Specialist support coordination is Level 3 support for complex circumstances where barriers make it difficult to access or maintain services. This guide helps you ask what specialist work is needed, what your plan allows and how the work will be reviewed.
Reviewed and updated 22 September 2026 · By DisabilityChoice
Prepared by DisabilityChoice using the official NDIA sources linked below. Check your own plan and service agreement for the arrangements that apply to you. About DisabilityChoice.
What is specialist support coordination?
A specialist coordinator helps address complex barriers to support and, where appropriate, design a service plan. The NDIA says the person should have qualifications and experience appropriate to the complexity involved, and Level 3 must be included in your plan. Read the NDIA’s specialist support coordination guidance.
The practical aim is a clearer arrangement around you: what is getting in the way, who needs to work together and what each person will do. It should be possible to explain why specialist input is needed for your situation.
Level 2 vs Level 3: what should be different?
Level 2: organising supports
Focus your questions on help putting services in place, maintaining arrangements and building your confidence.
Level 3: addressing complex barriers
Ask what specialist analysis or coordination is needed, which services must work together and what a workable service plan would contain.
Level 3 is not simply a faster version of Level 2 or an automatic entitlement attached to a diagnosis. For an overview of all three levels, read NDIS support coordination and funding.
Discuss the barriers, not only the diagnosis
When discussing your needs with your my NDIS contact, describe what is preventing support from working and what help is already being tried. These prompts can help you organise the conversation; they are not eligibility criteria.
- Which essential arrangements are breaking down or cannot get started?
- Are several services giving conflicting advice or leaving responsibilities unclear?
- What has already been tried, and what happened?
- What specialist knowledge or coordinated approach might help?
- What are your preferences, and who do you want involved?
Hospital discharge, housing changes or a difficult service transition can be useful context to explain. None of these circumstances alone establishes funding eligibility. The NDIA makes decisions about your plan.
What useful specialist coordination work can look like
Illustrative example: A participant is preparing to leave hospital, but their home support provider and health team have different understandings of the support available. A useful coordination discussion would identify the unresolved questions, who can answer them and what needs to be agreed before arrangements change. This is an example, not a promise that Level 3 will be funded.
A shared picture
Ask for a clear summary of the barriers and the outcome you want, in language you can understand.
An agreed service plan
Ask who is responsible for each action, how information will be shared with your consent and when the plan will be checked.
A workable handover
Ask what ongoing support will look like, what remains unresolved and who will follow up after the specialist work finishes.
Support coordination is not an emergency response service. Ask your providers to explain the appropriate urgent and after-hours contacts for your circumstances. In an immediate emergency, call 000.
Check Level 3 funding before agreeing to services
Confirm that your plan includes Level 3, the funding available and any conditions. Do not assume a Level 2 allocation can be used for specialist work. If the plan is unclear or your circumstances have changed, ask your my NDIS contact what process applies.
- Request a written scope: what specialist work is proposed and why?
- Ask for the rate and an estimate covering meetings, liaison, reports and any applicable additional charges.
- Agree how you will be told about spending and remaining capacity.
- Set a review point to decide what is still needed and what can be handed over.
If you use a plan manager, they can help clarify payment and spending records. They do not decide whether the NDIA will fund Level 3. See how plan management and coordination differ.
What should a specialist coordination handover include?
A useful handover makes unfinished work visible. This is a discussion checklist you can adapt with your coordinator, not an official NDIA template or a clinical risk assessment.
- Your priorities: the outcomes you want and how you prefer to be involved.
- Unresolved barriers: what still prevents supports from working, what has been tried and what needs a decision.
- Actions and owners: the next task, the person who has agreed to do it and a review date.
- Consent and records: what information you agree to share, with whom, and how receipt will be confirmed.
- Contacts and cover: agreed contact hours, who covers absences and the appropriate route if arrangements change.
- Confirmation: who has accepted the handover, what remains outstanding and when you will check progress together.
Do not assume an action is covered because a name appears on a document. Ask the receiving person or service to confirm that they can take it on.
Questions to ask a specialist support coordinator
- What experience is relevant to the particular barriers I have described?
- Who would do the work, and what qualifications and experience do they bring?
- Can you explain a proposed approach without promising a funding outcome?
- How will you involve me in meetings and decisions?
- How will you manage recommendations involving services connected to your organisation?
- What will I receive at the end, and how will you hand over unfinished actions?
Use the NDIA’s provider-search guidance and speak directly with prospective providers about capacity. Ask about the person who would work with you, not only the organisation’s general experience. Our first-meeting checklist can help you prepare.
Specialist support coordination questions
Is Level 3 automatically funded for a particular diagnosis?
No automatic entitlement should be assumed from a diagnosis alone. Discuss the specific barriers and specialist help you need with your my NDIS contact.
Can I contact a specialist coordinator myself?
You can contact a provider to ask about their service and availability. Before arranging funded work, confirm that Level 3 is included in your plan and agree on the scope and charges.
Is specialist coordination the same as therapy?
No. Ask which work is coordination and which would require a separate treating professional or service. Specialist coordination does not replace emergency care or clinical treatment.
Want to make a support coordination enquiry? Our existing enquiry form includes support coordination and specialist support coordination. It sits on our plan-management page: choose the service you need in the form. An enquiry does not guarantee a provider match or availability.