What is Specialist Support Coordination and who needs it?
Specialist Support Coordination (SSC), also called Level 3 support coordination, is a higher, more intensive level of support coordination for participants whose situations are more complex and who need specialist help to coordinate their supports and services.
It's also a separate funding category from standard support coordination, and it has to be specifically included in a participant's plan.
How does Specialist Support Coordination differ from standard support coordination?
The key distinction is expertise and experience. Specialist Support Coordinators are appropriately qualified and experienced practitioners suited to the participant's circumstances, such as psychologists, occupational therapists, social workers, or mental health nurses.
Who is Specialist Support Coordination for?
Specialist Support Coordination is for participants dealing with more complex or higher-risk situations that standard support coordination may not be able to support safely.
This typically includes participants who are navigating multiple service systems at once such as child protection, legal, mental health, or housing services alongside their NDIS supports.
It can also apply to participants experiencing complex family or social issues, significant health and behavioural support needs, or circumstances where there's a risk of harm to themselves or others.
What does a Specialist Support Coordinator do?
A Specialist Support Coordinator's role includes:
- Identifying and addressing complex barriers affecting a participant's access to supports
- Designing a tailored service plan (where needed) and bringing together everyone involved in a participant's support
- Proactively engaging with all providers delivering a participant's supports so they understand and respond to the risk or complexity involved
- Managing, monitoring and reporting obligations tied to the participant's plan
This type of role can also involve multiple intersecting service systems (such as health and housing), unstable living arrangements, or a support network that's breaking down.
When your supports involve this many moving parts, having a support worker roster that stays consistent matters just as much as the coordination itself.
Hireup has a platform feature called Co-management that lets NDIS participants and their support coordinators share access to the same account and manage supports together.
Using Co-management on Hireup will help empower participants to manage their support workers and help support coordinators free up more funded hours so they can get other types of coordination work done.
Registration requirements
A Specialist Support Coordinator needs to be registered with the NDIS Commission to deliver support for participants who are NDIA-managed. They must also meet the NDIS Practice Standards for this service and go through the Commission's auditing process.
This covers elements like demonstrating a clear understanding of each participant's risk factors, involving participants in planning and crisis responses, talking to multiple providers and mainstream systems (like health, education, or legal), and monitoring and reporting on the plan's progress.
Specialist Support Coordination has to be specifically included in a participant's plan for this level of service to apply. It's a different line item from standard support coordination funding, and your plan can include both.
An example of this is starting with a limited amount of specialist support to establish a plan alongside ongoing standard support coordination to continue for the rest of the plan period.
Find support workers on Hireup
Hireup is an NDIS-registered disability support platform that connects support workers (covered under Hireup's registration) and participants on their own terms.
We believe everyone should have full choice and control of the support they need and the work they do, with safeguards to give everyone full peace of mind.