An easy read version has been made available here.
This Service Agreement is between Advantage Plan Management and the above mentioned participant/nominated representative in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
This Service Agreement will be in effect from today (dated below) for the duration of the participant’s association with Advantage Plan Management, until we are notified otherwise in writing or verbally by the participant/nominated representative.
To engage the services of Advantage Plan Management, upon acceptance of this Service Agreement, the participant/nominated representative, will provide their NDIS plan details, and NDIS number to Advantage Plan Management.
It is requested that the participant/nominee provides the NDIS with consent to share their NDIS plan with Advantage Plan Management. Without this consent, we will be unable to view the participants plan, goals and budget information.
Schedule of Supports:
Advantage Plan Management agrees to provide the participant with financial intermediary services. The supports and their prices are set out in the below Schedule of Supports. All prices are GST inclusive (if applicable) and include the cost of providing the following supports:
Responsibilities of Provider:
Advantage Plan Management agrees to:
- Provide financial administration services
- Reconcile client balances
- Pay supplier invoices on behalf of client
- Process client reimbursement claims
- Track expenditure against client budget
- Provide monthly statements of expenditure and available funding upon request
- Engage in client liaison – emails, phone calls etc
- Communicate openly and honestly in a timely manner. Treat the participant/nominated representative with courtesy and respect
- Listen to the participant/nominated representative’s feedback and resolve problems quickly
- Protect the participant’s privacy and confidential information.
Responsibilities of Participant/Nominated Representative:
I agree to:
- Take due steps to provide information as requested by Advantage Plan Management in a timely manner.
- Treat Advantage Plan Management staff with courtesy and respect.
- Discuss any concerns about your service with Advantage Plan Management
- Advise Advantage Plan Management immediately if the participant’s NDIS plan is suspended or replaced by a new NDIS plan, or the participant stops being a participant in the NDIS.
- Supply service providers with details for Advantage Plan Management including invoicing expectations.
Payments:
Advantage Plan Management will claim directly from the NDIA an agreed monthly fee as outlined in the Schedule of Supports Improved Life Choices (Support Category 14), upon acceptance of the Service Agreement.
By nominating Advantage Plan Management to provide plan management services and manage your funding, we will claim from the NDIS portal for funding up to the amounts specified in the support category and budget approved in the participant’s current NDIS plan. After these supports are delivered, the service provider or Participant/nominated representative will claim payment for those supports by forwarding all invoices to Advantage Plan Management.
Submit Invoices
Plan Management guidelines for provider payments
A plan manager should arrange for prompt payment to a provider or prompt reimbursement to you if appropriate.
The NDIA expects a plan manager to validate an invoice and submit a payment request to the NDIA within five business days of receipt.
Upon receiving payment from the NDIS, the NDIA expects payment or reimbursement to occur within two business days.
Should a plan manager help to determine whether supports or services are ‘reasonable and necessary?
No, the role of a plan manager is not to determine whether the supports or services purchased are ‘reasonable and necessary’.
Your plan will have funds approved for reasonable and necessary supports at the planning stage. To confirm if a service or support would be considered reasonable & necessary, please contact your NDIS representative directly.
The role of the plan manager is to ensure your plan is implemented as intended. This includes ensuring funds are being spent in accordance with your plan.
What is the difference between a plan manager and a support coordinator and a partner in the community?
A plan manager will pay providers for supports delivered. A plan manager will help you monitor your funds, and provide financial reporting.
A support coordinator will support you to understand and implement supports included in your plan. A support coordinator will link you to providers and other community and government services. A support coordinator will also support you to build skills and direction.
An NDIS Partner in the Community delivering Local Area Coordination or early childhood services may provide plan implementation and monitoring support to you. Partner organisations are appointed by the NDIA to help you understand the NDIS, and find providers of support suited to your needs.
External service agreements
All service agreements between a service provider and a particpant/nominee are solely between those people and excludes Advantage Plan Management.
Advantage Plan Management has no imput or control over the services that a particpant accesses.
Advantage Plan Management may “qarantine” funds at the request of the particpant/nominee.
Please note that funds will only be quarantined internally and not within the ndis portal as this is not possible.
