Self-management policy

We have developed a self-management policy.

We developed this policy in consultation with NDIS participants, Independent Advisory Council members and representatives from the disability sector.

We also collected information and research from a variety of publications from all over the world, and undertook a series of focus groups with NDIS participants.

People have told us it is hard to understand what is involved in self-managing NDIS funding. 

We developed this policy so people understand self-management and more participants and their nominees can choose to self-manage if it is right for them.

The self-management policy explains how self-management works in the NDIS.

Research

To inform the Self-Management Policy, we did research to hear directly from participants and learn about how self-management works in other schemes.

Feedback from the Participant Survey on Self-Management informed this policy. You can read more about the survey results in the report

We asked survey participants about the benefits and challenges of self-management.

They told us about what supports and resources they found most useful. They also told us what we could do better.

We received 806 survey responses. About 45% of these responses were from participants and 55% of these were from nominees. 

Participants and nominees told us self-management allowed them to benefit from using funding in a flexible way and choosing registered and unregistered providers that meet their needs. 

Those who self-managed said the biggest challenges were finding the right supports and knowing what can be purchased.

Feedback from participants was also collected in 8 focus groups. We have published a report on the feedback from these groups.

These were held in September 2021 with 35 NDIS participants, carers, nominees and child representatives.

Participants told us what we can do to improve their experiences of self-management.

We have published a narrative review, with information on self-management arrangements in similar schemes around the world. Insights from the narrative review informed the Self-Management Policy.

Next steps

We are making improvements to the way self-management works in the NDIS.

These improvements are underway and include:

  • an updated NDIS Guide to Self-management, which is now available from the self-management webpage
  • updating our website to include clear and accessible information on fund management options
  • developing training modules for Agency and partner staff to better support participants and nominees to self-manage their NDIS funding
  • developing new resources for participants on plan management options, including self-management training
  • updating internal Agency systems and processes
This page current as of
10 July 2023
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