Cover and change
Changing support coordinator: what should be in the handover
Ask the outgoing coordinator for a handover report, relevant provider records shared with permission, and a clear list of unfinished work. Confirm their service-end date, the new coordinator's confirmed start date and who will handle each action through the change. The report is useful when the next person can understand it, access the records and act on the work they have agreed to take on.
You can contribute your priorities, questions and corrections without rebuilding the coordinator's records yourself. This guide explains what to request, what to confirm separately and what to do when the handover or new arrangement is not ready. The emails work without a Kinovo account.
- For:
- NDIS participants, chosen supporters and support coordinators arranging an ongoing change
- Includes:
- Handover checklist, transition steps and two copyable emails
- Time:
- 10 minute read
Published 5 September 2026 · Updated 23 October 2026
Written by Callum Cruikshank — Founder of Kinovo
Callum draws on his family's lived experience of coordinating support. These resources offer practical coordination ideas, not clinical, legal or NDIS funding advice. No independent clinical review is claimed.
What the handover report should cover
The NDIA's support coordinator handover guidance says the current coordinator should prepare a report when a participant changes coordinators. It describes progress and ongoing needs in these areas:
- Goals and plan use: progress towards the participant's goals and how they are using their NDIS plan.
- Skills and independence: what has developed and where support is still needed.
- Community connections: links with community and other support systems.
- Barriers, risks and issues: what is affecting support and strategies to address it.
- Future support needs: relevant evidence and recommendations.
That guidance also calls for relevant provider reports to be shared with the participant's permission and an agreed and confirmed date when the outgoing service ends. Ask for a copy in a format you can use, with an opportunity to raise factual errors or missing information.
The practical action list below sits alongside the report. It helps transfer unfinished work; it is not an official NDIA form or a substitute for the outgoing coordinator's report.
If your coordinator is taking temporary leave, use the coordinator leave and cover handover guide to agree cover and open actions.
Make each open action usable
Ask for the information needed to continue the actual work, without imposing a page limit or excluding older relevant records. Include new, disputed or unanswered matters as well as established work. For each item, record:
- The current position, why it matters to the participant and what is still uncertain.
- The next action, who has accepted it and what that person needs before they can proceed. If nobody has accepted it, say so and identify who is arranging the next step.
- The due date or event that matters, the next check and what to do if there is no response. Distinguish a requested date from a date the person has agreed to.
- The relevant contact and current record, with title, author, date or version, location and agreed access. Note missing files or unanswered requests.
- Any participant decision, consent or representative authority still needed, and what has been agreed can wait.
Include outstanding implementation, progress or reassessment reports and who will prepare and submit them. The NDIA's reporting guidance is separate from its handover guidance: due dates depend on the reporting arrangements, and coordinators should submit their NDIA reports rather than ask the participant to do it.
An example of a useful open-action note
Fictional example: transport pickups for next week are not confirmed. Mei at the transport provider is checking availability. The incoming coordinator has agreed to call by the agreed check date and update the participant. The handover links the last response and explains that the participant wants their sister updated only about transport.
The provider is responsible for its answer; the new coordinator has accepted the follow-up. A name on a list or a forwarded email alone does not show that someone has taken the work on.
Include relevant risks and reasons for changing
A handover is a working account of the participant's support, not a complaint investigation. It should include information affecting safety or continuity even when a concern is new, disputed or has no strategy in place yet.
Describe what is known, when it was raised, what remains unconfirmed, any immediate action and the person following it up. Identify whose account or observation is being recorded. Ask the author to correct factual errors or explain a disputed conclusion; do not alter someone else's original report or present an allegation as a proven finding.
The participant can choose whether to explain why they are changing providers. Include the context that helps the new relationship work, with their agreement. An example might be a preference for phone confirmation because earlier changes sent by text were missed. They do not need to recount every disagreement, and relevant context does not expire after an arbitrary period.
A safety concern can need action before the handover is finished. The NDIS Commission's reporting guidance explains quality and safety concerns and urgent reporting. Call 000 if life might be at risk or there is an emergency involving critical harm or serious injury. A complaint and a handover serve different purposes; neither is an arrangement for immediate support.
Confirm the service transition separately
First check whether a different person is taking over within the same organisation or you are changing providers. An internal staff change still needs a useful handover, but do not assume the organisation's agreement or NDIS relationship should end. Ask which steps apply.
For a provider change, the NDIA's changing-provider guidance says to check the notice terms and possible fees in your service agreement. There is no universal notice period in this checklist. Confirm availability with the new coordinator and arrange who will handle time-sensitive work if dates do not line up.
