Plan manager

What is an NDIS plan manager?

An NDIS plan manager is a registered NDIS provider that pays a participant's providers from their plan-managed funding, checks each invoice against the NDIS rules and keeps the financial records. The participant still chooses their supports and providers. The plan manager is paid from separate funding in the participant's plan, so their fees don't reduce the money for other supports.

This page is about the provider: what a plan manager does, the rules they must follow, and how to choose or change one. The funding option itself, and how it compares with self-management and NDIA-managed funding, is explained under plan management.

The NDIA describes a plan manager's main role as financial administration: tracking spending, processing invoices, paying providers and keeping records, while checking claims meet NDIS integrity and compliance requirements (NDIA: What is a plan manager). Plan managers can be large national businesses, small local firms or not-for-profits. All of them must be registered NDIS providers.

What a plan manager does (and doesn't do)

According to the NDIA, once you have plan management funding your plan manager will talk to you about how you'll work together, help you understand your plan and what counts as an NDIS support, manage and monitor your budget, check and submit claims, pay your providers, keep your records and send you regular statements. It is just as useful to know what falls outside the role.

Finding and connecting with providers is the job of a support coordinator or a local area coordinator. Some organisations offer both support coordination and plan management. If yours does, ask how they manage the conflict of interest, and remember you can choose different organisations for each.

Rules NDIS plan managers must follow

Plan management is a regulated service. The key obligations come from the NDIS Commission's registration system, the NDIA's pricing arrangements and its guidance for plan managers:

• Registration. Plan managers must be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission for registration group 0127 – Management of funding for supports in participants' plans, which is assessed by a verification audit (NDIS Commission: registration groups). The Commission's documentation guide links this group to accountant or bookkeeper qualifications for staff working as plan managers.
• Price limits. Plan managers must apply the NDIS pricing arrangements and price limits, making sure prices don't exceed the limits whether the provider is registered or unregistered (NDIS pricing arrangements).
• Invoices and ABNs. Every payment request must be supported by a valid tax invoice with the provider's ABN, unless the provider is exempt from quoting one and supplies the ATO's statement by a supplier.
• Timeframes. The NDIA expects a plan manager to check an invoice and lodge a payment request within 5 business days of receiving it, and to pay the provider or reimburse the participant within 2 business days of receiving the NDIA's payment (How to support a participant as a plan manager).
• Claim time limits. Claims have had to be lodged within 2 years of the support since October 2024. From 1 December 2026 the limit falls to 90 days after the support is delivered (NDIA: securing the NDIS for future generations).
• Conduct. Like every NDIS provider, plan managers must follow the NDIS Code of Conduct and the NDIS Practice Standards for their registration.

In the NDIA's newer computer system (PACE), a plan manager gets connected to a participant by being recorded in the participant's plan. The plan manager can submit a relationship request with the role "plan manager" through the my NDIS provider portal, or the participant can ask the NDIA to record them (NDIA: how to be recorded as a my provider).

How plan managers are paid

When a participant chooses plan management, the NDIA adds funding to pay for it in the participant's Capacity Building "Improved Life Choices" budget, separate from their other supports (NDIA: What is plan-managed funding). The plan manager claims its fees from that funding. The NDIS pricing schedule sets the maximum a plan manager can charge, and has traditionally done so as a one-off set-up fee and a monthly fee. Look up the current plan management items and limits in the NDIS price guide rather than relying on an old figure.

Because the fee is capped and funded separately, plan managers compete mainly on service: how fast they pay, how clearly they report, and how easy they are to reach.

Plan manager vs support coordinator vs local area coordinator

These three roles are the ones participants confuse most. The short version: the plan manager handles the money, the support coordinator helps you use your plan, and the local area coordinator connects you to the NDIS and community.

How to choose a plan manager

Any registered plan manager can work with you, wherever you live. Questions worth asking before you sign their service agreement:

You can check a provider's registration on the NDIS Commission's provider register before you sign. Read the service agreement for the notice period to end it, so you know how easy it is to move later.

How to change your plan manager

You can change plan managers during a plan. The new plan manager needs to be recorded against your plan, and your providers need to know where to send invoices. A typical change looks like this:

Working with plan managers as a provider

For providers, plan managers are often the biggest single source of payments. You don't have to be registered to be paid by a plan manager for most supports, but you do have to send an invoice they can check against the rules. The NDIA's record keeping requirements and the plan manager's own checks mean a good invoice shows:

• your business name and ABN (or the ATO statement by a supplier if you are exempt);
• the participant's name and NDIS number, with one participant per invoice;
• one line per support and date, with the support item number, quantity or hours, and unit price;
• prices at or below the limit for the item, date, time of day and region;
• cancellations, travel and non-face-to-face time on separate, clearly labelled lines;
• your payment details and terms.

The free NDIS invoice generator lays these out for you. Ask each participant for their plan manager's details at the start of every new plan, because the plan manager or the management type can change. If a plan manager short-pays or queries a line, the usual causes are a price above the limit after a price change, the weekday item used for a weekend shift, a date outside the plan, or a cancellation bundled into a support line. Remember the clock: from 1 December 2026, the plan manager has to claim within 90 days of the support, so a provider who invoices late leaves the plan manager little time to check and claim.

The plan manager panel: what changes from 2027

The 2026 NDIS amendments change who can be a plan manager. The NDIA's changes to plan management page sets out the timeline: a request for information to plan managers from October 2026, a request for tender on AusTender from April 2027, a panel of plan managers from 1 October 2027 with a 6-month transition, and from April 2028 only panel members can deliver plan management. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing describes the aim as improving service quality and integrity and reducing fraud (summary of the changes).

• Participants whose plan manager isn't on the panel will be supported to move to one that is during the transition.
• Plan managers that want to keep operating need to apply through the tender process when it opens.
• Providers who invoice plan managers should expect some participants to change plan manager between late 2027 and 2028, and keep plan manager details current.

Panel criteria, pricing and service standards were still being designed in October 2026. Treat any claim about who will or won't make the panel with caution until the NDIA publishes the tender.

Common mistakes with plan managers

• Expecting the plan manager to find providers. That's a support coordinator's role. A plan manager can tell you whether a support fits your plan, not who should deliver it.
• Assuming they can pay any agreed price. A plan manager can't pay above the price limit, even if you and the provider both agree.
• Not updating providers after a change. Invoices sent to your old plan manager can be delayed past the claim time limit.
• Ignoring statements. Statements are your chance to spot a wrong charge or a budget that is running low.
• Choosing on fees alone. Fees are capped and funded separately, so speed, accuracy and communication matter more.
• Using a plan manager that also delivers your supports without safeguards. Ask how they separate the two roles and how you can complain.