The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) allows participants who have permanent and significant disability to receive funding that enables them to live as full a life as possible. This funding is used to pay providers who deliver the necessary services and supports.
Since large amounts of money are provided by the state to finance the scheme, it's necessary to ensure that money is spent correctly and that participants receive the services they need. Nevertheless, providers can be registered with the NDIS or can be unregistered, but each category is still required to act in a proper and competent manner.
The benefits of being registered
NDIS participants fall into three categories:
- self-managed participants, who are able to manage the funds that NDIS provides and will deal directly with their service providers
- plan-managed participants, who appoint a plan manager to deal with providers and manage their fund
- NDIA-managed participants, who let the agency manage their plan. In this case, the agency will provide a list of registered providers from which participants can choose.
If you are not registered, you can provide services and support to self-managed or plan-managed participants, but not to those managed by the NDIA as you're unable to be on the supplied list. Being registered means you have access to a wider marketplace, but there are also other benefits, including:
- more credibility as a registered provider which leads to the likelihood of winning more work
- the use of tools, systems and other resources provided by the NDIA
- regular updates and information from the NDIA about changes to processes
- the likelihood of being found through the NDIA website by participants looking for providers.
Many small businesses, in particular, are not registered and participants are not prevented from using them to supply the services they need. However, all providers, whether they're registered or not, have to comply with the NDIS code of conduct, treat participants with respect, provide support in a safe and competent way and have procedures in place to deal with all complaints. The care and safety of participants are priorities for all providers.
Why providers don’t register ?
The registration process takes a certain amount of time and effort and, of course, money. So some providers, particularly the smaller ones, don’t bother.
The length and complexity of the registration process depends partly on the size of the business and also on the registration groups (which define the type of service provided) that are selected. At best, the process involves a desk-top audit of information supplied by the provider and at worst it requires a site visit by auditors, which will be more complicated, take longer and cost more. And, of course, there’s no guarantee of success at the end of it.
Unregistered providers don’t have to undergo regular audits and are not bound by the quality and safeguarding requirements that the NDIS Commission sets. Being unregistered doesn’t mean they’re any less competent and professional so many providers just don’t bother to register.
However, an unregistered provider still has to comply with the NCIS code of conduct and provide competent and safe services, but doesn’t have access to the same number of participants since those who are NDIA-managed will be unavailable. Even those who are accessible may be reluctant to use an unregistered provider. So it may be advisable to try for registration, particularly as your business grows and you move on to other registration group services.
PROVIDERplus are the NDIS experts and they can make the registration process simple and easier for you to navigate. Having assisted more than 1600 providers with their registrations, we know exactly how to support you, ensuring your success. Contact us today to find out how PROVIDERplus can help you become a high quality and compliant NDIS provider
