Apportioning the Price of the required Group Supports
This article outlines how to divide the price of Supports by the number of participants in a group using the feature available in SupportAbility to help providers manage this.
This is completed in the 'NDIS Support Allocations' window of the Client's Activities, with the relevant Support being allocated to participants and the 'Portion' of service delivery then selected for each participant.
Audience: Authorised Representatives, Finance Team, Team Leaders
Summary
The following list summarises the content of this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
- Apportioning the Price of the required Group Supports
- Available Portion Options
- How are Portions Displayed?
- How are the Supports that need to be apportioned determined?
Apportioning the Price of the required Group Supports
When it is stipulated in the NDIS Price Guide that the Support Item can be used in a group, the relevant 'portion' of service delivery that needs to be charged for each participant must be selected in the NDIS Support Allocations window of the Client's Activities. Once the Quantity has been entered, a validation message appears indicating that the relevant portion is required:
The relevant ratio of service delivery must be selected and expressed as '(Number of Staff) : (Number of Clients),' e.g. 1 Staff Member supporting 3 Clients would be '1:3':
Once selected, the 'Full' Price of the Support (e.g. $63.21) is multiplied by the Portion selected (1:3) to determine the relevant Price 'Portion' ($21.07). Then this is multiplied by the Quantity (5) to determine the subsequent 'Value' to be charged ($105.35):
Price Limit ($63.21) x Portion (1:3) = Price Portion ($21.07) x Quantity (5) = Value $105.35
Searching for NDIS Support Allocations by Portion is possible for those with the required privileges using the Allocations Report. For more information regarding this, please see the Allocations Report article linked below for reference.
Custom Price
When the NDIS Support Allocation requires the Price to be Customised (i.e. those that are set to a Quote being required in the Price Guide, or those with no Price Control $0), the 'Full' 1:1 price of the Support must be entered. SupportAbility automatically calculates the price portion and value based on this:
Available Portion Options
The portion options available represent the most common ratios used when delivering Group Supports, as requested by our subscriber base, in their simplest form:
There are fewer ratio options available when service delivery is comprised of two or more Staff as these ratios can generally be expressed in simpler forms.
For example, a 2:10 ratio is not available, as this can be expressed in the simpler form of 1:5:
Which equates to the same Price Portion result mathematically:
- $63.21 x (1/5) = $12.64
- $63.21 x (2/10) = $12.64
The same could be said for other ratios such as 3:15, 4:20 etc.
Why are 2:1 or 3:1 Portions not available?
Portions where the number of Staff is higher than the number of Clients, e.g. 2:1, are not available as this would result in the apportioned Price exceeding the Price Limit. In such scenarios, a combination of the available portions must be used.
For example, if a support ratio of 2:1 was provided for 3 hours total, then the NDIS Support Allocations would be completed as follows:
This will ensure that the Price Limit is not exceeded and that the Client is charged for the level of support provided.
How are Portions Displayed?
Badges are displayed in the Activity record reflecting the portion ratio/s selected:
This ratio information is also included at the end of the Support Item description in the 'Detail' section of the Client Funding Statement once the related Activity has been Signed Off, and in Direct Invoices:
How are the Supports that need to be apportioned determined?
Unfortunately, the NDIA does not specify which Support Items require apportioning in the data version of the Price Guide i.e. the NDIS Support Catalogue, which SupportAbility relies upon.
Therefore, the only way to identify which Supports require apportioning is to review each Price Guide update manually to ensure they are updated correctly in SupportAbility.
The SupportAbility v8.9 release introduced an update allowing for the apportionment of any Support Item that can be delivered to groups when completing allocations related to the 2024/25 and subsequent Price Guides.
If your organisation still notices any Supports that require apportioning but do not have the ability to do so in SupportAbility, please have your Authorised Representatives report this to support@supportability.com.au so we may investigate this further.
If the Price Guide does not explicitly state that the cost of the Support must be divided by the group of participants, further evidence from the NDIA may be needed before this can be updated in SupportAbility.