Agree the scope, hours, fees and payment arrangements for proposed handover, introductory or overlapping work before commissioning it. The NDIA service agreement guidance can help you ask those questions. A requested handover, new booking or fee estimate does not establish that additional work is funded.
Keep these confirmations separate
One completed step does not establish that all the others are ready.
| Confirmation | What to check |
|---|---|
| Service dates and work | The outgoing end date, incoming confirmed start date, agreed services and costs, and accepted responsibility for open actions between the dates. |
| NDIS booking or provider relationship | Ask the providers to confirm the applicable myplace booking or my NDIS provider relationship step, and any request for service. Seek help from your NDIS contact if the relationship is not updating. |
| Plan manager, where relevant | Confirm that the plan manager knows about the change and has the information needed for the agreed services. Do not assume sending the handover to one coordinator informed everyone else. |
| Workspace and document access | A Kinovo Team leader reviews invitations and access with the participant's sharing choices and relevant authority. Ending a service or NDIS relationship does not automatically remove Kinovo access. |
The NDIA's coordinator-change instructions ask the outgoing coordinator to end the relevant service booking or provider relationship and notify the plan manager where the participant is plan-managed. Confirm the action that applies to your circumstances rather than treating the handover email as completion of those steps.
Email to request the outgoing handover
This version is written for the participant. If sending it for someone else, identify them and your role, explain their agreement or relevant authority, and adapt I and my. Use the agreed private contact method. The date you request becomes an agreed completion date only when confirmed.
Subject: Support coordination handover - [name or agreed reference]
Hi [coordinator name],
I'm arranging a change to [incoming coordinator/provider, if confirmed]. Please confirm the agreed end date of your service and whether the proposed handover date of [date] is workable. [The new service has agreed to start on date / The new start date is still being arranged.]
Please prepare your handover report in line with the NDIA guidance, with the agreed service-end date, relevant provider reports approved for sharing, and a list of open actions.
For each action, please include the current position, what is unconfirmed, the next step, who has accepted it, the due or check date, the relevant contact and the current record. Include unresolved matters affecting safety or continuity and outstanding NDIA reports and submission responsibilities.
My sharing instructions are [information and reports, named recipients, purpose and agreed secure method]. Please contact [preferred contact] about any further sharing or authority needed. I would like a copy in [preferred format] and an opportunity to raise factual errors or gaps.
Please confirm any proposed scope, fees or payment arrangements before additional work is commissioned, and the booking, provider-relationship and plan-manager steps that apply. If any part cannot be ready by the requested date, please explain the gap, next step and realistic timing.
Thank you,
[Name and contact details / role if writing for the participant]
Email to brief the incoming coordinator
Use alongside the outgoing report, or explain what is still missing. The new coordinator can help obtain information from the people who hold it. Adapt the wording if you are writing with the participant rather than for yourself.
Subject: Starting support coordination - [name or agreed reference]
Hi [incoming coordinator name],
[Your confirmed start date is date / Please confirm whether you can start on date.] The outgoing coordinator's end date is [confirmed date / still being agreed]. The handover report is [available through agreed method / expected on an agreed date / requested but not yet confirmed / missing].
My current priorities and communication preferences are [details]. I would like [chosen people] involved in [agreed parts of the work].
Open work: [matter, current position, accepted owner or ownership not yet agreed, next step, due date or trigger and next check]. Relevant contacts and current records approved for sharing: [details].
Safety or continuity concerns needing review: [known facts, source, what is unconfirmed, action already taken and who is following up]. Context I want you to understand about the change: [optional approved information or preference].
Please confirm which actions you can take on, whether you can access the records and what you still need. Where there is a gap, please help agree who will obtain the information or act before your start date. Please check [sharing arrangements or relevant authority] before contacting others or sharing further information.
I'd like to agree the service, costs, next contact and any proposed handover meeting before additional work is arranged.
Thank you,
[Name and contact details / role if writing for the participant]
If the report, records or new arrangement are not ready
- The outgoing coordinator has not replied
- Request the missing items and ask for a realistic response and completion date through the provider's usual business channel. If there is a manager or complaints contact, use that route where appropriate and comfortable. Refer to the NDIA handover guidance. Keep a record of requests and responses, and tell the incoming coordinator what is unresolved rather than assuming a promised date will hold.
- Files are missing, inaccessible or disputed
- Identify the particular record, version or factual question. Ask the outgoing provider to correct or clarify its own report, and ask the incoming coordinator to help seek relevant records from their holders with appropriate consent or authority. Keep known facts and unresolved accounts distinguishable. A missing report does not mean every useful step must stop; agree what can safely proceed and what cannot.
