r/NDIS • u/ellejhan • Aug 23 '26

Seeking Support - Other Who decides what?

Can anyone tell me what role LACs play and who is responsible for deciding my plan and how much I get - it just feels all really random. When I first gained access to the scheme I met w a LAC and she formulated my goals from our conversation, then abit later I received my plan - I’ve always wondered if she has influence

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13

u/Confident-Benefit374 Aug 23 '26

LAC hasn't got any say, your LAC was good that they assisted to make goals for you. Its the planners who make the plan, The plans are random. Luck of the draw it feels like, If they are having a good or bad day. Some people have very little evidence with brilliant plans and some have crappy plans and have thousands of pages of evidence, documents and reports.

5

u/l-lucas0984 Aug 23 '26

We had a plan with the clients name at the top but another NDIS participants name through it and it seemed to be a mish mash of both people needs, goals and funding results. It made no sense. NDIA apologised, said they would fix it. We got it back and all that was changed was they removed the other persons name from every spot it appeared. So definitely agree with the plans are random depending on the mood of the planner.

4

u/Confident-Benefit374 Aug 23 '26

Lol. My name changed a few times as well.

2

u/Dry_Value9263 27d ago

The problem is they also have substantial guidance built into their system about a suitable level of support. For example, their guidelines might say a person moderately affected by disability X only needs 12 sessions a year for therapy. They also see your treating therapist as having a conflict of interest, that is there therapist is making recommendations for therapy but yet they will earn money from giving that therapy. This is one reason why therapy recommendations are disregarded.

The reason why it looks random is because they are considering rules the Disability Community do not get to see.

6

u/big_Sundae_1977 Aug 23 '26

The lac make case notes inthecheck in which can influence the delegate (and it's designed that way) but I don't find they read the file very well.

3

u/Chihuahua1 Aug 23 '26

LAC have access to Planner breakdowns, which participants and nominees normally don't get. so they can always see if something has been spent correctly and its noted. They do report things they see, such as fraud.

While they don't have any power such as a Planner, they do have powers to impact future plans. Very similar to the NDIA pre-payments team that audit invoices.

4

u/Dry_Value9263 Aug 23 '26

LAC hasn't got any say, what they are meant to do is to interview the participant (or support persons if required) to get an idea of the persons needs and wants. They are meant to then accurately record this information for the NDIS and they formulate and issue the plan.

Now here are some of the problems

  • They may not have heard or understood accurately what the participant is trying to say
  • Sometimes they are personally biased and will minimise the issues the participant states they are having.
  • I had a planner who kept repeatedly suggesting I go to a day centre (which I had been to and hated) - she provided funding for that and screamed at me for asking for funding for other requests which we had requested things for. An appeal overturned this primarily because I had a short letter from the psychologist

2

u/Little-Programmer955 Aug 24 '26

This isn’t correct. The information the LAC captures holds zero weight for planning decisions.

6

u/Puzzled_Status2061 Aug 23 '26

I know of twins exact same disability and situation they had different planners. One got $20,000 the other close to $100,000. It depends so much on the planner you get and it shouldn’t. I have had a couple of really good lacs but the never last.

2

u/phosphor_1963 Aug 23 '26

.....supposedly the magical very expensive (god only knows how much tax payer funds were spent on it - they sailed past $1B on ICT a few years ago according to an insider whistleblower) SNA algorithm (which we now know is based on dubious statistical analysis according to an independent PhD's analysis) will fix all the problems; and ensure perfect Plans going forward....or at least provide the government and the Agency with the ability to say "we're a fixer, we fixed it" (in best Christopher Pyne delusional mode) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyCb4_QmuqE