FOI 25/26-1985 OFFICIAL Document 11

The contents of this document are OFFICIAL.

Discuss funded supports

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

This article provides guidance for a planner delegate, planner (non-partnered area), participant support officer, local area coordinator or early childhood partner to:

confirm the participant understands their funded supports and how to use them
explain changes to the participant’s plan
explain how we review our decisions.

Recent updates

15 December 2025

Link updated to article Understand, create and action a request for a replacement support.

Before you start

You have read and understood:

You have reviewed and completed the:

participant’s plan approval letter, plan and goals
Handover Notes to make sure any notes about the participant’s wishes are considered and to help implement the plan
Update Profile screen, using article [Implement community and mainstream supports](https://example.com).

Confirm the participant understands their funded supports

and how to use them

V13.0 2025-12-04 Discuss funded supports 140708552 Page 1 of 7

FOI 25/26-1985 OFFICIAL

Talk with the participant or their authorised representative about how they can use NDIS supports funded in their plan. This is an opportunity to support the participant to make the most of their funded NDIS supports to pursue their goals. You may want to talk with the participant about tools and resources available to help them manage their funds, like the Budget calculator (external) or Factsheet – Using your NDIS plan (external).

Complete funded supports information

In the Plan Implementation case, at the Funded Supports screen:

At Discuss with the participant if they require any clarifications, they are comfortable with what has been included in their plan and how to use their funded supports, select:
- Further discussion or clarification required, go to step 2.
- No further discussion or clarification required, go to step 5.
At Confirm the following topics have been discussed and understood by the participant, select all the options you’ve discussed with the participant. The options are:
- The plan funding included in the participant’s plan. Talk about what the different budgets in their plan mean. Talk about how the supports can help the participant pursue their goals and help them to find and connect with providers. To learn more, go to article Connect with providers.
- Any changes from their previous plan. Talk about what funded NDIS supports have changed since their previous plan.
- The different support categories and their flexibility. Talk with the participant about the different support categories. Check that the participant understands which of the core supports in their plan are flexible and what supports they can buy more generally. This means they have more choice about how to use their funding between these flexible support categories. To learn more, go to article Support Categories.
- Talk with the participant about spending in line with their plan budget. This will make sure their funding will last the full length of their NDIS plan. Advise the participant if they’d like more details about the supports that make up their plan’s total budget amount, we can send this to them. They can contact us and ask for a

V13.0 2025-12-04 Discuss funded supports 140708552 Page 2 of 7

FOI 25/26-1985 OFFICIAL

budget breakdown. To learn more, go to article Record and action a request for a budget breakdown.

You may also want to talk about their provider relationships, both now and in the future.

Note: if the participant’s plan includes Agency-managed NDIS supports such as home and living, behaviour support or specialist disability accommodation (SDA), you must make sure these support categories have been added. This is so provider relationships can be added or updated, and the provider can access funds in the plan. If the provider is not yet known, make sure you add it as soon as it is. This is important so the provider can submit a claim to access funds. To learn more, go to article Add or update a provider relationship.

Participants with Agency-managed funds to pay for NDIS supports can accept or decline provider relationship requests in the my NDIS participant portal. They can also change the information they consent to share with providers. To learn more, go to article my NDIS portal – Understand provider relationships and consent to share information. You can provide the participant a copy of, or a link to, [Factsheet – Support categories (external)](https://example.com).
The value and importance of service agreements. Explain how important service agreements are. Talk to the participant about how they can negotiate their supports to make sure the service provided meets their support needs and helps them to pursue their goals. To learn more, go to article Discuss service agreements.
If any supports have been stated in the plan, the participant knows who can deliver the support and how it may need to be provided. Talk about which supports in their plan are stated. If capital supports are included, talk about when to get a quote. To learn more, go to article Understand high-cost assistive technology (AT) funding.
Organising and planning supports over the life of the plan. Talk to the participant about how to use and make the most out of their plan. Talk to them about tools and resources to help keep track of their funding and supports. For

V13.0 2025-12-04 Discuss funded supports 140708552 Page 3 of 7

FOI 25/26-1985 OFFICIAL

example, how they can use the Budget calculator or the Support Organiser (external).