- The new coordinator cannot start yet
- Ask the providers to discuss who can handle time-sensitive actions between the dates, with the participant. Do not assume the outgoing service continues beyond its confirmed end date or the new coordinator acts before accepting the work. Contact relevant support providers directly about an essential service that needs attention, and ask your NDIS contact for help with provider-relationship issues.
- The participant or family is being asked to reconstruct the file
- Contribute priorities, corrections and records you already have if you wish. Ask the providers to prepare, obtain and clarify their professional records directly. A chosen supporter may help voluntarily; a family member should not become the default person gathering every report or taking over coordination.
You can raise concerns about NDIS support quality or safety with the NDIS Commission. Its guidance explains what it can receive and its limits, including that it does not provide individual dispute resolution. Use the relevant urgent route for immediate risks rather than waiting for a report or complaint response.
Check that the handover can actually be used
Before treating the transfer as complete, confirm the points relevant to your situation:
- The intended recipient received the right version and can open the agreed files.
- The participant can review the information in an accessible format, with questions and corrections recorded or followed up.
- Each open action has an accepted owner, next step and check date; unresolved ownership remains visible.
- The service dates, applicable NDIS relationship or booking changes and plan-manager notification are confirmed separately.
- The participant knows whom to contact now and when to expect the next update.
- The relevant workspace and document access has been reviewed, including whether the outgoing person still needs access.
- Support coordinator on leave: who to contact and what to hand over
- Who should see my NDIS plan (and who should not)
- Support coordinator follow-up guide and task tracker
- How document visibility works
For your first conversation with the new coordinator, use the first meeting preparation sheet and questions.
If the handover is part of relocating, use the moving-house care-team checklist.
Official guidance checked for this resource
Sources checked on 23 October 2026. The checklist and email wording are Kinovo's practical coordination suggestions, not prescribed NDIA forms or an independent professional review. Confirm the service and process that apply to your situation.
Give the new coordinator a clear place to pick up the work
Kinovo can keep agreed goals, accepted tasks, waiting information and relevant shared files together. A Team leader can invite the incoming coordinator and review the outgoing person's access, in line with the participant's sharing choices. The providers still arrange the service transition and professional handover separately.
You can keep using this resource without an account. Set up or join a care team when you are ready.
FAQ
Can I change my NDIS support coordinator?
Yes. NDIA guidance says you can change coordinators while following the notice terms in your service agreement. Confirm the new provider's availability, service and start date, and ask your NDIS contact for help with the provider relationship if needed. If only the staff member changes within one organisation, confirm which service or relationship steps actually apply.
What belongs in a support coordinator handover report?
The NDIA describes progress with goals, plan use, skills and independence, community connections, barriers and risks, future support needs and recommendations, with relevant provider reports shared with permission and the agreed service-end date. A practical open-action list adds accepted owners, next steps, dates, records and unresolved questions.
Should a new or unresolved risk be mentioned?
Yes, when relevant to safety or continuing support. Distinguish known facts from disputed or unconfirmed information, record any action and confirm who is following up. A handover is not a complaint investigation and does not replace urgent action, safeguarding processes or professional advice.
Can I explain why I am changing coordinators?
Yes. Choose the reasons or preferences you want the incoming coordinator to understand and how to discuss them. Relevant context can help them work with you. You do not have to recount every disagreement, and a separate complaint process can address concerns about the previous service.
Does a family member or Kinovo Team leader automatically receive the whole pack?
No. Involve the participant in deciding recipients and information, and check any representative's authority. A family relationship or software access role does not itself authorise decisions or all record access. Direct sharing, NDIS portal permissions and Kinovo access need to be considered separately.
What if the outgoing coordinator does not provide a useful handover?
Request specific missing items and a realistic date, use the provider's manager or complaints route where appropriate, and tell the incoming coordinator what is outstanding. Ask the providers to obtain and clarify their records through appropriate sharing arrangements. The family should not have to recreate the coordinator's records from memory. Act on time-sensitive support gaps separately.
Can the new coordinator start before the handover is complete?
Ask the incoming coordinator what they can safely and usefully take on with the information available, and agree the service, start date, access and payment arrangements. Do not assume missing records stop every action or that a new coordinator has accepted all unfinished work. Confirm who handles any urgent actions or gaps.
Disclaimer
General coordination information, not individual legal, clinical or NDIS funding advice. Follow the relevant service agreement, sharing arrangements, official instructions and urgent-support processes. Kinovo does not arrange or guarantee a new support coordination service.