What is a support coordinator? In the NDIS, a support coordinator is someone funded in your plan to help you use it well. They help you understand your plan and budgets, find and choose providers, connect with community and mainstream services, and build the skills and confidence to manage your own supports over time. The NDIA funds three levels, from support connection through to specialist support coordination. The decisions stay with you: the NDIA's own description is that a coordinator gives you the right information so you can make your own decisions about your plan.
We're a support provider, not a support coordinator, so we see the role from the other side: we're one of the providers coordinators find and refer people to. Here's how the role works, and what makes a referral go smoothly.
What is a support coordinator's job?
The NDIA describes the role in three parts.
Helping you understand and use your plan
A coordinator can explain your support budgets and what you can use your funding for, how your funding can be managed, what you can claim and when, and when you need a service agreement. They'll talk with you about how you want your supports to work together.
Connecting you with supports and services
This is the part most people picture. A coordinator helps you find providers and services that fit your goals, talks through how you want supports delivered, and explains when you have to use a registered provider and when you can use an unregistered one. They also connect you with community and mainstream services outside the NDIS.
Building your confidence to manage your plan
A good coordinator works towards you needing them less. The NDIA lists what they can show you: how to set up service agreements, understand what providers can charge, check whether your supports are working, plan for when things go wrong, change providers, and use the participant portal and the my NDIS app.
That's why the NDIA says support coordination is usually funded for a set time. As you get more confident using your plan, you're less likely to need it.
The three levels of support coordination
The NDIA funds three levels. Your NDIA planner talks with you about which one fits.
- Level 1: support connection. Helps you understand your plan, build your ability to connect with community and mainstream supports, and grow your confidence to manage your plan.
- Level 2: support coordination. Helps you build the confidence and skills to direct your life, including keeping up relationships, living more independently and being part of the community.
- Level 3: specialist support coordination. A higher level for people in a more complex situation. A specialist support coordinator works to keep your services consistent through challenges in your support environment.
A support coordinator is different from a plan manager. A plan manager keeps track of your funding: paying providers, managing claims and sending statements. A support coordinator helps with the supports themselves. You can have both.
How to get a support coordinator
Support coordination has to be in your plan. If you think it would help, ask your NDIA planner or your my NDIS contact to include it.
Once it's funded, you choose your coordinator. The NDIA suggests asking people you trust, searching online and reading reviews, and using the NDIS provider finder. Before you sign up, call and ask:
- How much do they charge?
- Do they work with people with your disability?
- Who will you actually speak to or work with?
- What's their cancellation policy?
When you've chosen, your NDIA planner can send the coordinator a request for service through the my NDIS provider portal, or you can contact the coordinator directly to check they're available. The NDIA gives a coordinator 4 days to accept a request for service. If they don't, it goes to the next coordinator you've chosen. A coordinator has to accept the request to be paid from your plan, even if you already work with them.
Then make a service agreement with them, the same as with any provider. Our guide to what goes in an NDIS service agreement covers what to look for.
You can change your support coordinator at any time. You don't have to wait for your plan to end.
How support coordinators find and refer to providers
This is the part of the job families rarely see. Once a coordinator knows what you want, they go looking for providers who can actually do it, in your area, on the days you need, starting when you need them. In our experience, that search comes down to a handful of questions, and a provider who answers them clearly saves everyone a lot of phone calls.
These are practical tips. They're what we'd want a coordinator to check on any provider's website or in a first call, and they work just as well as a guide to how to choose an NDIS provider if you're a family doing the search yourself.
Is there room right now?
The first question is capacity. A provider with no room for weekend shifts in your suburb isn't a match, however good they are. Look for a capacity line that says what's open and when it was last checked. If there's no date on it, ask. A provider that's honest about a waitlist is more useful than one that says yes to everything.
Do they cover your suburb?
"Newcastle and surrounds" doesn't tell you much. A clear list of suburbs, or a plain answer about travel and how it's charged, does. Travel costs belong in the service agreement, so it's worth getting this straight early.
Are they registered, and does it matter for this plan?
If the participant's funding is NDIA-managed, the provider must be registered. For self-managed and plan-managed funding, it's a choice. A coordinator will check, and a good provider makes it easy by stating it plainly and pointing to the NDIS Provider Register. Our post on registered vs unregistered NDIS providers explains the rules.
Do they use the plan's own words?
Plans are written in support categories, such as "Assistance with daily life" or "Assistance with social and community participation". A provider that names the category for each support saves the coordinator translating "in-home help" back into plan language. It also makes it easier to see whether the funding fits.
How fast will they reply, and what do they need?
A referral that sits unanswered for a week costs the participant a week. Look for a stated reply time and a referral process that asks for what's needed to say yes or no, and nothing more. Health details and plan documents are better shared in a conversation than typed into a web form.
Can they say no well?
Sometimes the honest answer is "we don't do that". A provider that says so quickly, and points you to someone who does, is worth remembering for the next referral.
What's changing for support coordination
The new NDIS laws passed by Parliament in August 2026 set out a timeline of changes. On support coordination, the NDIA's words are short: from July 2028, "there will be a new commissioned support co-ordination and connection function."
The NDIA says that if a change affects you, it will let you know what's happening and when, and that right now you can keep using your plan and supports as usual.
Separately, the NDIS Commission consulted on making registration mandatory for support coordinators. It paused that work in December 2025. Support coordinators can currently be registered or unregistered.
How to work well with your support coordinator
- Tell them what matters to you, not only what's in the plan. The days that work, the kind of worker you get on with, the things you'd rather not do.
- Ask them to explain, then ask again if it still isn't clear. Building your confidence is part of their job.
- Keep copies of service agreements and anything you sign.
- Tell them early when something isn't working. They can help you raise it with a provider, or help you change providers.
- You make the decisions. A coordinator's job is to give you what you need to choose. If you ever feel steered towards one provider without a reason you understand, ask why.
If something goes wrong with a coordinator and you can't sort it out together, you can raise it with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission on 1800 035 544. Our complaints and feedback page has their details.
For support coordinators
If you're a coordinator looking for a provider in Newcastle or Lake Macquarie, our referrals page is written for you. It sets out the supports we deliver, the suburbs we cover, our capacity line showing what's open right now, our reply time, and how to send us a referral. We're registered, so NDIA-managed, plan-managed and self-managed participants can all use us. We don't provide support coordination ourselves.
Sources: NDIA: What is a support coordinator, NDIA: How to find a support coordinator, NDIA: What is a request for service, NDIA: How to find and choose a provider, NDIA: Securing the NDIS for future generations, NDIS Commission: Support coordination and plan management, NDIS Commission: Mandatory registration. All checked 24 October 2026.