Are you familiar with the NDIS cancellation policy? At the start of the 2022-23 financial year, the NDIA amended the definition of short notice cancellation in the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits but at Johnny H we continued with the old cancellation framework until now.
Firstly lets look at what a short notice cancellation is. A cancellation is considered a short notice cancellation if the participant:
- Does not show up for a scheduled support within a reasonable time, or is not present at the agreed place and within a reasonable time when the provider is travelling to deliver the support; or
- Has given less than seven (7) clear days’ notice for a support
Why is this important? Short notice cancellations allow providers to claim 100% of the NDIS fee associated with the booking from the participant’s plan. Simply put, you will still be billed for the service.
Understanding the NDIS Cancellation Policy
“Clear days” means complete days that do not include the day the period begins and the day of the event. So, the seven days does not include the day the participant gives notice and the day the service is to be delivered. So if the event you are booked in for is a Sunday ( say 23rd day of month), the last day you can cancel without effecting the short notice cancellation period would be the Saturday prior (meaning 15th of month).
This new definition has been simplified from the outgoing two-tier system, previously set at two days’ notice for shorter supports and five days for other supports. Until 21st July 2022, Johnny H kept our cancellation policy unchanged where you can continue to provide 48 hours’ notice if you wish to cancel a service.
However, all new clients and existing clients with bookings made from 21st July 2023 are now covered by the seven-day cancellation period. This means that any event booked in to, where the short notice cancellation is applicable (anything aside from SLES and U-Learn), you will need to provide us at least seven clear days’ notice to cancel a service.
You can see our updated cancellation policy on our website.
Conditions for short notice cancellation claims
We can only claim the fee for your cancelled service if all of the following conditions are met:
- The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits indicates that providers can claim for Short Notice Cancellations in respect of that support item (which they always are); and
- The proposed charges for the activities comply with the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (again which they always do); and
- The provider has the agreement of the participant in advance that is, the service agreement between the participant and provider should specify that Short Notice Cancellations can be claimed, which is why you’ll notice a new check box in the check out process; and
- The provider was not able to find alternative billable work for the relevant worker and are required to pay the worker for the time that would have been spent providing the support.
Clarification on groups
Another key point is that as our supports are delivered to a group of participants, if you cancel a booking and we unable find another participant to attend the group session in your place then, if the other requirements for a short notice cancellation are met, we are permitted to bill you at the previously agreed rate that you would have been billed if you had attended the group. All other participants in the group will also be billed as though all participants had attended.
Avoiding short notice cancellations and disruptions
We want to avoid disruptions to participants’ care to ensure they are adequately supported and their NDIS funding is maximised. However, life happens! Participants may need to cancel due to a variety of reasons, anything from sudden illness, other unforeseen events, or they have simply forgotten that they have a service booked and is unable to meet the support worker. If a one on one service is cancelled, we will still need to pay our hardworking staff, hence, the need to claim from plan funds if the claim is eligible to be paid due to the NDIS cancellation policy. Additionally if travelling in a group activity it’s not fair that the other clients have their ratio changed at the last minute to cover the cost of the staff.
To avoid confusion, we make it clear to participants when onboarding how the policy works, and why its good practice to give as much notice as possible if they will be cancelling a booking. Our cancellation policy is also included on all bookings made through our website.
NDIS cancellation policy and duty of care
While there is no hard limit on the number of short notice cancellations for which we can claim, we also have a duty of care to our participants and want to do the right thing by peoples plans and the NDIS. If a client has an unusually high number of cancellations, we are duty-bound to find out why. In extreme cases we may even cancel ongoing bookings, or not process bookings for events in advance due to the number of short notice cancellations we receive. We will always look for opportunities to talk through this decision with you in advance as well as other key stakeholders including, but not limited to, your Plan Managers, Support Coordinators, families members, and any other care givers.
We are committed to delivering services, programs and life opportunities that change lives for the better without debilitating your plan and this change of cancellation policy is to better help us with this goal.
