You have Support Coordination funding in your NDIS plan.
You meet your Support Coordinator.
But after several months, you begin wondering:
What exactly should my Support Coordinator be doing?
It is an important question.
Support Coordination is not supposed to be simply another person making telephone calls on your behalf.
Current guidance from the National Disability Insurance Scheme describes Support Coordination as a Capacity Building support designed to help participants understand and use their NDIS plans, connect with providers and community and mainstream services, and build confidence and skills to coordinate their own supports.
For participants and families in Point Cook, Seabrook, Sanctuary Lakes, Williams Landing, Altona Meadows, Laverton, Hoppers Crossing and surrounding western Melbourne communities, here is what that can mean in practice.
1. Your Support Coordinator Should Help You Understand Your Plan
An NDIS plan can contain unfamiliar terminology, funding categories and rules.
A Support Coordinator can help you understand what your plan contains and how its funded supports can be implemented.
That does not mean deciding how your funding will be used without you.
Instead, the coordinator should help you understand your options so you can make informed decisions.
For example, you may need help understanding:
what particular funding is intended to achieve;
which supports you want to prioritise;
how different providers could contribute towards your goals; and
what questions to ask before entering a service agreement.
The goal should be increasing your understanding of your own plan.
2. They Should Help You Turn Funding Into Actual Support
Having an approved NDIS plan and successfully implementing it are different things.
A participant may have funding but still struggle to find appropriate providers.
This is where Support Coordination can be particularly useful.
The NDIA says Support Coordination can help participants connect with NDIS providers, community services, mainstream services and other government services.
Suppose a participant in Point Cook needs several different supports.
Rather than simply handing the participant a directory of provider names, meaningful Support Coordination might involve helping them:
identify what they actually need;
research appropriate options;
compare providers;
contact potential services;
understand service arrangements; and
establish supports they have chosen.
The Support Coordinator facilitates the process.
The participant remains the decision-maker.
3. They Should Understand What Matters to You
Good Support Coordination begins with goals rather than provider vacancies.
Imagine a participant says:
“I want to become more independent.”
That is important, but broad.
A useful Support Coordinator might explore what independence means to that individual.
Does it mean:
learning to use public transport?
managing appointments?
developing household skills?
finding suitable community activities?
building friendships?
exploring employment?
becoming more confident communicating with providers?
The coordinator can then help identify supports and community connections that relate meaningfully to those goals.
The question should not simply be:
“What can we spend the funding on?”
It should also be:
“What are we trying to achieve?”
4. They Should Give You Meaningful Provider Choice
A Support Coordinator will often know local providers.
That knowledge can be extremely useful.
A coordinator familiar with Point Cook, Laverton, Altona Meadows, Williams Landing and Wyndham may know which organisations provide different supports across the area.
But local knowledge should create more choice, not less.
The NDIA expects Support Coordinators to help participants identify providers who can meet their needs and explore different support options.
Participants should not feel they must automatically accept whichever provider their coordinator recommends.
Ask:
Why do you recommend this provider?
What alternatives are available?
Can I speak with more than one before deciding?
Your Support Coordinator can advise.
You choose.
5. They Should Help Your Providers Work Together
Many participants receive support from several people.
For example, a participant might work with:
a support worker;
occupational therapist;
speech pathologist;
plan manager;
GP;
community organisation; and
other mainstream or disability services.
These services can become disconnected.
One provider may not know what another is doing.
Important information may not reach the right people.
Appointments may overlap.
Recommendations may conflict.
With appropriate participant consent, Support Coordination can help improve communication between the people involved in implementing the participant’s supports.
This can be particularly valuable when needs are more complex.
6. They Should Help You Identify Problems Early
Support Coordination should not only become active when something goes seriously wrong.
A coordinator can help monitor whether the participant’s support arrangements remain workable.
For example:
Is an important provider repeatedly cancelling?
Is the participant struggling to access a particular support?
Is there a gap in services?
Are supports contributing towards the participant’s goals?
Are there problems with a service agreement?
Has the participant’s situation changed?
Are there barriers preventing the plan from being implemented?
Identifying these issues early gives participants more opportunity to respond.
A good coordinator should not simply ask:
“Is everything okay?”
They should help the participant understand what is working, what is not working and what might need to change.
7. They Should Build Your Capacity—not Create Dependence
This is perhaps the most important part of Support Coordination.
Current NDIA guidance describes it as Capacity Building.
The NDIA says Support Coordination helps participants build confidence and skills to use and coordinate their supports. It also describes Support Coordination as usually being a time-limited NDIS support intended to help participants become more self-sufficient and confident managing funding, providers and supports.
That means a Support Coordinator should not unnecessarily make themselves indispensable.
Where appropriate, they might help you learn:
how to contact providers yourself;
how to compare services;
how to understand service agreements;
how to prepare questions for providers;
how to organise supports;
how to raise concerns; and
how to make informed decisions.
Some participants will continue to need substantial coordination assistance.
Others may gradually take over more tasks themselves.
Capacity building should reflect the individual.
8. They Should Help You Connect Beyond the NDIS
Not every solution needs to come from an NDIS provider.
This is sometimes overlooked.
The NDIA explicitly includes connecting participants with community, mainstream and other government services as part of Support Coordination.
For a participant in Point Cook, this might mean exploring appropriate connections with:
local community organisations;
recreation opportunities;
mainstream health services;
education;
employment services;
housing services; or
other government programs.
