Support Coordination is there to help you put your plan into action. If you have this funding in your plan, a Support Coordinator should help you understand your supports and make them work together in a practical way.
The NDIS says Support Coordination helps you build the skills you need to understand and use your plan. A support coordinator works with you to make sure a mix of supports is used to increase your capacity, manage service delivery tasks, live more independently and be included in your community.
What a Support Coordinator helps with
A good support coordinator should help you find providers, connect with community and government services, set up service agreements, solve problems when services are not working and prepare for unexpected changes. The NDIS also says they should help you build confidence and skills so you can make more of your own decisions over time.
They can also help you think about what is and is not working before your plan reassessment, and support you to change providers if needed.
What they should not do
A support coordinator should not make decisions for you. Their role is to support your choice and control, not take over.
The NDIS also says a support coordinator is not an independent advocate, although they can help connect you with advocacy services when needed.
How Support Coordination and Plan Management work together
Support Coordination and Plan Management do different jobs. A support coordinator helps organise supports and services. A plan manager handles the financial side, such as paying invoices and tracking budgets. Together, they can make a plan much easier to use.
What a first few weeks usually looks like
Good Support Coordination is front-loaded. Expect the early weeks to involve a proper conversation about what you want, a look through what is actually funded, and then contact with providers on your behalf.
By the end of the first month you should have a clear picture of what is in your plan, who is delivering what, and what is still outstanding. If a month has gone by and nothing has moved, that is worth raising.
Signs it is working, and signs it is not
- Working: you know who to call, things get followed up without you chasing, and you understand your plan better than you did.
- Not working: you are the one doing the chasing, you get referrals but no follow-through, or you cannot get a straight answer about what is funded.
You can change support coordinators. It is your plan and your funding, and you do not need to justify the decision to anyone.
How much is funded?
Support Coordination is funded in hours under Capacity Building, and the amount varies widely between plans. Your coordinator should be able to tell you roughly how many hours you have and how quickly they are being used — if they cannot, ask.
If you are also plan-managed, your plan manager sees the invoices and can tell you what has been claimed. Our post on Plan Management vs self-managed vs NDIA-managed explains how those two roles fit together.
What a Support Coordinator is not
They are not a support worker. Support Coordination is about setting up and managing supports, not delivering them, so a coordinator will not be doing personal care, transport or community access with you.
They are not your plan manager either. The coordinator arranges the supports; the plan manager pays for them. Two different funding lines, two different jobs, and it is common to have both.
They also cannot approve funding or change your plan. What they can do is help you build the case for the next reassessment, which is a different and slower thing.
For local, practical support from real people, contact Taylor Made Outcomes.
Official NDIS source: What your support coordinator should do
