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Who Does What in an NDIS Care Team? Roles, Responsibilities and a Shared Task Map
A support coordinator helps you connect and organise supports. A plan manager helps administer your NDIS funding and provider payments. Clinicians, support workers and other people in the team have different responsibilities again. Knowing those roles is a useful start; agreeing who will take a particular next step is what stops work getting lost between them.
- For:
- NDIS participants, families, chosen supporters and professionals working together across services
- Includes:
- Practical guide + 3 copyable tools + printable workbook
- Time:
- 9 minute read
Published 23 September 2026 · Updated 23 September 2026
Editorially reviewed 22 September 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.
Support coordinator vs plan manager: what is the difference?
The quickest way to choose a starting contact is to name the problem. 'I need help connecting the right supports' and 'I have a question about this provider payment' are different requests, even if both relate to the same appointment.
- Role
- Support coordinator
- Main focus
- Helping you understand and use your plan, connect with services and build confidence in managing supports.
- A useful question to start with
- Can you help me work through which services to approach and what needs to happen next?
- Role
- Plan manager
- Main focus
- Administering plan-managed funding, checking and submitting claims, paying providers and providing budget information.
- A useful question to start with
- Can you tell me the status of this invoice and what information is still needed?
| Role | Main focus | A useful question to start with |
|---|---|---|
| Support coordinator | Helping you understand and use your plan, connect with services and build confidence in managing supports. | Can you help me work through which services to approach and what needs to happen next? |
| Plan manager | Administering plan-managed funding, checking and submitting claims, paying providers and providing budget information. | Can you tell me the status of this invoice and what information is still needed? |
The NDIA explains the roles in what is a support coordinator.
For the financial administration role, see what is a plan manager.
Some questions involve both roles. A coordinator might help clarify a proposed service while a plan manager explains the payment information needed. Ask each person to describe their part, and identify any question that needs the NDIA or another professional. A conversation with one team member is not, by itself, a funding decision.
Not every participant has a support coordinator or a plan manager. Build your map around the people and funding arrangements you actually have. If someone has more than one professional role, clarify which role they are acting in for this task and what work you have agreed to engage them for.
Who else might be in an NDIS care team?
The participant's priorities give the work its direction. The team should make it easier for the person to understand options, express preferences and take part in decisions. A family member's presence does not automatically give them authority to decide or receive every document. Where a representative is involved, clarify the relevant authority and the person's own wishes.
- Person or role
- Participant and chosen supporters
- What to clarify with them
- What matters to the participant, how they want to make decisions and which help each supporter has agreed to provide.
- Person or role
- Allied health professional or other clinician
- What to clarify with them
- The assessments, clinical advice, reports or recommendations within their professional role; how questions and updates should reach them.
- Person or role
- Support worker
- What to clarify with them
- The agreed support they provide, the current instructions relevant to their role and how they raise questions with the appropriate supervisor or professional.
- Person or role
- Provider office or service contact
- What to clarify with them
- Appointments, staff availability, service arrangements and administrative questions for that organisation, where this role exists.
- Person or role
- Family, friend or informal carer
- What to clarify with them
- The practical help they have freely agreed to provide, their availability and the tasks they cannot reasonably take on.
- Person or role
- my NDIS contact / NDIA
- What to clarify with them
- Questions about the NDIS process or a formal plan matter that require the Agency's advice or decision, rather than another provider's assumption.
| Person or role | What to clarify with them |
|---|---|
| Participant and chosen supporters | What matters to the participant, how they want to make decisions and which help each supporter has agreed to provide. |
| Allied health professional or other clinician | The assessments, clinical advice, reports or recommendations within their professional role; how questions and updates should reach them. |
| Support worker | The agreed support they provide, the current instructions relevant to their role and how they raise questions with the appropriate supervisor or professional. |
| Provider office or service contact | Appointments, staff availability, service arrangements and administrative questions for that organisation, where this role exists. |
| Family, friend or informal carer | The practical help they have freely agreed to provide, their availability and the tasks they cannot reasonably take on. |
| my NDIS contact / NDIA | Questions about the NDIS process or a formal plan matter that require the Agency's advice or decision, rather than another provider's assumption. |
Keep job titles separate from responsibility for this particular piece of work. The clinician who writes a report may not be the person sending a reminder about it. The person coordinating an appointment may not be the person authorised to choose a provider. Being copied into an email does not mean someone has accepted either responsibility.
