Support coordination is one of the most valuable supports the NDIS funds — when it's done well. A great coordinator can save you hours of phone calls, untangle a confusing plan, find providers you'd never have discovered, and make sure your funding actually does what it's meant to do. A poor coordinator just hands you a list and disappears.
What is NDIS support coordination?
Support coordination is funding in your NDIS plan that pays for someone to help you implement that plan. They help you find providers, build service agreements, manage relationships with your supports, and get the most value out of your budget. They are not your case manager, your therapist, or your advocate (though good ones do bits of all three).
The three levels of support coordination
Level 1 — Support Connection
Short-term, lower-intensity support to help you understand your plan, get connected to a few key services, and get going. Often funded for participants who are new to the NDIS or who only need a little help to get started.
Level 2 — Coordination of Supports
The most common level. Your coordinator helps you build a network of supports, manage relationships with multiple providers, navigate challenges as they come up, and prepare for plan reviews. This is what most people mean when they say "support coordination."
Level 3 — Specialist Support Coordination
For participants with high or complex needs — for example, where there are significant mental health, justice, or housing complications. Delivered by qualified practitioners (often social workers or allied health professionals) at a higher hourly rate.
What a great support coordinator actually does
- Returns calls and emails within a day or two, every time.
- Sends you written notes after meetings so you have a record of what was discussed and decided.
- Helps you understand your plan and what your budget can and cannot pay for.
- Proactively suggests providers and options instead of waiting for you to ask.
- Prepares you well in advance of plan reviews — gathering reports, drafting goals, rehearsing what to say.
- Advocates with you (not just for you) when things go wrong with providers or the NDIA.
- Knows the local provider landscape and has relationships with the good ones.
- Tracks your budget through the year so you don't run out or underspend.
Signs your support coordinator isn't delivering
- You don't hear from them unless you initiate contact.
- You can't summarise what they've done for you in the last month.
- They send you provider lists and tell you to "get in touch with a few" without follow-up.
- They're consistently late, vague, or rushed in meetings.
- They don't prepare you for your plan review until the last minute, or at all.
- They push you toward a small set of providers — particularly if those providers are owned by, or partnered with, their organisation.
- They burn through your funded hours quickly without much to show for it.
How to find a good support coordinator
Most participants find a coordinator through their LAC, a hospital social worker, a Facebook recommendation, or by searching online. None of those methods give you a great signal of quality.
The best way to choose is to interview two or three before committing. Ask them to walk you through what their first month would look like with you. Ask how often you'd be in contact, how they document their work, and what their caseload is. A coordinator with 60+ active participants is going to give you less attention than one with 25.
Read reviews wherever you can find them — Google, Facebook groups, independent directories — and look for patterns. RateMyProvider is being built specifically to make this easier: verified reviews of every NDIS provider, including support coordination, in one place. See our full guide to finding NDIS providers.
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
Support coordination is funded under Capacity Building. You need to ask for it at your planning meeting or plan review and explain why it would help you achieve your goals. Not every participant gets it funded — it's typically allocated to people whose situations are complex or who are new to the NDIS.
Level 1 (Support Connection) is short-term and focused on helping you understand your plan. Level 2 (Coordination of Supports) is the most common and helps you find, organise, and maintain your supports. Level 3 (Specialist Support Coordination) is for participants with high or complex needs and is delivered by qualified practitioners (often allied health professionals).
Yes. Your support coordination funding is yours, not theirs. You can change providers at any time, usually with a short notice period as set out in your service agreement. You don't need anyone's permission and you don't need to justify the change.
A good coordinator returns calls and emails promptly, sends you written summaries of meetings and decisions, helps you understand your plan and budget, actively suggests options rather than waiting for you to ask, and prepares you for plan reviews. If you're unclear what they've done for you in the last month, that's worth a conversation.