What you are agreeing to

Purpose

The purpose of this agreement is to describe the supports provided by Impressions Choice Support under your NDIS plan. This agreement is in the context of the NDIS, a scheme that aims to:

• support the independence and social and economic participation of people with a disability
• enable people with a disability to exercise choice and control in the pursuit of their goals, and in the planning and delivery of supports.

Impressions Choice Support - Responsibilities

Impressions choice support agrees to:

treat you with courtesy and respect

communicate openly and honestly, in a timely manner

work with you to provide services that suit your needs

review your services with us when needed, at minimum every 3 months

give you information about managing complaints or disagreements

give you information on how to change or cancel supports

plan and coordinate any transitions to and/or from our services

listen to your feedback and resolve problems quickly

protect your privacy and confidential information

comply with all policies and procedures

follow all relevant laws, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 and rules, Australian consumer law, and the Privacy Act 1988

give you a minimum of 24 hours’ notice, where possible, if Impressions Choice Support needs to cancel, or change, a scheduled service

keep accurate records, and issue regular invoices and statements of supports provided.

Participant - Responsibilities

Participant agrees to:

work with Impressions Choice Support to ensure that services meet your needs

treat Impressions Choice Support staff with courtesy and respect

communicate openly and honestly with Impressions Choice Support, and discuss any concerns about services being provided

provide Impression Choice Support with any plans and/or assessments necessary to deliver safe and quality services e.g. positive behaviour support plan

reduce identified risks e.g. within your home, when staff are delivering services, hygienic environment and  control measures to minimise the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the health and safety of their workers and participants. This is a requirement under Work Health and Safety laws.

pay all invoices for agreed services, transport, and/or other expenses within 7 days

let Impressions Choice Support know if there is a change to your NDIS plan, if it is suspended, replaced by a new plan, or if you stop being a NDIS participant.

Choice and Control

Choice and control means you have the power to make decisions over the things that affect you and your life. You can make choices that are right for your goals and needs.

• The NDIS defines choice and control as: “The right for a participant to make their own decisions about their supports. This can involve choosing the supports they receive, including how and when the supports are provided, having a range of service providers to work with and having the option to manage their own plan funding.”
• You can choose and change service providers.
• You can choose the service providers you work with. Even if someone has recommended a provider or you have a quote, it’s okay to choose someone else. People who use a plan manager or self manage can use registered and unregistered providers, meaning there are more options.
• If you’re unhappy with a provider or they’re not the right fit, you can change to another. Be sure to follow any rules or notice periods in your service agreement if you plan to switch.

Supports and Payments

Impressions Choice Support will provide you with services identified in your NDIS plan. Further details are in attachment 1: schedule of supports. All prices are inclusive of GST (if applicable) and include the cost of providing services.

Additional expenses (things not included as part of your NDIS funding) are not included. You must pay for these things, for both yourself and the worker, where applicable. Most venues will accept your companion card or support staff IDs.

For self-managed and plan managed funds, Impressions Choice Support will invoice you or your nominated plan manager for services delivered (not including additional expenses), These invoices are sent on a weekly basis.

The NDIS sometimes change their service pricing or rules. Impressions Choice Support will charge in line with any changes. We will let you know if this happens, in writing. The NDIS will automatically increase your support budget to cover any price increases

Participant Transport

Transport costs associated with community participation supports and transport supports are not included in the hourly support rate. This includes the cost of public transport, parking fees, road tolls, taxi fares and kms travelled.

Impressions Choice Support charges $1 per kilometer for all kilometers travelled in a workers’ vehicle, during a support shift with you in the vehicle.

You can choose to use some of your core or capacity building budget, to pay for agreed transport costs incurred during community participation supports. You can also pay for a support worker to transport you to, from, or as part of a community participation support.

If you choose not to pay for transport costs using your NDIS budget, Impressions Choice Support will invoice you directly, for all agreed transport costs.

You can only pay for a worker to transport you to an activity that is not a support itself, or a support delivered by another provider (e.g. to work) if you have a transport budget in your plan. This is the same as using a Taxi or Uber service.

If there is more than one NDIS participant being transported, Impressions Choice Support will share the cost equally between the participants.

Impressions Choice Support will only claim for transport costs agreed in the attachment 1: schedule of supports.

Provider Travel

Impressions Choice Support can charge for the time its workers spend travelling to you. This time is charged to your plan, and is deducted from the total budget of the relevant support category. The NDIS support catalogue explains when we can claim travel time, and the NDIS price guide indicates how much time can be claimed:

Impressions Choice Support can claim a maximum of 30 minutes when travelling to deliver a support, or from one support to another.

If the service is a core support, Impressions Choice Support cannot claim any time travelling home or back to their office.

