be short-term
- the applicant and the people who support them can easily identify steps to work towards it
for complex goals:
- these are likely to be medium to long-term
- we would need to work with the applicant participant, and the people who support them, to identify how to work towards the goal
- we may need to request progress reports to understand how supports were helping the person to work towards their goal.

None (Capacity Building Level 5) may include:

The participant only has simple goals in their plan and can work towards these with support from informal, community or mainstream supports.
Selecting this option means that the participant can work towards their goals without any funded Capacity Building support.

Low (Capacity Building Level 4) may include:

The participant may have one simple goal in their plan that requires some support to work towards.
Selecting this option means they may be able to work towards this goal with support from one provider, such as an allied health professional or support worker.

Moderate (Capacity Building Level 3) may include:

The participant has up to 3 simple goals in the plan that require some support to work towards.
They might need support from a few different support providers or allied health professionals to work towards their goal.

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For example, a participant may want to work towards being able to use transport independently. To do this they might need some help from an Occupational Therapist to understand how to get to the bus stop and buy a ticket and help from a Speech Therapist to be able to communicate with the bus driver.
Selecting this option usually means the participant can work towards their goal during the current plan period.

High (Capacity Building Level 2) may include:

The participant has up to 4 simple goals and one complex goal in their plan.
They might need help from a few different allied health professionals and a support worker to work towards their goal.
For example, a participant might need to have a support worker travel with them on the bus to build their independence, as well as work with the Occupational Therapist and Speech Therapist to support their communication and planning skills.
Selecting this option usually means that the participant’s goals are long-term and something they will work towards over more than one plan period.

Very High (Capacity Building Level 1) may include:

The participant has more than one complex goal in their plan and requires some behaviour support to be able to work towards their goals.
You would have already referred to Practice Guide – Positive Behaviour Support and Behaviours of Concern if you have decided that behaviour supports are reasonable and necessary to support the participant to work towards their goals.

I don’t know/Unsure (Capacity Building Level 5) may include:

Using this response may mean the participant does not receive the appropriate level of support to help them work towards their goals.
Note: Avoid using this response wherever possible.

What if the applicant does not want to complete the PEC?

The applicant may not want to complete the PEC. It’s important to complete the PEC so we can generate the right budget and support for participants. It’s important you let the person know their application could be delayed if we don’t complete the PEC.

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Next Steps

Read article Create a Personal and Environmental Circumstances case. Once we have completed the PEC case, we need to:

complete functional capacity assessment. Read article Understand functional capacity assessments.
complete Streaming. Read article Participant streaming.
complete then submit the access request case. Read article How to apply for the NDIS in PACE.

Version control

Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
1.0	EMN960	Director review and approval	APPROVED	2022-11-07
2.0	EMN960	Director review and approval	APPROVED	2022-11-10
3.0	EMN960	Director review and approval	APPROVED	2023-02-02
4.0	JJO192	Revised for staff experience common capabilities micro-release	APPROVED	2023-03-17
4.1	JJO192	Cl-package — Applying to the NDIS Update knowledge article for the Disability (PEC) case.	DRAFT	2023-06-20
4.2	DFB448	Peer review	DRAFT	2023-06-21
4.3	JJO192	Actioned peer review	DRAFT	2023-06-21
4.4	JJO192	Actioned visible thread review — reduced sentence lengths and passive sentences where possible.
Flesch Readability 51
Grade 8.3
Passive voice 4.17%	DRAFT	2023-06-21

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Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
4.5	VFK746	EL1 Review progress to EL2 for SD and Partner Review	DRAFT	2023-06-27
5.0	EMN960	EL2 Approval to publish	APPROVED	2023-06-29
5.1	JJO192	Upload and action SME feedback – EC Partners	DRAFT	2023-06-30
5.2	VFK746	EL1 review of SME Feedback and progress to EL2 for approval	DRAFT	2023-07-03
6.0	EMN960	EL2 Approval to publish	APPROVED	2023-07-04

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