Your child’s NDIS plan: regular plan reviews

What is an NDIS plan review?

Your child’s NDIS plan will be reviewed regularly, usually every 12-24 months. This is called a plan review – agency initiated.

Plan reviews check that the funding for supports in your child’s plan are still:

meeting your child’s needs
helping your child work towards their NDIS goals.

What to expect when an NDIS plan review is coming up

About 3 months before your child’s NDIS current plan is due to end, your early childhood partner or local area coordinator (LAC) or an NDIA planner will contact you to arrange a review meeting.

If you get to 2 months before your child’s current plan ends and you haven’t heard about a review, contact your early childhood partner or LAC, or the NDIA.

The end date of your child’s current plan is on the plan. You can also find the end date on the myplace portal.

Your child’s current plan will be extended by up to a year if the review meeting doesn’t happen or the new plan isn’t approved before the current plan ends. This means you won’t have a gap in funding, and you can keep using your child’s current plan until you get a new one.

Preparing for an NDIS plan review meeting

You can prepare for the plan review meeting by thinking about the following questions:

How did you use the funding in your child’s current plan? How did the supports help your child work towards their goals?
What supports worked well, and what didn’t work well?
Did your child make progress towards any of their goals?
Which goals does your child need to keep working on? Which goals do you need to change? Do you need to add any new goals?
Will there be any changes in the next 12 months that mean your child needs more support or different goals – for example, starting a new school or moving house?
Who can help your child work towards their goals?
Do you have any unspent funds in your plan? Why? For example, your child might have missed sessions because they were sick or needed a break. You can’t roll over unused funds, but you might need similar funds to support your child’s goals in the next plan.
Do you want to change how all or some of your child’s funds are managed?
Do you want to make any changes to your carer’s statement?
Is a 12-month plan right for your child? Or would you prefer a longer plan?
Do you want to take a support person with you to the meeting?

Getting NDIS plan review reports from NDIS providers

As part of your preparation, you’ll sometimes need to contact each of your NDIS providers to ask them for an NDIS plan review report. These reports show how your child’s plan has been used and ensure the new plan is right for your child.

The reports should include information about:

the service – for example, number of sessions
the effect of your child’s developmental delay or disability on everyday life
your child’s progress
challenges or issues your child has faced and strategies used to resolve them
recommendations for the next plan.

If you’re using registered NDIS providers, they should be ready to provide a report. But you might need to request a report from providers who aren’t registered for the NDIS. It’s a good idea to give these providers plenty of notice.

Providers will charge for reports. The fees are included in your child’s current NDIS plan.

If you have a support coordinator, they can help you get reports from providers. Your LAC or early childhood partner might also be able to help. Your support coordinator will also need to provide a report.

It’s best if you send the reports to your LAC, early childhood partner or NDIA planner before the meeting.

The NDIS plan review meeting

You’ll have a meeting to do your child’s NDIS plan review.

If your child is younger than 7 years and is supported through the early childhood approach, the meeting will usually be with your early childhood partner.

If your child is 7 years or older, the meeting will probably be with your LAC or an NDIA planner.

You can choose to have the review meeting face to face, by video chat or over the phone.

At the plan review meeting, you’ll discuss the following areas:

Your child’s goals: which goals has your child worked towards achieving? Do you need to set any new goals for your child’s next plan?
Services and supports: how did the services and supports in your child’s last plan meet your child’s needs and help your child work towards achieving their goals?
Your child’s developmental delay or disability and its effect on everyday life: have there been any changes – for example, does your child have a new diagnosis or health condition that affects their everyday life?
Your family circumstances: is your child starting preschool or school, or moving schools? Have there been any family changes, like a new baby on the way? Has anything affected your ability to provide care and support?
Mainstream and community services: does your child need support to take part in new or different activities?
NDIS eligibility: has anything changed that might affect your child’s eligibility for the NDIS?
Other new information: is there anything you want or need to discuss that isn’t covered above?

Your child’s NDIS plan should be helping your child make progress, achieve new things and work towards their NDIS goals. Plan reviews can be a great opportunity to look at your child’s NDIS goals and how supports are helping your child meet them.