Entering and ensuring bank account details are up to date. Check the participant’s bank details are correct. To do this, go to article View bank account details. If they have a plan nominee or authorised representative with manage plan funding authority, make sure their bank details are correct and assigned to the participant. To learn more, go to article Before you update bank account details.

Note: you must record bank details within 2 weeks of the plan being approved in PACE. This is to make sure the participant automatically receives recurring payments for NDIS funded supports and services. They can give us bank details through their my NDIS contact or any of the Contact (external) options listed on the NDIS website. If bank details aren’t recorded on the person account within 2 weeks, a Claim and Payment Enquiry case will have to be created. To learn more, go to article Create a new claim and payment enquiry case.

If you make a referral on behalf of the participant, you must log an activity using article [Log an activity or internal note](https://example.com). To learn more about how to support the participant to connect with providers and how to make a referral, go to article Make a referral.
Record what you’ve talked about and what support you’ve given the participant at the implementation meeting in the Supporting Notes screen of the Plan Implementation case. This means the participant doesn’t have to retell their story or repeat information they’ve already told us.

Note: don’t record information in the If any of the above topics were not able to be discussed, use the notes section to describe why and any alternative strategies being used free text field in the Funded Supports screen. This is because you may not be able to view this information once this case is closed.
Select Yes or No at Has funding been included for supports to assist the participant implement their plan i.e., Support Coordination or Psychosocial Recovery Coach support? If you select:

V13.0 2025-12-04 Discuss funded supports 140708552 Page 4 of 7

FOI 25/26-1985 OFFICIAL

Yes, and the participant needs a new or updated request for service, you’ll need to create a Request for Service case. To learn more, go to article Complete the request for service. Select Next.
No, select Next.

To learn more about support coordination, go to Support coordinators (external). To learn more about psychosocial recovery coaches (recovery coach), go to Psychosocial disability supports (external).

Explain plan changes and review of the decision

Talk to the participant about the date when their plan will be reassessed and where they can find their plan reassessment date in their plan. To learn more, go to Our Guideline – Changing your plan (external). Explain what they need to do if they want to make a change to their plan. We call this a plan reassessment or plan variation.

Explain to the participant their review rights. Explain what to do if they don’t agree with our decision. To learn more, go to Our Guideline – Reviewing our decisions (external).

Note: if the participant or authorised representative requests a replacement support, go to article Understand, create and action a request for a replacement support.

Understand section 45(5) amendments

Plans approved on or after 9 October 2024 now include total funding amounts, funding components and funding periods. For more information see article Understand funding periods.

Under NDIS law, payments must be made within the funding amounts and periods set out in the participant’s plan. However, under section 45(5) there are very limited circumstances when we may pay for supports outside of the participant’s plan. To learn more about these go to section Understand section 45(5) amendments in article Complete the claim review delegate decision case for a section45(5) request.

There is detailed information in section What if I spend my funding before the end of the funding period? in Our Guideline – Your Plan (external).

Next steps

Talk about how the participant’s funding will be managed. To do this, go to article Discuss fund management.

V13.0 2025-12-04 Discuss funded supports 140708552 Page 5 of 7

FOI 25/26-1985 OFFICIAL

Article labels

PACE user role names

No change.

Topics

No change.

Case names

No change.

Ownership

No change.

Version control

Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
12.0	KK0027	Class 2 approval. Updated KA to include information for section 45(5) and 45(A) to align with content in OG Your Plan which has been approved and published.	APPROVED	2025-10-14
12.1	RWN540	Class 1 update. Link updated to article Understand, create and action a request for a replacement support.	DRAFT	2025-12-01
12.2	LFT270	Peer review	DRAFT	2025-12-02
12.3	RWN540	Peer review feedback actioned	DRAFT	2025-12-02
13.0	TPO642	Class 1 approved	APPROVED	2025-12-04

V13.0 2025-12-04 Discuss funded supports 140708552 Page 6 of 7

FOI 25/26-1985 OFFICIAL

Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
		Link updated to article Understand, create and action a request for a replacement support.

V13.0 2025-12-04 Discuss funded supports 140708552 Page 7 of 7