A written service agreement is essential to the delivery of services to participants in the NDIS.  Whether you are developing a new service agreement or updating your existing agreement, there are a few key issues that should be managed.  This article discusses five key issues with some helpful further resources.

A key objective for the service agreement is to explain the supports that will be delivered.  An effective way to do this is to include a “schedule of supports” that lists each item of support and the time and day of the week those supports will (generally) be delivered.

In our experience, it is likely that needs and circumstances fluctuate, which will result in changes to the plan.  For this reason, it is preferrable to record information about the supports that will be delivered separately in a schedule to the agreement (or similar). This makes it easier to update.

Information in the schedule of supports is usually formatted into a table.  You can access a free template schedule of supports from our website here.

In addition to changes in rate limits, there are regular changes to claiming rules that alter what costs can be claimed by providers delivering certain categories of supports.  This includes telehealth services, non-face-to-face support provision, staff travel and activity-based transport.  Importantly, the claiming rules for these costs require that the provider obtain the participant’s agreement to claim for these things in advance. 

MPS Law has developed a template service agreement and schedule of supports that you can preview here.

This commentary is general in nature and provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be comprehensive and does not constitute legal advice.  You should seek legal or other professional advice or consult with the appropriate government authority if you are unsure about how the issues raised in this commentary apply to the circumstances of your business.