Step 1: Participant chooses their preferred support coordinator
Participants choose their preferred support coordinator and/or recovery coach provider.
If a participant has support coordination services in their plan, they will tell us who the person or organisation is that they want to work with.
Step 2: Request for service
We send a request for service
Once a participant has let us know their preference, we’ll send their preferred support coordinator a request for service.
The request for service process is used for all new and existing participants with support coordination and recovery coach funding in their plan.
We send a request for service when a participant:
- is using support coordination or recovery coach services for the first time
- wants to change the provider they have
- wants to keep working with the same provider and their plan has moved to our new computer system.
Providers who receive a request for service have been identified by the participant or their nominee as the person or organisation they want to work with.
You can receive a request for service through:
- the my NDIS provider portal
- the myplace provider portal
- email from the NDIA.
The preferred support coordinator will be notified in the portal and can then accept or decline the request for service.
Before accepting a request for service
The request for service includes information about the participant’s goals, needs and circumstances.
Before accepting a request for service, you should consider whether you can best support the participant to meet their goals.
How to accept a request for service
You have 4 days to action the request
You should regularly log in to the provider portal to make sure you’re aware of new requests for service.
You have 4 business days to accept or decline the request in the provider portal.
After 4 days, the request will be shared with another provider.
Use the portal to action a request
Under the request for service tab in the provider portal, you can:
- view your pending requests
- accept requests
- decline requests.
To accept or decline a request, click on the request ID to see more information about the participant. Then select the ‘accept’ or ‘decline’ button.
Once you have accepted a request
When you accept the request for service, your relationship with the participant will be active.
Accepting the request means you:
- agree to meet the NDIA reporting requirements for your service
- will be able to submit payment claims
- will be recorded on the participant’s plan as a my provider (in the new computer system).
Start working with the participant
Once you’ve accepted the request for service, you should meet with the participant. This meeting should be face-to-face, if that is the participant's preference.
You should work with your participant in the first meeting to create a service agreement.
To protect the participant’s privacy, providers will not have visibility of a participant’s plan information until the request for service has been accepted by the provider.
Step 3: How to help a participant change support coordinators
Participants can choose to change their support coordinator at any time, as long as they follow the notice periods in their service agreement.
Prepare a handover report
The current support coordinator should prepare a report as part of a handover.
This report should outline how a participant is going with:
- pursuing their goals
- using their plan
- building skills and independence
- strengthening their community connections with other support systems.
The current support coordinator should also:
- share any relevant reports from service providers with the participant’s permission
- identify any barriers, risks or issues, including any strategies to address them
- provide clear evidence on future support needs, including recommendations.
The report must include an agreed and confirmed date when the current support coordinator’s services will end. This will ensure services continue and a smooth handover.
End bookings and provider relationships
The support coordinator should end the service booking as soon as possible in the myplace provider portal, or end the my provider relationship in the my NDIS provider portal.
This means the participant can create their request and service agreement with the new support coordinator.
Where a participant is plan-managed, the support coordinator should also let the participant’s plan manager know.
The support coordinator should support the participant to change support coordinators at any time.
Video
Learn how to make a request for service in this video.