Practical Guide to the NDIS
               NDIS provider travel and participant transport
               Author: Pascale Dreyer, NDS Victoria
               Contact: Stephanie Worsteling, NDIS National Adviser, with any enquiries at 
               stephanie.worsteling@nds.org.au
               Provider travel and participant transport are different concepts. This practical guide 
               explains the differences and notes specific rules and arrangements for both travel 
               and transport under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
               The Practical Guides have been made available through Funding from the Victorian 
               Government's NDIS Transition Support Package.
               About Provider travel: Provider travel describes scenarios when a provider is able 
               to claim for worker time when travelling to deliver supports to a participant based on 
               the NDIS Provider travel information. This guide will refer to provider travel as worker
               travel time.
               About participant transport: Participant transport refers to the transport supports 
               used by participants, and may be funded in a participant’s NDIS plan to cover 
               relevant costs. If delivering community access supports providers are able to claim, 
               in addition to claiming for workers’ time, a contribution for additional transport costs 
               (such as, cost of public transport or cost per km for car usage) if agreed to in 
               advance by the participant.
               The Appendix provides practical examples related to travel and transport.
               Disclaimer: National Disability Services Limited (NDS) believes that the information 
               contained in this publication is correct at the time of publishing.  NDS does not 
               accept any liability to any person for the information or advice (or the use of such 
               information or advice) which is provided on in this guide or incorporated into it by 
               reference. The information is provided on the basis that all persons undertake 
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               Provider Travel
               There are a number of factors that determine whether a provider is able to claim for 
               worker travel time, including
                     the type of support being delivered,
                     the location of the appointment, and
                     where a worker’s journey starts and finishes
               Providers are able to claim worker travel time under certain circumstances when 
               delivering the following supports:
                     Personal care
                     Community access
                     Therapeutic supports
                     Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) supports
               Tips for service providers
                     Providers need to discuss worker travel time with participants prior to 
                      commencing services and must have the agreement of the participant in 
                      advance of claiming for associated costs.
                     Service Agreements should specify how and when providers will claim worker 
                      travel time, tailored to each individual participant.
                     When claiming worker travel time, providers need to keep accurate records 
                      for payment assurance purposes as the NDIA may audit providers at any 
                      time.
               For more information refer to the NDIS Provider Toolkit, Provider Payment and 
               Assurance Program.
               When worker travel time cannot be claimed
               There are a number of instances when worker travel time cannot be claimed. These 
               scenarios include (but are not limited to) if a worker:
                     Travels more than 20 minutes between appointments for personal care and 
                      community access supports, and therapeutic or ECEI supports in metro and 
                      other areas identified in the Modified Monash Model as being in MMM1−3 
                      areas.
                     Travels more than 45 minutes between appointments for personal care and 
                      community access supports, and therapeutic or ECEI supports in regional 
                      areas (MM−4 or 5)
                     When travelling from the final appointment to the office if delivering personal 
                      care or community access supports 
                     Delivers supports outside the scope of NDIA’s provider travel policy (for 
                      example, for support coordination)
               Refer to the Appendix for specific examples.
               Claiming for worker travel time
               When claiming for worker travel time, providers need to focus on where the service 
               is delivered as this has implications for the maximum amount of time that a provider 
               can claim for. Providers are able to claim up to 20 minutes of worker travel time if the
               appointment is delivered in a metro area, as determined by the Modified Monash 
               Model (note, MMM1−3 includes large regional centers). If the appointment is in a 
               regional area (MMM4 or 5) providers are able to claim up to 45 minutes of worker 
               travel time. This means that if a provider is traveling from one metro area to another, 
               they are only able to claim up to 20 minutes of travel time even if it takes 1 hour to 
               get there.
               Providers are required to claim separately for worker travel time using the 
               corresponding line item of the support delivered.1 This means that when claiming, 
               providers will need to identify the claim type as ‘travel charges’ in either the bulk 
               upload or individual payment request. For example if a provider delivers 2 hours of 
               personal care supports and the worker has travelled 15 minutes to the appointment, 
               the provider claims 2 hours of personal care supports as a standard claim, and 
               claims 15 minutes separately as a travel charge.
               Ways to increase efficiency
               Providers need to consider flexible ways of working to reduce worker travel time. To 
               increase efficiency, providers may wish to consider:
                     Meeting with the participant at the provider premises, if appropriate
                     Organising staff appointments according to the location of participants (to 
                      minimise travel time and distance between appointments)
                     Helping participants to coordinate the timing of periodic appointments for 
                      therapeutic supports (particularly in remote and regional areas)
               Participant Transport
               Providers can recover transport costs (for example, costs associated with use of 
               provider-owned vehicle) when ‘accompanying and/or transporting participants in the 
               community’, as a part of delivering community access supports, or when delivering 
               transport supports. For more information and examples, refer to the Appendix.
               Funding for transport
               Where it is reasonable and necessary, a participant plan may include funding for 
               transport. A participant is allocated transport funding if they cannot use public 
               transport without substantial difficulty as a result of their disability. It is not intended to
               cover transport assistance for informal carers or parents to transport the participant 
               1 See the ‘Step-by-step guide: myplace Provider Portal’
       to everyday commitments. For information about when transport funding is included 
       in a participants plan, refer to the NDIA’s Operational Guideline: Transport. 
       There are three benchmark levels of funding for adults who receive transport 
       funding. For more information, refer to NDIA Factsheet: Participant Transport.
       Participants are able to use their transport funding flexibly to cover their transport 
       costs. This may include (but is not limited to), paying for taxis or additional provider 
       transport costs (for example, costs negotiated with the provider – these may be 
       calculated by the amount of kilometres travelled). Support coordinators may need to 
       assist participants to understand how their transport funding can be used.
       NDIS funded transport supports
       Participants can choose to manage their transport funding in four different ways. 
       They can choose to have the NDIA manage their funding; choose a plan manager to 
       manage their funding; self-manage the funding; or receive periodic payments 
       (usually fortnightly or monthly) into their nominated bank account.
       If a participant receives transport supports or chooses to use their transport funding 
       to pay any additional provider transport costs, providers will need to recover costs 
       from the participant according to how their funding is managed. For example, 
       providers will need to invoice the participant directly for the additional provider travel 
       costs if a participant receives their transport funding as periodic payments into their 
       nominated bank account. 
       Providers should ensure that when claiming transport costs via the NDIA Provider 
       Portal, they use the appropriate NDIS support line item (i.e. transport: 
       02_051_0108_1_1), and do not claim the transport costs using a different line item. 
       Participants are also able to pay for any travel costs using their personal funds 
       (derived from their own non-NDIS income).
       What if the participant wants to exercise choice and control of their Core 
       supports to access more transport supports?
       Participants are able to use their Core supports flexibly across all support categories 
       (including transport), except where a participant’s total transport funding is set up as 
       periodic payments or if a participant has not been funded for transport supports.
       Participants can only use transport funding flexibly within Core supports if the 
       participant’s transport funds are NDIA-managed, plan-managed, or self-managed. 
       Participants may choose to have the NDIA manage some of their transport funds and
       receive the remainder as periodic payments. This would allow the participant to 
       access their Core budget flexibly if they would like access to additional transport 
       funding.