Capability and Culture of the NDIA
Submission 53
My experience with the NDIS as of 15/09/2022
On 17/06/2022 my Occupational Therapist sent a report to the NDIS recommending funding for a motorised wheelchair and car hoist so that I could independently participate in activities outside my home.
I was notified by phone on 11/07/2022 that funding had been approved and as a result a new plan was necessitated. The new plan would be available on the MyGov website in 24-72 hours.
I accessed the MyGov portal on 12/07/2022 and found my new plan.
I could see my new funding under CAPITAL SUPPORTS –Plan managed.
HOWEVER I could also see the original part of the plan CORE SUPPORTS and CAPACITY BUILDING had been changed from Plan managed to NDIA managed. I did not request this change and there had been no mention of it in the conversation of 11/07/2022.
I immediately called NDIS and could only leave a message , so I also emailed , alerting them to their error. I also left a phone message with and emailed my Local Area Co-ordinator (LAC).
By 22/07/2022 I had received a call back from both NDIS and LAC.
The person from the NDIS said yes they could see the problem and yes it was a clerical error on their part so it would be a quick, simple matter to correct, they would send it to the appropriate people to correct and it wouldn’t be long.
The LAC said he wasn’t sure how to go about following up but would speak to his supervisor and act on his advice.
On 24/08/2022 I spoke to a lady by the name of at the NDIS who advised me that I hadn’t raised the issue until 12/08/2022, I assured her that it was the 12/07/2022, after waiting while she checked things she conceded that yes it was July , not August. She then asked me what changes I wanted to make to my plan, it then took a couple of minutes to convince her that I was NOT requesting a change to my plan, I was requesting that they corrected an already admitted clerical error on their part.
She then said that because the matter hadn’t been resolved within 30 days it was to be automatically reviewed , which would take another 90 days.
I pointed out to her that while this was happening that my Plan Manager was unable to pay invoices from my support people. I was not happy and I requested that she transfer my call to her supervisor.
Capability and Culture of the NDIA
Submission 53
She transferred me to her supervisor, , and I explained everything to her and asked why the plan had to be reviewed when she could correct an acknowledged error with a couple of key strokes. She advised me that she couldn’t do that, she didn’t have the authority to do it. I asked her to transfer me to someone who did have the authority to do so. She said that was not possible because she didn’t know who had the authority and there was no way for her to find out.
It was a closed system, all she could say was that the information had been logged by her department but she couldn’t even find out how far through the system it was, just wait and see. She then suggested that the only person who could access it and take action was my LAC.
She also gave me a receipt number for the call.
I then contacted my LAC who was quite bemused. Firstly it wasn’t his job to correct NDIA errors, it was their responsibility to correct their own mistakes and secondly he had already tried accessing the system to see what was going on and he had been denied access because it was “under review”.
Today , 15/09/2022, I rang the NDIA again and spoke to a very helpful lady by the name of . She took the time to listen to me and then read through all the notes on the system.
She explained that the person I had contact with on 12/07/2022 had not followed the correct procedure, the correction of the error was indeed regarded as a plan variation and should have been logged as such, because it wasn’t, it didn’t get logged into the system until 1/08/2022 which delayed everything then asked me to hold while she spoke to her team leader who was “absolutely livid” when told of my experience and told to escalate it to the National Re-assessment team.
On one hand I am hopeful that actions today will lead to the prompt resolution of the problem, on the other hand I will believe it when I see it.
My Plan manager still can’t pay the invoices from my service providers.
Thank you for the opportunity to air my grievences.