NDIS & HCP and your business

What is the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)?

The NDIS allows more than 500K Australians who have a permanent and significant disability, access to funding that they can use for supports and services to improve their quality of life.

What are Home Care Packages (HCP)?

HCPs are Government funded services that can help Senior Australians (over 65) remain at home for longer, as well as providing choice and flexibility in the way care and support is provided. There are currently over 150K HCPs in Australia which is set to grow significantly in the years to come.

What role does food & nutrition play in these programs?

It is becoming increasingly accepted regarding the importance of providing nutritious food for both NDIS & HCP participants. The programs are designed to assist in achieving this.

How do the packages work?

There is some complexity to this, however essentially participants are able to either:

• Pay for their meals upfront and then get reimbursed via their Plan Manager
• Pay for only 30% of their meals upfront, with the supplier recovering the balance directly through their   Plan Manager

The reason for the 30% portion is the Government only reimburses the preparation and delivery costs, not ingredient costs. This split is standard across food businesses.

How does Cookaborough enable cooks to provide these services?

In order to claim meals, the participants are required to provide an approved tax invoice that splits the cost of the ingredients and meal preparation.

If a participant qualifies to pay only 30% upfront, the platform will automatically issue an invoice for you to their Plan Manager for the balance. Invoices are generally paid within 3-5 business days.

Why do participants love only paying the 30% upfront?

Participants are telling us they love this option as it means they are only out of pocket for a much smaller amount and don’t need to do all of the administration that they would otherwise in order to claim it back.

Who is eligible for only paying 30% upfront?

All HCP participants are able to access this function, whilst only NDIS participants on Plan-Managed accounts can access this. If NDIS participants are on Self-Managed accounts, they are required to submit a copy of the approved tax invoice and claim back via the Government’s Portal.

How can cooks use these programs to grow their businesses?

These programs provide you with a great avenue to grow your businesses. As the participant is only out-of-pocket for 30% of the meal cost, they are not as price sensitive as they would otherwise be and many of these participants have also reluctantly been accessing mass produced and poor-quality food. The overwhelming feedback we have received is they love receiving fresh, nutritious meals, cooked by someone in their community that they can relate to.

What marketing initiatives can cooks adopt?

There are numerous ways of connecting with HCP participants. These can include local golf courses, lawn bowling clubs, senior citizens’ clubs and the like. Offering discounts to these groups is a really effective way of encouraging them to try the product.

In terms of connecting with NDIS participants, one effective way is to build a relationship with Plan Managers who generally oversee a number of other participants.

Overall, as with any marketing approach, positive word-of-mouth is the most effective method and opportunities will arise as the word spreads. Our Refer-a-Friend feature is also available for you to use.

Am I a ‘Registered Provider’ and can I use the NDIS logo?

It is important to note Cookaborough and the cooks using the platform are not Registered NDIS Providers, rather we are fully compliant to NDIS standards for Self-Managed and Plan-Managed participants to utilise our services.

Unless you have completed the NDIS Provider registration process, you should not make claim to being an NDIS Registered Provider. To find out more about becoming an NDIS Provider visit www.ndis.gov.au/ providers/becoming-ndis-provider

To promote your support and compliance you are able to use the ‘I/we heart NDIS’ logo. These logos can be accessed via www.ndis.gov.au/contact/trademark-and-use-logo

What is the process?

1. Log in to www.cookaborough.com
2. Go to Settings
   > Go to Kitchen page
3. Scroll down to NDIS & HCP Programs
4. Tick the box
   

How to activate your account

Follow these steps to activate your account to enable NDIS & HCP participants to be able to order from you.

HCP PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS

1. When a participant requests a quote you will receive a confirmation email.
2. The participant’s Care Manager will have also received the quote for review.
3. If the Care Manager accepts it, you will be sent a notification and the participant will be able to place an order while receiving the discount.
4. If the Care Manager rejects it, you will need to liaise with them to resolve the issue prior to them accepting it.
5. Once an order is placed the invoice is sent to the Care Manager for payment within 3-5 business days.
6. Once paid, you need to mark it off by going to Orders > Food > edit the order and select ‘Mark off’.
   

NDIS PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS

Plan-Managed

1. When a participant requests a quote you will receive a confirmation email.
2. The participant’s Plan Manager will have also received the quote for review.
3. If the Plan Manager accepts it, you will be sent a notification and the participant will be able to place an order while receiving the discount.
4. If the Plan Manager rejects it, you will need to liaise with them to resolve the issue prior to them accepting it.
5. Once an order is placed the invoice is sent to the Plan Manager for payment within 3-5 business days.
6. Once paid, you need to mark it off by going to Orders > Food > edit the order and select ‘Mark off’.
   

Self-Managed

1. When a participant requests a quote you will receive a confirmation email.
2. No action is required as the platform will automatically generate the required invoice template for the participant to claim back through their Government Portal.

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