There are temporary changes to funding PPE for personal care where the use of PPE is consistent with current health advice.
These temporary measures are in place for the following areas and dates:
- New South Wales and Victoria – between 29 July 2020 and 28 February 2021
- Restricted areas of Queensland – between 8 January and 22 January 2021
- South Australia – between 19 November and 23 December 2020.
You can recover the costs to purchase PPE items using your NDIS funds, if you;
- receive an average of at least one hour a day of face-to-face daily living supports, and
- live in NSW, restricted areas of Queensland or Victoria.
Participants who receive an average of at least one hour a day of face-to-face daily living supports can access up to $50 per week from their budget for PPE for their use when their support worker is supporting them.
Generally, the ordinary use of hand sanitiser is a personal expense.
However, if you receive close personal support and find that you are using more hand sanitiser than you would under normal circumstances, you can use your NDIS plan to cover the cost of extra hand sanitiser.
You can use the Low Cost Disability-Related Health Consumables line item in your core supports budget to purchase hand sanitiser, as you would for PPE like gloves and face masks.
Funding the extra cost of hand sanitiser is a temporary change during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates if the situation changes in other states and territories.
Participants are expected to manage PPE purchases from their existing core supports budget. As part of our initial coronavirus (COVID-19) response we made changes to the myplace portal so all participants, no matter how their plan is managed, could use their core supports budget flexibly to purchase the services and supports they need.
Plan and self-managed participants can purchase PPE and record and claim their purchases in the usual way. Agency-managed participants can purchase PPE through registered providers.
We encourage you to keep an adequate supply of the essential products, but do not stockpile more than you need.
We will continue to monitor the temporary way PPE is funded and adjust according to the situation.