WhatsUp Expenses

What you need to know.

Are you aware that as a Support Coordinator, you can charge for both travel and kilometres (among other things) when doing face-to-face visits to participants? It's true! However, this may come as a surprise to some in the industry, as it is not widely known

As a Support Coordinator, it's important to understand the charges associated with face -to-face support. This is not only handy for you as a provider but also to be aware of what your participants may be billed from by external providers.

According to the NDIS Pricing Arrangements, there are two types of costs: labour and non-labour. Labour costs refer to the time providers spend travelling to deliver support, which is capped at 30 minutes in MMM1-3 areas and 60 minutes in MMM4-5 areas.

Essentially the most you can charge with regard to travel time when you live in a MMM 1-3 area is 30 minutes, whilst MMM 4-5 is 60 minutes.

On the other hand, non-labour costs include road tolls, parking fees, and vehicle running costs, which may be negotiated with Participants for a reasonable contribution towards these costs.

It is worth noting that labour costs should be billed using the same line item as the primary support and the ‘Provider Travel’ service type, while non-labour costs should be billed using line item 07_799_0106_6_3 and the ‘Provider Travel’ service type.

Sidenote: Did you know? Providers may charge more than $0.97c per kilometre if the participant agrees to the charges in advance. Travel support line items are not subject to price limits, so providers can agree on a reasonable price for this type of support.

Where a support item does not have a price limit, the provider and participant should agree on a reasonable price for the support. If necessary, they should also agree on the billing schedule for the support. For example, they might agree that support should be claimed weekly. These claims are subject to the general claiming rules, including that, in general, supports can only be claimed after they have been delivered.

Essentially, anything without a price limit should be discussed and agreed upon prior to the delivery of the support. To ensure best practice, these should be documented in a signed service agreement which you, the organisation, have a copy of, and the participant also has a copy.

The NDIS Commission initiated another inquiry into platform providers operating in the NDIS market.

The purpose is to better understand how services accessed through platform providers support choice and control and facilitate the delivery of quality NDIS-funded services.