If the service is a capacity building support, Impressions Choice Support can claim a maximum of 60 minutes travelling home or back to their office.

Impressions Choice Support will only charge for provider travel if the address to deliver the supports is more than 20kms of the participant’s home or workplace where supports were originally agreed. If travel costs are incurred, additional to the cost of a worker’s time, when travelling to deliver face to face supports to you Impressions Choice Support will charge:

$1 per kilometer for all kilometers travelled in a workers’ vehicle

the full amount for other travel costs, such as road tolls, parking, public transport fares.

• If you choose to pay for these additional costs from your NDIS plan, they will be deducted from the total budget of the relevant support category.

If you choose not to pay for additional travel costs using your NDIS budget, Impressions Choice Support will invoice you monthly, for agreed costs.

If a worker is travelling to support more than one NDIS participant in the region, we will share the cost between the participants.

Impressions Choice Support will only claim for travel time and additional costs agreed in the attachment 1: schedule of supports.

Shiftcare Rostering System

Impressions Choice Support use a ShiftCare software Participants are able to access shift notes at any time upon request. We require 48 hours notice to send shift notes to participants. We will send participants and SMS of booked shifts a week in advance. Please advise us if you would like shift reminders and we will send you an email a week in advance of your upcoming booked shifts.

ShiftCare allows staff to clock in and out of shifts, write extensive shift notes, log mileage, incidents.

Non-face-to-face Supports and report writing

For some supports, Impressions Choice Support can claim for non-face to face activities e.g. report writing or developing support plans for workers. Impressions Choice Support will only claim for non-face to face supports agreed in the attachment 1: schedule of supports.

Impressions Choice Support will not claim for administrative tasks such as scheduling supports, training or submitting claims.

Goods and Services Tax (GST)

For the purposes of GST legislation, Impressions Choice Support and the participant confirm that:

the participant has an NDIS plan

the NDIS plan is expected to remain in effect while the supports are provided

the supply is of reasonable and necessary supports, and described in the participant's NDIS plan

there is a written agreement to deliver these supports, between the Impressions Choice Support and the participant.

the participant or representative will inform Impressions Choice Support if there is a change to the NDIS plan, if it is suspended, replaced, or if the participant stops being an NDIS participant.

Cancellations

If a service is cancelled at short notice, or there is a no show, Impressions Choice Support can charge 100% of the agreed support fee. A short notice cancellation is when you:

do not show up for a support within 15 minutes of the scheduled start time, or

give less than 2 business days’ notice to cancel a support that is less than 8 hours long and $1000 in value, or

give less than 5 business days’ notice for any other support.

Impressions Choice Support will only charge for a short notice cancellation (or no show):

for support items that the price guide allows short notice cancellation claims, and

when they cannot find other billable work for the relevant worker, and if they must pay the worker for their time.

The NDIS monitors short notice cancellations and may contact Impressions Choice Support about participants with a high number of cancellations. We will work with you to minimise cancellations and make sure your plan is meeting your needs.

To cancel a support , please call Debbie on 0437549600.

Changes to this agreement

Any changes need to be agreed, put in writing, signed, and dated by you and Impressions Choice Support.

If either you or Impressions Choice Support want to change regular services, at least 14 days notice should be given. Special circumstances will be discussed on an individual basis.

You must tell Impressions Choice Support if there is a change to your current NDIS plan.

Ending this Agreement

If you or Impressions Choice Support wants to end this service agreement they must give 30 days notice, ensuring a smooth transition away from the service. If you or Impressions Choice Support seriously breaks this agreement, the agreement can end with no notice.

You must also tell Impressions Choice Support if your current NDIS plan is suspended, replaced or if you stop being a NDIS participant. Impressions Choice Support will only provide agreed services within the agreement start and end dates, and while you have an active plan. If you still want to receive services from Impressions Choice Support after the service agreement end date, or with a replacement plan, you need a new service agreement.

Feedback, Complaints, and Disputes

Impressions Choice Support welcomes all feedback, compliments, and complaints. If you would like to provide feedback, please email admin@icsupport.com.au

If you are not happy with your supports and would like to make a complaint, please contact Debbie on 0437549600.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, or do not want to talk Debbie McIntyre you can contact:

National Disability Insurance Agency by calling 1800 800 110, visiting www.ndis.gov.au or visiting one of their offices in person.

NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission by calling 1800 035 544 (interpreters can be arranged), or visiting www.ndiscommission.gov.au/about/complaints.

If you would like support, Impressions Choice Support can support you to contact and make a complaint to the National Disability Insurance Agency or NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

Schedule of supports — current rates

Impressions Choice Support charges the maximum rate the NDIS allows. Rates are reviewed each 1 July when the NDIA reissues its pricing.