Notional Unit Price Support Items
Changes have been made to how a number of Support Items in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limit Updates - 2021/22 Price Guide are now claimed. Many Support Items that previously did not have a Price Limit, now have a Unit Price of $1 and are referred to as 'Notional Unit Price' Support Items in the NDIS Price Guide and Support Catalogue.
This article discusses what 'Notional Unit Price' Support Items are, how these Supports are identified in SupportAbility, some considerations when adding these Supports to Funding records, and when Allocating these Supports, as well as how NDIS Support Allocations with a Price higher than $1 are converted to a $1 Unit Price calculation automatically at the point where a Direct BPR is generated, or a Direct Invoice Batch is generated, given this is how these Supports must be claimed.
Audience: Authorised Representatives, Finance Team, Team Leaders
Summary
The following list summarises the content within this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
- What is a Notional Unit Price Support Item?
- How are Notional Unit Price Support Items identified?
- Considerations when adding Notional Unit Price Support Items to Funding records
- Considerations when Allocating Notional Unit Price Support Items
- How are Notional Unit Price Support Allocations with a Price over $1 calculated in Direct BPRs and Direct Invoice Batches?
- How to search for Notional Unit Price Support Items?
What is a Notional Unit Price Support Item?
On page 15 of version 1 of the 2021/22 NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits document, the NDIA states that:
Where a support item does not have a price limit then the provider and participant should agree on the reasonable price for the support...The provider should claim for that item by reference to the “notional unit price” that is set out in the 'NDIS Support Catalogue' or the 'NDIS Assistive Technology, Home Modifications and Consumables Code Guide'.
Example – Claiming for Activity Based Transport The activity based transport support items are not subject to price limits but have a “notional” unit limit of $1.00. If, as in the above example, the non-labour costs of the activity based transport was $21.50 (in this example against the support item 04_590_0125_6_1) then the provider would submit a payment request for 21.5 units at $1.00 a unit for a total cost of $21.50
In the NDIS Support Catalogue, these Support Items have been identified with the Type of 'Unit Price = $1':
How are Notional Unit Price Support Items identified?
Blue notification messages have been added to NDIS Support Allocations and NDIS Direct Client Funding records and to help identify Notional Unit Price Supports.
NDIS Support Allocations
NDIS Support Allocations that utilise the 2021/22 Price Guide also include a blue message to indicate which Supports have a 'Notional Unit Price':
NDIS Direct Client Funding record
A blue notification message is displayed for the relevant Supports in NDIS Direct Client Funding records created after the 1st of July, 2020:
Return to Summary
Considerations when adding Notional Unit Price Support Items to Funding records
If your organisation is using Flexible Category Budgets for Client Funding records e.g.
Then Notional Unit Price Supports belonging to this Support Category do not need to be added separately at all, they will be available to select from when Allocating Supports in Activities.
The only time that a Notional Unit Price Support Item needs to be added to an NDIS Direct Client Funding record is when:
- a Flexible Budget for the parent Support Category does not exist,
- a Budget is required to track the Utilisation of this Support Item specifically,
- you wish to add a default Price for this Support, other than the Default Price for Travel & Transport Supports as configured in System Preferences, or $1 for all other Notional Unit Price Supports,
- you wish to configure this Support Item with a 'Fixed Price Allocation' so the 'Customise Price' button is not available in the NDIS Support Allocations window,
- you wish to change the Financial Plan Manager of this Support Item specifically
When adding a Notional Unit Price Support Item to an NDIS Direct Client Funding record, this is identified by a blue message:
The Default Price of these Supports is $1, however, the Price for all Travel & Transport Supports, such as Activity Based Transport in the example above, is based on the Price that has been configured in System Preferences by your organisation e.g. 85 cents.
Whilst this will appear as a Price Limit in the Client's Funding record, these Supports are not treated as such, as outlined below for reference:
Please see the Configuring the Default Price for Travel & Transport Supports article for more information regarding this, linked below for reference.
In this example, our Client Joelene primarily uses a Modified Vehicle for Activity Based Transport, therefore we will choose 'Change Price' from the contextual menu:
And enter the Price of $2.40 here:
Flexibility is required when we need to charge for other ancillary charges, such as Road Tolls or Parking, therefore, selecting 'Fixed price Allocation' would not be appropriate. We have not selected 'Requires Budget', given a Flexible Budget for Category 4 exists and this Support Item is being added to the Funding record for the purpose of adding a different default Custom Price:
When this Support is Allocated, the Price can continue to be customised as required in the NDIS Support Allocation window in the Activity record as outlined below.
N.B. This is only possible when the Support Item does not have the 'Fixed price Allocation' setting configured in the Funding record. If this is configured, the 'Customise Price' button will not be available.
Considerations when Allocating Notional Unit Price Support Items
When Allocating Notional Unit Price Supports, it is important to ensure that the correct Quantity and Price is entered, even if this results in the Price being over $1. When a Notional Unit Price Support has a Price over $1, this is converted to align with the $1 Unit Price claiming requirement automatically, at the point of financial processing.
For example, if we are claiming 10 kilometres for Joelene at $2.40 per kilometre and a Road Toll of $5, we need to Allocate this as such:
Even though these Supports are subject to a $1 Unit Price, this is now factored in at the point where the Allocations are included in a Direct Bulk Payment Request and/or Direct Invoice Batch, as outlined below.
How are Notional Unit Price Support Items that require a Portion managed?
Where a 'Notional Unit Price' Support Item is also required to be divided by the number of participants in the group, the 'Full Price' i.e. the true total value for the group must be entered into the Quantity, and then the relevant Portion selected, for the Support to be apportioned by the number of participants, thus resulting in the correct Value being charged.
For example, 30 km needs to be charged for two participants for Activity Based Transport 04_591_0136_6_1 at the price of 85 cents per kilometre:
If the Portioned Price was in excess of $1, this is also converted to align with the $1 Unit Price claiming requirement automatically, at the point of financial processing, as outlined below.
How are Notional Unit Price Support Allocations with a Price of $1 calculated in Direct BPRs and Direct Invoice Batches?
In the case where a Notional Unit Price Support Allocation has a Price of $1 or over, this is converted to a $1 Unit Price calculation automatically, at the point where a Direct BPR, or Direct Invoice Batch is generated given this is how these Supports must be claimed. The Allocated values will appear next to this conversion for reference.
For example, whilst 10 x $2.40 and 1 x $5 were Allocated for Joelene, this has been converted to the $1 Unit Price calculation automatically i.e. 24 x $1 = $24 and 5 x $1 = $5 in the Edit Direct BPR:
Similarly, these Allocations are converted to the $1 Unit Price calculation automatically, when a Direct Invoice Batch is generated:
Whilst the Allocated values are displayed for reference, the converted values are what is included for these Supports in the Direct BPR export for the portal as well as Direct Invoice Batches for the NDIA or Plan Managers.
N.B. This conversion is only applied in the case of NDIA Invoices, or Invoices for Plan Managers, as this calculation is only required based on changes to how these Supports must be claimed.
How to search for Notional Unit Price Support Items?
Notional Unit Price Support Items can be searched for using the 'Support Items' search criterion in the following reports:
- Client Funding Search Report
- NDIS Budget Utilisation Report
- Allocations Report
For example, if you wish to review NDIS Support Allocations in Activities after the 1st of July, 2021 for Notional Unit Price Support Items that have not been Signed Off, this can be achieved using the Allocations Report:
