When booking appointments with your NDIS providers, like any other provider, there can be cancellation charges applicable to your plan if you are unable to attend on the day.
The terms for these cancellation charges tends to vary across providers so this can get confusing quickly when trying to determine if an invoice is correct and in line with guidelines.
According to the NDIS Guidelines (2022-2023), providers can charge 100% of the service fee for cancellations made within 7 days of the agreed support. This includes when you do not show up for an appointment within a reasonable timeframe and are not present for a provider travelling to you to deliver services.
There is no limit to how many cancellation charges you can receive from any one provider, however the NDIS does monitor cancellation charges and may contact providers who charge a large amount of cancellation fees. Your providers do have a duty of care if there are many cancellations occurring to discuss with you what is happening and attempt to reach an understanding.
These are the NDIS guidelines, but you may find that each provider you deal with has their own cancellation policy. This is normally included in your service agreement when you first sign up for servicing. This cancellation policy cannot require you to give more than 7 days’ notice as per the above guidelines.
If you have questions about the cancellation policies in your service agreements, you can reach out to your provider for clarification or speak to your Support Coordinator and Plan Manager.
For our participants at Aspect Plan Management, we are more than happy to help you understand any cancellation policies as well as any invoices with cancellation charges via phone or email. Just send a copy of the service agreement through to us to keep on file and we will assist you with understanding when the charges are applicable.