For worker handovers, the NDIS Commission's working together guide is a useful reference on clear expectations and communication between participants, workers and supervisors.
Who should I contact about a report, appointment, quote or invoice?
Use this as a starting point, then check your own service arrangements. If you are unsure, send one clear question to the likely contact and ask them to confirm the right person. Avoid sending the same broad request to the whole team and hoping somebody takes ownership.
- What you need
- A report or correction to its clinical content
- Likely starting contact
- The clinician or service that authored it.
- What to ask
- Is this the current report? What is its expected completion date, or can you clarify this particular point?
- What you need
- An appointment time or cancellation
- Likely starting contact
- The provider's booking contact, or the practitioner if they manage bookings directly.
- What to ask
- Can you confirm the appointment and any changes to the agreed arrangements?
- What you need
- Advice about equipment suitability
- Likely starting contact
- The appropriate adviser or assessor.
- What to ask
- What advice or assessment is needed for this item and situation?
- What you need
- A missing item or price in an equipment quote
- Likely starting contact
- The supplier, referring to the current recommendation where appropriate.
- What to ask
- Does the quote include the specified accessory, delivery or setup?
- What you need
- An invoice status for plan-managed supports
- Likely starting contact
- The plan manager, with the relevant invoice reference.
- What to ask
- Has this invoice been received, and is anything needed before it can be processed?
- What you need
- A question about which service to approach
- Likely starting contact
- Your support coordinator, if this is within the agreed service; otherwise your existing support contacts or my NDIS contact may help you identify a starting point.
- What to ask
- Who can help answer this specific question, and what information will they need?
- What you need
- Instructions a worker does not understand
- Likely starting contact
- The appropriate supervisor or author of the instructions.
- What to ask
- Which part applies to this worker, and what clarification or preparation is needed?
| What you need | Likely starting contact | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| A report or correction to its clinical content | The clinician or service that authored it. | Is this the current report? What is its expected completion date, or can you clarify this particular point? |
| An appointment time or cancellation | The provider's booking contact, or the practitioner if they manage bookings directly. | Can you confirm the appointment and any changes to the agreed arrangements? |
| Advice about equipment suitability | The appropriate adviser or assessor. | What advice or assessment is needed for this item and situation? |
| A missing item or price in an equipment quote | The supplier, referring to the current recommendation where appropriate. | Does the quote include the specified accessory, delivery or setup? |
| An invoice status for plan-managed supports | The plan manager, with the relevant invoice reference. | Has this invoice been received, and is anything needed before it can be processed? |
| A question about which service to approach | Your support coordinator, if this is within the agreed service; otherwise your existing support contacts or my NDIS contact may help you identify a starting point. | Who can help answer this specific question, and what information will they need? |
| Instructions a worker does not understand | The appropriate supervisor or author of the instructions. | Which part applies to this worker, and what clarification or preparation is needed? |
For an equipment request involving several of these contacts, use the assistive technology request checklist to track the separate documents and replies.
Our care-team contact map
Start with the people involved now. A person can have more than one role; write down which role they are acting in.
Participant / preferred name and date: ___
What matters most to the participant at the moment: ___
How they want to take part in decisions: ___
Chosen supporter and the help they have agreed to provide: ___
Support coordinator, if involved / contact / agreed scope: ___
Plan manager, if involved / invoice contact / funding questions: ___
Relevant clinician / contact / questions they can address: ___
Support worker or provider / usual contact / agreed support: ___
Provider office / appointments, availability or roster contact: ___
my NDIS contact / questions to refer to the NDIA: ___
Who will keep this contact map current, with their agreement: ___
Information-sharing choices or questions to clarify: ___
Cover arrangements when a usual contact is unavailable: ___
Date to check the map again: ___
Turn a list of roles into a shared task map
Choose one unresolved piece of work. Write the next action so someone can recognise when it is complete. 'Sort out the report' leaves too much open. 'Ask the OT service to confirm when the current report will be ready' names an action that can be accepted and checked.
- Name the person or service who can do the work or answer the question.
- Agree who will coordinate any follow-up. They do not need to do the specialist work themselves.
- Record whose choice or decision is needed before the next step proceeds.
- Ask the named person to confirm their role and timing. Keep the action marked proposed until then.
- Use an agreed due date where there is one; otherwise choose a realistic date to check again.
- Record the outcome and tell the people who need it. A reply may close the enquiry without resolving the larger issue.
If nobody has accepted the task, make the gap visible. It is better to say 'We still need to agree who will request this' than to quietly allocate it to a family member. Where a paid professional is being asked to do additional work, clarify scope, availability and any charges first.
