Lifestart Terms of Service

Lifestart’s Terms of Service outlines how we provide services.

This is important information to understand when agreeing to services with us. If you have any questions, please contact us on 1800 953 390.

We may need to change our Terms of Service from time to time. When we make these changes, we will let you know in writing four weeks before something changes.

Rights and responsibilities

We will

• talk with you about the supports you would like to receive
• develop a service plan with you and provide the supports that we have agreed on
• communicate openly and honestly
• treat you with courtesy and respect
• include you in all decisions about how supports are provided
• keep clear records about the supports we provide
• review your services with you and check with you that you are satisfied with your supports
• listen to your feedback and resolve problems as quickly as we can
• give you regular invoices and activity statements for your supports
• respect your privacy and keep your information confidential
• make sure you have all the information you need to make informed choices
• tell you if we have to a change an appointment
• tell you if Lifestart needs to change or end this Service Agreement and give you the agreed notice
• follow all relevant laws and guidelines and follow the NDIS Practice Standards to ensure services are of high quality.

You will

• discuss with Lifestart the supports you want and how you want to receive them
• work together with the Lifestart team
• treat Lifestart with courtesy and respect
• talk to Lifestart if there are any problems and concerns about the supports being provided
• tell Lifestart if you need to change your supports or can’t make an appointment
• tell Lifestart if you need to change or end the Service Agreement
• tell Lifestart if you have an NDIS plan and let Lifestart know if it changes, or if you stop being part of the NDIS.

Charges

We charge for all time spent supporting you and your child. This support is sometimes provided in person and sometimes when we are not with you or your child. We will always discuss and agree on supports with you beforehand.

What we charge for

• All appointments including sessions in person and online
• Travel to the location where you want your appointment (see ‘Travel’)
• If there is more than one staff member attending an appointment, you will be charged for each therapist. We will always discuss who is attending before your appointment
• Talking to you about your supports in person, on the phone, text messages and emails
• Writing your family service plan and session summaries. We will only charge this time if we don’t have time to write notes during your appointment
• Working with other people in your life to support you to achieve your goals. This could be other therapists, school staff, early educators, family members, support workers or anyone else who supports your child
• Creating individual resources to help you achieve your goals
• Completing assessments and writing reports, including NDIS review reports
• Helping you with home modifications or assistive technology
• Cancelled sessions that you do not tell us about in advance (see ‘Cancellations’).

What we don’t charge for

• Completing service agreements and service bookings in the NDIA portal
• Booking appointments with you
• Getting ready for your appointment
• Providing you with resources that we do not have to individualise for you
• Invoicing and payments
• Discussing any feedback you wish to provide including compliments and complaints
• Students or staff who attend appointments for their learning.

Travel

Lifestart provides support in the location that will help you and your child achieve their goals. This can include your home, early childhood centre, school, or in the community. We charge for the time it takes to travel to your appointment:

• We charge up to 30 minutes for the time taken to travel to an appointment.
• We charge up to 30 minutes for the time taken to travel from your appointment to our usual place of work if you are the last appointment the staff member attends that day.
• We calculate travel on the time it takes staff to travel to you. Travel time can vary so the travel charge you receive for each appointment will vary, even if each appointment is in the same location.
• Where possible we book appointments with other clients in your area on the same day to reduce travel costs.

You can choose to have your appointment at a Lifestart office or online to reduce travel costs.

Cancellations

If you need to change or cancel an appointment, please tell us at least two days before, and let us know within regular business hours (8am-5pm Monday to Friday).

• If you miss an appointment or cancel within two business days, you will be charged the full cost of the appointment
• If we can reschedule your appointment within 2 weeks of your cancelled appointment (subject to staff availability), you will not be charged a cancellation fee
• If staff can complete other work at the time of your appointment you will not be charged a cancellation fee. Please give staff as much notice as possible so that they can try and replace your appointment time
• If there are exceptional circumstances preventing you from giving two days’ notice and you would like to discuss this, please contact us.
• The above rules apply to individual supports. Please see group program (programs of support) for cancellation.

If you cancel your appointments often, we will discuss your supports with you and any help you need to attend your appointments. If we can’t find a solution, your supports may be put on hold until you are able to regularly attend.

Group programs (Programs of support)

Programs of support is what the NDIS call group programs. You can check your service agreement to see which of your Lifestart supports are a considered a program of support. Programs of support have some different terms of service to individual supports.

• If you do not attend an appointment in your group program you will be charged the full cost of the appointment, even if you tell us you aren’t coming.
• If you want to leave the group program, you must give us 2 weeks’ notice. All scheduled appointments in the two weeks’ notice period will be charged whether you attend or not.