The NDIS is intended to work alongside—not replace—mainstream, community and informal supports.
A Support Coordinator who only searches the NDIS provider market may therefore be missing part of the picture.
9. They Should Help You Prepare for Important NDIS Conversations
Support Coordinators can also help participants organise information relevant to their plans.
This might include helping the participant understand:
how their current supports are working;
progress towards goals;
service gaps;
barriers encountered;
changes in circumstances; and
information from providers that may be relevant to future planning conversations.
This does not mean a Support Coordinator can guarantee additional funding.
Nor can they decide what the NDIA will fund.
Their role is to help the participant understand, organise and communicate relevant information.
What Should a Support Coordinator NOT Do?
A Support Coordinator should not take control of your plan away from you.
They should not pressure you to choose a particular provider.
They should not hide conflicts of interest.
They should not make significant decisions without involving you.
They should not automatically organise services simply because funding exists.
And they should not make promises about what the NDIA will approve.
All registered and unregistered NDIS providers, including Support Coordinators, must comply with the NDIS Code of Conduct. Current NDIA guidance also tells participants to raise quality or safety concerns with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission where appropriate.
Support Coordinator vs Plan Manager: What’s the Difference?
These roles are often confused.
A Support Coordinator helps you understand and implement your NDIS plan, connect with providers and services and build your capacity to coordinate supports.
A plan manager primarily helps manage the financial administration of plan-managed funding, including paying providers and handling relevant claims.
They can both help you manage aspects of an NDIS plan, but they perform different functions.
Plan management funding sits within the Capacity Building Improved Life Choices category, while Support Coordination has its own Capacity Building support category.
Three Levels of Support Coordination
Current NDIA guidance identifies three levels:
Support Connection
Designed to build a participant’s ability to connect with informal, community and funded supports.
Support Coordination – Coordination of Supports
Helps participants build the skills required to understand and use their plans and coordinate an appropriate mix of supports.
Specialist Support Coordination
A higher level of support intended for participants with more complex situations who need specialist assistance to address challenges in their support environment.
Having Support Coordination in your plan does not automatically mean you have Specialist Support Coordination.
Check what your individual plan contains.
How Do You Know Whether Your Support Coordination Is Working?
Instead of measuring Support Coordination only by the number of emails sent or telephone calls made, consider the outcomes.
Ask yourself:
Do I understand my NDIS plan better?
Have I been connected with appropriate supports?
Was I given meaningful choices?
Are important service gaps being addressed?
Do my providers understand what I am trying to achieve?
Am I becoming more confident making decisions?
Does my coordinator listen to what matters to me?
Those questions get much closer to the purpose of Support Coordination.
Seven Questions to Ask a New Support Coordinator
Before choosing someone, consider asking:
- How will you learn about my goals and support needs?
- How will you help me understand my plan?
- How do you find and compare providers?
- How will you give me genuine provider choice?
- How will you help when a provider relationship isn’t working?
- How will you help me build confidence managing my own supports where possible?
- How will we review whether Support Coordination is actually helping me?
The answers can reveal a great deal about the coordinator’s approach.
For Families, Plan Managers and Allied Health Professionals
Referral partners can help participants get more value from Support Coordination by communicating the problem that needs coordinating, rather than simply saying:
“Participant needs a Support Coordinator.”
With appropriate consent, explain relevant barriers.
Perhaps the participant has an approved plan but has been unable to establish services.
Perhaps several providers need better coordination.
Maybe the participant is experiencing a major life transition.
Perhaps they need help understanding their options.
The clearer the context, the easier it is to determine what useful Support Coordination should focus on.
Talk to BHA Disability Services
If you are an NDIS participant, family member, carer, plan manager, allied health professional or referral partner looking for Support Coordination or other relevant disability support in Point Cook or Melbourne’s western suburbs, BHA Disability Services welcomes enquiries.
Tell BHA Disability Services about the participant’s goals, current support arrangements, barriers and relevant supports in their NDIS plan.
BHA Disability Services can discuss the services it actually provides and whether they may be appropriate for the participant’s circumstances.
Good Support Coordination should ultimately help answer a simple question:
“Is my NDIS plan translating into meaningful support in my everyday life?”
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an NDIS Support Coordinator actually do?
A Support Coordinator helps eligible participants understand and implement their NDIS plans, connect with NDIS providers and community, mainstream and government services, and build confidence and skills coordinating supports.
Can a Support Coordinator choose my providers?
They can help identify and compare providers, but participant choice and control remain central to the NDIS. The participant should make the decision about which providers they want to use.
Is Support Coordination permanent?
Not necessarily. Current NDIA guidance says Support Coordination is usually included as a time-limited support and is intended to help participants become more confident and self-sufficient managing supports and providers.
Can my Support Coordinator contact providers for me?
Yes, helping participants connect with providers and establish appropriate supports can form part of Support Coordination. The broader objective should also include building the participant’s capacity where appropriate.
Is a Support Coordinator the same as a plan manager?
No. A Support Coordinator primarily helps implement and coordinate the plan and build participant capacity. A plan manager manages financial administration for plan-managed NDIS funding.
What is Specialist Support Coordination?
It is a higher level of Support Coordination for participants with more complex situations who require specialist assistance addressing barriers and challenges within their support environment.
For current official information, see the NDIS explanation of Support Coordination, NDIS guide to Capacity Building supports and NDIS guidance on what your Support Coordinator should do.
