Plan-managed vs self-managed: who do I invoice?

Three ways a plan is managed

NDIS funding can be managed in three ways, and how the funding for your support is managed decides where your invoice goes and who pays it.

Plan-managed

A plan manager is a business the participant uses to handle their NDIS funding. You send the invoice straight to them, and they claim from the NDIA and pay you. The NDIA's guidance to plan managers is to pay providers within 2 business days of the NDIA paying them.

Put the participant's name and NDIS number on the invoice: a plan manager keeps both with every claim. Put your ABN on it too: the NDIA's Guide to getting paid says an invoice to a plan manager must include a valid ABN, unless you're exempt from providing one. Because the claim is made against the NDIS Pricing Schedule, your rate can't be more than the price limit for the support item, and your invoice needs the support item number for the support you delivered.

Invoice promptly. The plan manager can't claim until they have your invoice, and the NDIA says that from December 2026 claims must be submitted within 90 days of delivering a support.

Self-managed

The participant, or someone acting for them, manages their own NDIS funding. You invoice them directly and they pay you. Self-managed participants aren't held to the NDIS price limits, so the rate is the one you agree, though the NDIS Code of Conduct, which unregistered providers follow too, asks you not to charge NDIS participants more than other customers without a reasonable justification.

Put on the invoice what the participant has to check before they claim: the support dates, your ABN, the hours or quantity, a description of the support, the unit price and the total. After they've paid, send them a receipt or the paid invoice: the NDIA's Guide to getting paid says they enter it in the participant portal to acquit the expense against their plan.

NDIA-managed, and why an unregistered provider can't take it on

Here the NDIA pays providers from the participant's plan itself. You don't invoice the NDIA: a registered provider is paid by submitting a payment request in the NDIA's myplace provider portal. Unregistered providers can't be paid from NDIA-managed funding.

Unregistered providers can work with self-managed and plan-managed participants, except for supports that need a registered provider, such as behaviour support, specialist disability accommodation and supported independent living. And it's changing: the NDIA says that from July 2027 it will expand mandatory registration for some providers, including those who deliver personal care and daily living supports. If that's the support you deliver, this may affect you, so check the NDIA's 'What is a provider?' page and its page on the new NDIS laws for where you stand.

Prices may change too. The government is consulting on 'differentiated pricing', which would set different price limits for registered and unregistered providers, and the NDIA's 2026–27 Annual Pricing Review recommended it begin on 1 January 2027.

Ask before the first shift

Three things, in writing, before you start: how the funding for your support is managed, who to send the invoice to and their email, and the rate you've agreed. A written service agreement is a good place to keep all three, so the invoice goes to the right place the first time.