Did you know that about 40% of all NDIS participants have some type of support coordination included in their NDIS Plan?
Support coordinators play a key role in helping NDIS participants to understand their NDIS Plan and work collaboratively with your local support providers (and your plan manager when you have one) to assist you to get the most out of your NDIS funding.
Today we’ll take a look at when support coordination is likely to be included in your plan and what you can expect from a support coordinator.
A quick recap on support coordination.
A support coordinator is a person who connects NDIS participants to organisations that provide supports and services including community, mainstream and government services.
Their job is to help you get access to the right supports and find the right mix of activities to achieve the goals set in your NDIS Plan. For more details check out our previous story What is support coordination?
Support coordination and your NDIS Plan.
Support coordination comes under the Capacity Building budget category in your NDIS Plan and it can be included in your first NDIS Plan or subsequent plans.
If support coordination is considered “reasonable and necessary” for you, your plan will include one of three different levels of support coordination.
- Support connection: Helps you build your ability to connect with supports to get the most from your NDIS Plan.
- Support coordination: coordination of supports: Assists you to build skills to understand and implement your NDIS Plan. This includes getting the combination of supports right so you can manage relationships, get the services you need and live more independently.
- Specialist support coordination: Helps people with more complex needs to manage challenges and gain access to allied health professionals such as occupational therapists, psychologists or other similar services.
Getting support coordination in your NDIS Plan.
Like any NDIS funding, whether you will get support coordination depends on whether it is “reasonable and necessary” for your needs.
You’re more likely to get support coordination if you have complex needs and difficulty accessing the services and supports required to achieve the goals in your plan.
Chances are, if you fall into one or more of the following groups, you may need greater assistance:
- Limited support networks
- Socially isolated
- Involved with other services such as justice or child protection
- Live in a remote or very remote location
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
- Culturally and/or linguistically diverse
- Complex interrelated support needs.
Who is likely to get support coordination?
Based on an analysis of NDIS Quarterly Reports, people aged over 35 are more likely to have support coordination included in their NDIS Plan. The highest number of participants with support coordination are in the 45-54 age group.
Support coordination is also more likely if you have one of the following:
- Psychosocial disability
- Acquired brain injury
- Other neurological condition
- Stroke
- Multiple sclerosis.
You may only need a support coordinator for a short period of time such as for the length of your NDIS Plan, depending on your circumstances.
Core budget flexibility.
In March 2020, three new support coordination items were added to the Core supports budget for participants to access additional hours of support coordination if required due to coronavirus.
If you do not currently have support coordination in your NDIS Plan, providing you have funding available in your Core supports budget, you can now choose to use it towards support coordination.
If you do not have enough funding available in your Core supports budget and would like support coordination, call the NDIS on 1800 800 110 and select option 5 for ‘Plan enquiries related to COVID-19’.
Take a look at the latest advice from the NDIS on their website.
How a support coordinator can help.
The tasks a support coordinator can help with depend on your individual needs and the amount of funding for support coordination in your NDIS Plan.
Your support coordinator often becomes an important part of your team – a supporter and connector who is up-to-date with NDIS processes and can answer your questions.
Some of the things a support coordinator can do are:
- Help you to understand your NDIS Plan
- Explain how to use the supports in your plan to achieve your goals
- Connect you to services and supports funded by the NDIS or other organisations
- Assist with service agreements and bookings
- Support you to manage your plan more independently
- Get together reports required by the NDIS
- Help you prepare for your next Plan Review
- Manage problems or issues with supports.
Like any NDIS funded support, you will have a limited budget for your support coordinator. Be sure to speak with them at the start of your plan about the things you would like them to do and work out what’s realistic with the amount of funding you have available.
We also recommend having a service agreement with your support coordinator so everyone knows what is expected of them.
Top tip: While a support coordinator can give you information and help you to make your own choices, they are unable to make decisions on your behalf.
Leap in! can help you find a support coordinator.
The Leap in! Provider Network Directory contains over a thousand supports and service providers, including support coordinators. Filter by location and service type – Support Coordination – to find support coordinators in your area.
Need help? You can contact the Leap in! Crew on 1300 05 78 78 or chat with us online via our website.
Further Reading
What is the difference between plan management and support coordination?
Finding the right Providers near you.
How to switch from agency or self management to plan management.