Support Coordination Explained: The 3 NDIS Levels and What a Coordinator Actually Does (2026)

Support coordination is a capacity-building support in your NDIS plan. In plain terms, it is funding that pays a person, your support coordinator, to help you put your plan into action: understand what is in it, find and connect with the right providers, and gradually build your own confidence to manage it all.

The NDIS describes the core idea as building your capacity. A good coordinator should be working themselves out of a job over time, helping you become more self-sufficient and confident to manage your funding, your supports and your providers. That is why support coordination is usually included as a time-limited support rather than something you keep forever.

Support coordination is not the same as plan management (which pays your invoices and tracks your budget) or a local area coordinator or NDIS partner (who helps you access the scheme and connect to your community more broadly). It is also different from a support worker, who delivers your day-to-day supports.

Whether you get support coordination at all, and at what level, is a decision the NDIA makes when building your plan. Factors include how complex your situation is, your capacity to make and act on decisions, and whether you have family or other networks who can already help you coordinate.

Depending on your circumstances, one of three levels of support coordination can be included in your plan. You do not choose the level yourself, the NDIA decides what is reasonable and necessary, but it helps to understand what each one means.

• Level 1, Support Connection: the lightest level. Short-term help to understand your plan and connect with NDIS providers, plus community, mainstream and other supports, so you get the most out of your plan.

• Level 2, Coordination of Supports: the most commonly funded level. Help to put in place a mix of supports and build your capacity to maintain relationships, manage tasks, live more independently and take part in your community. This is the level most people picture when they think of a support coordinator.

• Level 3, Specialist Support Coordination: a higher, more intensive level for people whose situations are complex or higher-risk. The coordinator should be appropriately qualified and experienced (often allied health professionals such as social workers, psychologists or occupational therapists) to address complex support needs and risks in your environment.

The level affects the hourly price limit, and therefore how many hours a fixed amount of funding buys. The same dollar figure stretches much further at the Support Connection rate than at the Specialist rate.

The NDIS sets out four key tasks for a support coordinator: help you connect to NDIS and other supports; build your capacity and capability to understand your plan, navigate the NDIS and make your own decisions; broker supports and services in line with your wishes and your plan budget; and monitor your plan budget and how well your supports are working.

In practice, that can include explaining your plan to you, researching and shortlisting providers, helping set up service agreements and bookings, sorting out problems when a service is not working, and helping you prepare for your plan reassessment. They also provide progress reports to the NDIA so the agency knows whether your plan is meeting your needs.

Importantly, a coordinator gives you the right information so that you make your own decisions about your plan and supports. They should not be making decisions for you, signing you up to services you did not choose, or steering you only towards their own organisation. You can choose your own coordinator and you can change coordinators at any time.

A coordinator should also help you plan for a crisis, building a crisis plan and helping you reach crisis services if you need them. The level of hands-on, complex crisis and risk work is what tends to separate Specialist Support Coordination from the standard level.

Support coordinators bill against published NDIS price limits. These are the maximum a provider can charge per hour, providers can and sometimes do charge less. The figures below are the national price limits for standard NDIS regions (Modified Monash Model areas 1 to 5) under the 2025-26 NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, effective from 1 July 2025.

• Level 1, Support Connection (item 07_001_0106_8_3): $80.06 per hour.

• Level 2, Coordination of Supports (item 07_002_0106_8_3): $100.14 per hour.

• Level 3, Specialist Support Coordination (item 07_004_0132_8_3): $190.54 per hour.

Rates are higher in remote and very remote areas. For example, Coordination of Supports rises to $140.19/hr in remote areas (MMM 6) and $150.21/hr in very remote areas (MMM 7), and Specialist Support Coordination rises to $266.75/hr and $285.80/hr respectively. The Support Connection rate is $112.08/hr (remote) and $120.09/hr (very remote).

