FUNDING & REFERRALS
How NDIS Funding Works
• Your NDIS plan includes funding in different support categories: Core, Capacity Building and Capital. These define what supports or services you can use your funding on. • Cook + Connect fits under Capacity Building (because you’re building skills like cooking, hygiene, budgeting, planning) and Core Supports depending on your goals. • Supports must be “reasonable and necessary”, meaning they relate to your disability, help you achieve your goals and represent value for money.
Using Your Plan for Cook+Connect
• If your plan includes goals related to independence, daily living skills, health & wellbeing, community participation or employment, Cook+Connect is likely eligible. • You can use different plan management types: Self-managed, Plan-managed or NDIA-managed. We work with all types. • Before enrolment we’ll check your plan to see what supports and funding are available and help you determine if Cook+Connect can be included.
Getting Referred
• Support Coordinators, Local Area Coordinators, or allied health professionals can refer you to Cook+Connect. • You can also contact us directly; our team can guide you and liaise with your coordinator/NDIA to see how Cook+Connect fits your goals. • Having recent reports (e.g. functional assessments, allied health) and goal statements in your plan helps with referrals. • We can provide you with a quote for Cook+Connect supports that you can submit to the NDIA to have this added to your budget
What’s Not Covered
• If supports are not clearly related to your disability or are outside what your plan funds, they may not be funded. • Everyday costs unrelated to support (e.g. general groceries, rent, utilities) are usually not fundable. • We’ll help you understand your plan’s limits and what costs you might need to cover yourself.
Tips for Making the Most of Funding
• Make sure your plan goals are clear and include cooking, wellbeing, independence, social/community participation if those are important to you. • Keep documentation: goal statements, health or occupational therapy assessments- these strengthen the case that Cook+Connect is a reasonable and necessary support. • If your needs change (you want more support or a different format), ask for a plan review. • Our NDIS manager is always happy to help; they can be contacted by calling the office or sending an email if you have any questions related to how you can use your plan to engage with Cook+Connect.
R dropped in to tell us that his son K who participated in the @Work program had got a job at the Fairmont resort. He wanted to say a big thank you to the staff at Ben's café and the NDIS team to say that they contributed a great deal to K's sucess at getting a job
Jemima loves attending the Cook+Connect group it’s her favourite part of the week!
Tilly loved the Cook+Connect group and she really likes the facilitator and the others in the group