Typical support packages - what are they? Do I want one?
DATE POSTED: 14 AUGUST 2022
When navigating through the land of NDIS, you may hear the abbreviation, TSP. You may have seen it before in recipe books, but rest assured it is something completely different to a teaspoon in the NDIS space.
A TSP is a Typical Support Package.
A Typical Support Package is a set amount of funding the NDIS formulates based on a participant’s disability. It’s the amount assumed to be ‘enough’ to cover the therapy and daily living needs of an individual with that particular disability.
The NDIS will assign a participant a TSP if they have insufficient evidence on the participant and are not quite sure of how much funding is required. You may feel like you provided a lot of evidence to the NDIS, but beware that the evidence must be specific in stating what supports are needed.
If you think you have been allocated a TSP or the plan just isn’t sufficient for the participant’s needs, we suggest you gather and submit the following evidence:
Functional Capacity Assessment – Our current assessment data tells us there is a relationship between a participant’s functional capacity and their budgets. Generally, participants with a low functional capacity and higher support needs tend to require more funding than those with high functional capacity and lower support need. *we don’t necessarily agree with the fact you need to assess what a person can/can’t do, but unfortunately it’s how the scheme works.
Environmental and Personal Factors – the NDIS will also take the following into account when allocating funds for a participant:
Living arrangements
Complex behaviours
Support provided from family + friends
So providing evidence on the above factors is crucial for receiving an accurate level of funding.
We recommend completing a Carer’s Statement to provide carer and family context to the NDIS. If you’re not sure what to write, we have a template that prompts you with examples on what to write. You can find it here if you’d like to use it.
We hope this helps you to better understand what a Typical Support Package is.
The Achievable TeamEmpowering families on the NDIS journey
PS – a handy resource is the Data page on the NDIS website. It shows you based on a participant’s location, disability and age how much the average plan is. It should be used as a guide, as we mentioned above, there’s a variety of factors that go into deciding NDIS funding.
Check it out here.
