When can’t you self-manage?

You won’t be able to self-manage your funding if:

  • you’re currently an insolvent under administration
  • you’ve been convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
  • you’ve been convicted of an offence punishable by 2 or more years in prison
  • self-managing would pose an unreasonable risk to you
  • you’re unlikely to spend your funding on only NDIS supports and in line with your plan.

If you have a plan nominee or child representative, they can ask to self-manage some or all of your plan funding. We won’t approve the request if:

  • they’re an insolvent under administration
  • they’ve been convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
  • they’ve been convicted of an offence punishable by 2 or more years in prison
  • allowing them to self-manage would pose an unreasonable risk to you
  • it’s unlikely they’ll spend your funding in line with your plan and only on NDIS supports.

Even if there are risks present, you, your plan nominee or child representative may be able to self-manage some of your funding.

We can help you manage the risks and spend your funding on NDIS supports in line with your plan, so that these risks are not unreasonable.

Bankruptcy and insolvency

Insolvency is when a person or company can’t pay their debts when they’re due. An insolvent person or organisation might also be declared ‘bankrupt’.

If you, your plan nominee, or child representative are insolvent, you can’t manage your NDIS funding. You won’t be able to self-manage if you fall into similar categories under the laws of another country.

If you’re unsure if this applies to you, contact the Australian Financial Security Authority .

Unreasonable risks

The NDIS Act and Rules say you can’t self-manage your funding if this would create an unreasonable risk to you.

Your plan nominee or child representative also can’t manage your funding if that would be an unreasonable risk to you.

When deciding if self-management would create an unreasonable risk to you, we think about:

  • whether self-managing might cause any harm to you
  • how vulnerable you are to physical, mental, or financial harm, and exploitation or undue influence from other people
  • if you need support to make decisions and manage your money
  • any supports you already have that may help you manage your money
  • how well you’ve managed funding for supports and services in the past
  • if you were previously bankrupt or insolvent under administration, how well you manage your money now
  • if you have a court or tribunal order that someone else manages your money, such as a financial trustee or guardian
  • any deliberate misuse of, or fraud, in relation to plan funds, by you, your child representative or nominee.

Identifying risks doesn’t always mean we’ll decide you can’t self-manage. We’ll talk to you about the risks, and if there are ways we can help you manage them.

Risks are only unreasonable if we consider that there are no suitable safeguards or supports available to manage the risk to you.

Purchasing NDIS supports in line with your plan

It’s important that you or the person managing your funding spend your money in line with your plan, and only on NDIS supports. Learn more about NDIS supports.

The NDIS Act and Rules say you can’t self-manage your funding if it’s unlikely you’ll spend your funding in line with your plan and only on NDIS supports. This includes if you deliberately do the wrong thing.

We understand most people try to do the right thing, but sometimes make mistakes.

We want to help you to do the right thing when you claim from your plan. We’ll help you understand where you might be making mistakes and connect you with information, support and resources you need.

Ways to minimise risk

If you’d like to self-manage but there are risks involved, we’ll work with you to identify ways to minimise the risk of harm to you or help you spend your funding only on NDIS supports and in line with your plan.

There might be supports or strategies we can help you with. We could:

  • fund supports in your plan to help you build your skills and confidence to self-manage
  • approve you to self-manage a smaller part of your NDIS funding when you start out
  • vary the length of the funding periods in your plan to reduce the amount of funding you can access at one time
  • give you a shorter plan
  • schedule regular check-ins with you.

Help from your informal supports might also minimise the risk of harm to you.

If there’s an unreasonable risk to you, or it’s unlikely your funding will be spent on only NDIS supports and in line with your plan, we’ll talk with you about other options for managing your plan funding.

You can still work toward safely self-managing in the future if you want to.

When we decide if there’s an unreasonable risk to you if your plan nominee or child representative manages your funding, we think about:

  • how good they are at managing money
  • if they’re likely to spend your funding on only NDIS supports and in line with your plan
  • if they have a personal or other interest that might lead them to use your NDIS funding on other things
  • if there’s anything that can minimise risk to you.

You can learn more about how we decide about self-management in Our Guideline – Creating your plan .

This page current as of
16 January 2025
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