02/10/2024
Thanks to the Sam and the team at The Growing Space for this great summary of the legislative changes that start today!
Welcome to share: Sam's Initial key take-aways and perspectives on the new Support Lists released today - which start on Thursday!
WARNING: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice and is a very quick summary of some of the things that I think participants need to know now.
🗓️ Effective transition periods
• Plan managers must follow new rules by 2 November.
• Participants have 12 months to make changes without incurring a debt.
• If something From the outlist is already stated in your current plan or the AAT ruled it in, you will still be allowed to spend your money on that, but only for the life of the current plan.
• This legislation is transitional, so it only stays in place while we co design and develop the final Rules, so make sure you share your perspectives.
💵 Financial adjustments
• Participants will not owe money for spending less than $1,500 on non-approved items if it's a mistake.
• This rule applies if it happens fewer than 3 times (you get 2 warnings)
👥 Support coordination
• Participants can only use funds for support coordination if it is Stated in their NDIS plan.
• This includes self-managing participants.
🛠️ Replacement support determinations
• The old substitution rule has been updated.
• Participants can ask for exceptions for:
o Household items sold in stores.
o Smartwatches, tablets, or phones used for accessibility.
🚗 Specialized services
• Driver training:
o Now potentially available for participants with different disabilities.
o It must be stated in the participant's plan.
o It must be provided by a special driving instructor.
🐕 Assistance animals:
• Spending for assistance animals or community support only applies if stated in the plan.
________________________________________
🔄 Updates to the OUTlist (non-claimable items)
💇 Hairdressing services:
• Hair washing at the hairdresser is not banned now.
• Manicures, pedicures, artificial nails and other beauty services are still excluded.
🚫 Unchanged exclusions:
• Electricity generators remain on the list.
• Legal costs are now clearly excluded. This is an issue for self-managing participants who need legal advice on employment contracts, etc.
🏠 Impact on living arrangements:
• Rent is still on the outlist.
• This likely affects individual living options (ILO) and increases costs.
• Housemates providing in-home support must now be paid as support workers, which will change many shared housing setups and make them much more expensive.
🍽️ Meal delivery services:
• Excluded unless food and preparation costs are listed separately.
🏋️ Gym memberships:
• Still excluded when used for recreation.
💑 Dating and relationship services:
• Remain excluded, with no clear definition for what this means.
🎟️ Conference fees:
• Now excluded. Training sessions around disability related needs appear to remain claimable
👨🏫 Coaching services:
• Life, career, and cultural coaching remain excluded.
• Support workers may be able to support similar executive functioning outcomes.
👶 Childcare services:
• After-school care, au pairs, and school holiday programs are excluded.
📬 Postal services:
• Non-claimable.
• This will affect assistive technology delivery claims.
🔧 New funding provisions
• And surprisingly, NDIS funds might now be able to be used for property repairs for disability-related damages.
There is a lot more information in these lists. I have just pulled out the things that stuck out to me as different from the draft lists or particularly. unwieldy or silly.
This stuff is all law on Thursday this week!!! I will put a longer form version of this in the comments.
To learn more come and join me (Sam Paior) and Chris Coombes. at our "Can I still buy it?" workshop next week: https://www.thegrowingspace.com.au/events/can-i-still-buy-it-1110/
________________________________________
📖 Hard words glossary
📜 Substitution: Replacing one thing with another.
🚫 Exclusion: Something not allowed or funded.
👨🏫 Coaching: Training to help improve skills.
pic desc: A promotional poster for the Can I still buy it? Workshop, which says new ndis laws and what they mean for your plan spending. It shows a picture of a shopping cart with things in it. The Growing Space logo and little avatars for Chris Coombes and Sam Paior