Advantage Plan Management receives limited information regarding a participants ndis plan and their disability so may be limited in the information that they can provide.
Advantage Plan Management must always stay within the scope of financial administration. All matters outside of financial administration will be referred to other appropriate agencies.
Participant Budgets to be Managed:
The participant/nominated representative will provide Advantage Plan Management details of their support budgets as per the participant’s current NDIS plan.
If the support categories or budgets change, the participant/nominated representative agrees any changes will be submitted immediately in writing to Advantage Plan Management, signed, and dated by the participant/nominated representative.
What happens my funds are exhausted?
If your funds have been exhausted, please contact your NDIS representative immediately to arrange an unscheduled plan review.
To help minimise the risk of a participant overspending, Advantage Plan Management will send a financial statement at the start of each month. This statement will display the current budget and expenditure. It is important participants read the monthly statement and advise Advantage Plan Management immediately of any concerns.
When funding is exhausted prior to a scheduled plan review, it is important to understand that Advantage Plan Management cannot continue to claim invoices without funding being available.
Advantage Plan Management will submit a manual payment request after the plan has ended, which will then be reviewed by the NDIA.
The NDIA will advise Advantage Plan Management if an invoice has been approved or rejected, however The NDIA cannot provide a timeframe for this process.
If the NDIA rejects an invoice, the participant will be responsible for payment of the outstandig invoices directly to the service provider.
The NDIA does not guarantee the approval of all invoices.
Advantage Plan Management take no liability for rejected invoices.
Changes to the Plan:
The participant/nominated representative, agrees to immediately notify Advantage Plan Management and provide relevant plan details in writing, if the participant’s NDIS Plan is replaced by a new plan, or the participant ceases to be a participant in the NDIS.
Ending this Service Agreement:
Should either party wish to end this Service Agreement they must give 14 days notice in writing. If either party seriously breaches this Service Agreement the requirement of notice will be waived. Please note that this communication must be provided by the Particpant/nominee. A support coordinator cannot end this service agreement.
Feedback, Complaints and Disputes:
If the participant/nominated representative wishes to provide feedback, or is not satisfied with the provision of supports and wishes to make a complaint, the participant/nominated representative can contact Management on 0411 661 249 or by email [email protected]
Goods and Services Tax (GST):
For the purposes of GST legislation, the parties confirm that: a supply of supports under this Service Agreement is a supply of one or more of the reasonable and necessary supports specified in the statement included, under subsection 33(2) of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act), in the participant’s NDIS plan currently in effect under section 37 of the NDIS Act; Advantage Plan Management will pay GST as per specified in National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act). Most NDIS services are GST exempt.
Contact and Banking Details:
The participant/nominated representative will provide bank details if necessary, to Advantage Plan Management for reimbursements.
Advantage Plan Management can be contacted on:
Phone: 0411 661 249
Email: [email protected]
Postal Address:
Advantage Plan Management Pty Ltd (current registration)
ABN 78 074 695 588
NDIS Registration 4050029225
Schedule of Supports – Improved Life Choices:
* Disclaimer
Advantage Plan Management information is provided in good faith, to the best of our knowledge and is considered to be correct at the time of communication, however, changes may affect this accuracy therefore Advantage Plan Management gives no assurance as to the accuracy of any information or advice given.
Any advice given by Advantage Plan Management outside of financial administration advice shall be considered general in nature.
Nothing in the Advantage Plan Management Service Agreement negates or diminishes the statutory guarantees regarding the supply of services the participant/nominated representative receive under The Australian Consumer Law (Competition and Consumer Act 2010 – Schedule 2 ).
Advantage Plan Management takes in good faith the information provided by the participant/nominated representative to be true and accurate, and that claims presented by Advantage Plan Management are a true reflection of goods and services provided to the Participant in line with the NDIS guidelines (National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 ).
All invoices received by Advantage Plan Management will be set as auto approved unless otherwise specified by the participant/nominee. If there are queries around any invoices, Advantage Plan Management will contact the Participant prior to processing the claim. The participant &/or their nominated representative can view all invoices/claims at any time via the participant portal. It is the responsibility of the participant/nominee to check monthly financial statements and report to Advantage Plan Management of any concerns.