Worth knowing: the Level 2 and Level 3 hourly limits have been frozen since 2019-20. Because the dollar limits have not moved while wages have risen, a fixed amount of support coordination funding tends to buy fewer hours each year. Pricing is reviewed annually and can change part-way through a year, so always confirm the current figure in the official NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits before you rely on it.

Support coordination sits in your Capacity Building budget, in its own support category. It is normally given as a stated (fixed) amount, in dollars, rather than as a set number of hours, although your plan or the NDIA's notes may indicate an expected number of hours behind that figure.

Capacity Building funding is more restricted than your Core budget. Money allocated to support coordination can only be spent on support coordination, you cannot move it across to other Capacity Building categories, and you cannot shift it into Core supports. If you do not use it, you generally cannot repurpose it.

Because it is meant to build your independence, support coordination is usually time-limited. The NDIA considers things like how complex your needs are and whether your existing support network can already help you coordinate. If you feel the funded hours are too few to make real progress, that is a point to raise at your plan reassessment, with evidence of what coordination has helped you achieve.

To work out roughly how many hours your funding buys, divide your stated support coordination dollars by the relevant hourly price limit for your level and region. Remember that figure is a maximum, so a provider charging below the limit will give you more hours for the same money.

Whether your coordinator has to be registered depends on how your plan is managed. If your plan is NDIA-managed (the agency pays your providers), your support coordinator must be a provider registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. If you self-manage or use a plan manager, you can choose either a registered or an unregistered coordinator.

Note on reform: the NDIS Commission had been consulting on making registration mandatory for all support coordinators, but in December 2025 that specific reform was paused while further work continues. All providers, registered or not, must still follow the NDIS Code of Conduct and deliver safe, quality supports.

Conflict of interest is the single biggest issue the NDIS Commission flags with support coordination, because some coordinators also sell other supports (such as accommodation or therapy). A coordinator who stands to benefit from a service they are recommending to you must declare that conflict, explain the difference between coordination and those other supports, and not pressure you. You are always free to use other providers.

Your core rights are simple: you choose your coordinator, you can change them at any time, and they should put your interests first. If something is not right, you can raise a complaint with the NDIS Commission.

You can search for support coordinators a few ways. The NDIS Provider Finder (in the myplace participant portal) lets you search for registered providers near you. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission also publishes a public register of registered providers, where you can check whether a provider is currently registered, suspended or has had registration revoked.

Your local area coordinator, early childhood partner or NDIS planner can also help you find and choose a coordinator, especially when you are just starting out. Independent comparison sites can help you shortlist and compare too, but always verify a provider's registration status directly on the official NDIS Commission register before you commit.

When you meet a potential coordinator, it is reasonable to ask: what level are you funded to provide, do you also deliver any other supports I might use (a conflict of interest to declare), how do you charge against the price limit, how often will we check in, and how will you report on my progress.

If your current coordinator is not working out, you do not have to stay. You can change support coordinators at any time, the main practical step is ending your service agreement with the old provider and setting one up with the new one.

Support coordination is not the only option for navigation help. If you have a psychosocial disability (mental-health-related), you may instead be funded for a psychosocial recovery coach, who does similar coordination work but with a recovery focus tailored to mental health. The 2025-26 weekday rate for a recovery coach is $80.90 per hour. Depending on your plan, some people have both.

Bigger changes are on the way. The NDIA is co-designing a new Navigator role and broader foundational supports as part of NDIS reform, which over time will change how participants get connection and coordination help. These are still being developed and timelines have shifted in response to sector feedback, so support coordination as described here remains how it works for now.

One related, firmer date: from 1 October 2026, the new Thriving Kids program begins rolling out for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay or autism and lower support needs, with full rollout expected by 1 January 2028. That is a separate reform from adult support coordination but is part of the same broader shift towards foundational supports.

Because reform is moving, treat anything about the future structure as subject to change and confirm the latest position on the official NDIS website before making decisions.