Payment and invoicing information

NDIA managed

• Non PACE Participants – If your funding is NDIA Managed, a service booking will be created in the portal for the agreed funds in the service agreement to enable Lifestart to claim directly from the NDIS for services provided. PACE Participants – By endorsing Lifestart as your preferred provider with the NDIS, we are able to claim directly for services provided without delay. If you do not endorse Lifestart as your preferred provider, the NDIS will send you an SMS with a link requesting your formal consent for each claim that Lifestart makes for services provided.

• We will send you a statement summarising the services that have been provided.

• Non PACE Participants – You can keep track of your funding by checking your service booking in the NDIS participant portal. PACE Participants – It is important that you keep track of your funding by checking the funding in the NDIS participant portal. It is your responsibility to ensure there are sufficient funds available to pay for the services as you have agreed to in the service agreement. If there are insufficient NDIS funds available to cover the cost of services provided, we will contact you directly for payment

Self-managed, plan managed and fee for service

• If you self-manage or plan-manage your NDIS plan, or pay privately on a fee for service basis, we will send invoices to you or your plan manager after we provide service.

• Payment is required within 7 days of the invoice date.

• You can pay invoices with your credit card on Lifestart’s website, or by direct payments to Lifestart’s bank account. You can find payment details on the bottom of your invoice.

• When the payment is received, we will send you a receipt.

• If you do not pay your invoice within 1 month of issue, we will send you a reminder

• If payment is not received within 5 weeks, or your account is owing more than $600 we will place your services on hold for two weeks or until payment is received.

• If payment is not received 8 weeks after issue, we will cancel your service and may engage a debt collection service to recover payment

• If you are having difficulty paying your invoices, please contact us to discuss

Feedback and complaints

We want to know what you think about Lifestart and the service you are receiving. You can tell us when you have suggestions for how we can do things better or you can make a complaint anytime you want to.

There are different ways you can give us feedback or make a complaint

• You can talk with a Lifestart staff member at your appointment, over the phone or send an email.
• You can call our main office on 02 9364 0111 and ask to speak with a Manager.
• You can fill in a form on our website www.lifestart.org.au/give-feedback
• You can email Lifestart directly feedback@lifestart.org.au
• You can phone or write to the CEO at Lifestart. This person is Lifestart’s most senior manager. (02) 9364 0111 Mail: The CEO Lifestart, PO Box 3277 Putney NSW 2112
• You can ask someone you trust to help you give feedback or make a complaint. This person does not have to be a Lifestart staff member.
• We can arrange for you to have an interpreter to help you give feedback or make a complaint.

Someone from Lifestart will contact you within 2 working days after hearing about your complaint. We will treat you fairly when you give us feedback and it will not affect any services you get from Lifestart.

There are other organisations that can help you with a complaint. You can contact them if you are not happy with the way we manage your feedback.

1. NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
Ph: 1800 035 544 or email: contactcentre@ndiscommission.gov.au
2. National Disability Insurance Agency
Ph: 1800 800 110 or email: feedback@ndis.gov.au
3. NSW Fair Trading
Ph: 13 32 20

For more information on our Feedback and Complaints policy please visit www.lifestart.org.au/feedback-and-complaints-statement.

Quality

Lifestart strives to provide you with the best services possible. We are audited regularly to check that we always meet the standards for a high quality service.

The auditor may want to contact you to find out what you think about Lifestart. Or they may just want to look at your file.

Before an audit, we will let you know if the auditor would like to speak with you. If you do not want to participate, just let us know. You can ‘Opt Out’ at any time.

Privacy

Lifestart needs to collect some personal information about you. This helps us to support you.

We only collect the information that we need to provide the services you have asked for.

The things you tell us are private. We protect your information and keep it safe. We follow relevant laws and standards to store and protect your private information.

When you give us your personal information you consent to Lifestart storing your personal information on our system. We want to make sure your personal information is up to date. You can ask to see your records or update your personal information at any time.

We will only share your personal information with someone if you give us permission to do so. We may share your information without your permission if we have concerns about you or your child’s safety and telling someone is required by law.

For more information on your privacy, how your personal information is managed or to give feedback or make a complaint about our privacy policy please visit www.lifestart.org.au/privacy-statement.

Child safe organisation

Lifestart is a child safe organisation. We all want children and young people to be safe. We do this through:

• Effective recruitment screening including Working with Children Checks and NDIS Worker Checks
• Annual child safety training for all staff
• Valuing the participation and voice of children and young people
• All Lifestart staff are mandatory reporters. This means that by law we must report any concerns about the safety and wellbeing of a child or young person.