A fictional example: one equipment question, three different responsibilities
Riley is exploring equipment with an OT. A supplier has provided a quote, but the team is unsure whether it matches the recommended configuration. Riley wants the uncertainty resolved before considering the next step.
- Action
- Clarify the clinical recommendation.
- Agreed responsibility
- The OT service confirms it can answer the specific question.
- What happens next
- The OT provides the clarification through the agreed channel.
- Action
- Clarify the quote against that recommendation.
- Agreed responsibility
- The supplier answers the supply and pricing question; the coordinator has agreed to follow up.
- What happens next
- The coordinator records the reply and any remaining gap.
- Action
- Consider the options and confirm the applicable purchasing arrangements.
- Agreed responsibility
- Riley is supported to consider the options; any required funding decision is sought through the appropriate process.
- What happens next
- No order is placed merely because a report or quote has arrived.
| Action | Agreed responsibility | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Clarify the clinical recommendation. | The OT service confirms it can answer the specific question. | The OT provides the clarification through the agreed channel. |
| Clarify the quote against that recommendation. | The supplier answers the supply and pricing question; the coordinator has agreed to follow up. | The coordinator records the reply and any remaining gap. |
| Consider the options and confirm the applicable purchasing arrangements. | Riley is supported to consider the options; any required funding decision is sought through the appropriate process. | No order is placed merely because a report or quote has arrived. |
Riley's sister is available to help read the replies, but has not agreed to chase the supplier. The map records that distinction. The next check-in can focus on the unanswered question rather than rebuilding the history from several inboxes.
Confirm who will take the next step
Use this to ask for agreement. Keep a proposed action open until the person confirms what they can do.
Subject: Confirming the next step for [specific question]
Hi [name],
With [participant's] agreement, we are organising [brief context].
The question we need to resolve is [one clear question].
Would you be the right person to [specific action]?
We are asking [name] to coordinate the follow-up; this is [proposed / accepted].
The person who needs to make the next choice is [name / relevant decision-maker].
The relevant current information is [document and date / location].
Could you confirm what you can do and an expected response date?
If this is outside your role, please let us know the appropriate next contact.
We will record the action as agreed only after you confirm it.
Thank you, [name and role]
Keep the map useful when people or priorities change
Check the map when a provider changes, somebody goes on leave or the participant chooses a different direction. Confirm who is covering an open action and whether that person has accepted it. Keep the old context where it is needed, but make the current contact easy to find.
If two people believe the task belongs to someone else, ask each to identify what is inside their role and what remains unresolved. Bring the specific gap to the next discussion. A calm clarification often works better than a longer group email assigning blame.
Use the care-team meeting agenda if the question needs a shared decision. For a first conversation with a coordinator, start with the first-meeting checklist below.
Use the agreed map in Kinovo
Kinovo gives the participant and their invited care team a shared place for people, tasks, relevant documents and updates. Start with the one action you have just agreed, rather than trying to record every responsibility in the team on day one.
- Create or open the relevant care-team workspace and invite the people the participant wants involved, using the appropriate access arrangements.
- Add the specific next step as a task for the agreed person, with the useful context, date and current document where needed.
- Use the task update to record the reply or what is still waiting, so authorised team members can see the next step.
Kinovo's Team leader role controls access and coordinates the workspace. It is a product role; it does not automatically make someone the participant's support coordinator, clinician, nominee or funding decision-maker. Keep those distinctions clear in the contact map.
Official guidance
Sources checked 22 September 2026. The contact map, examples and task method are optional Kinovo resources.
FAQ
What is the difference between a support coordinator and a plan manager?
Support coordination focuses on understanding and using the plan and connecting supports. Plan management focuses on the administration of plan-managed funding, claims, payments and budget information. Some questions need input from both, but their responsibilities are different.
Who should chase a late therapy report?
The authoring clinician or service is the starting contact for the report. Separately, agree who will follow up its progress. That might be the participant, a chosen supporter or a coordinator acting within their agreed role. Record acceptance and a check-in date instead of assuming the family will do it.
Does every NDIS participant need the same care-team roles?
No. The people involved depend on the participant's choices, needs, funding and service arrangements. Your contact map should describe the actual team, including useful informal support, rather than a list of roles you think you must fill.
Can I assign a task to somebody who was not at the meeting?
You can propose the action and ask them to accept it. Record it as proposed until they confirm what they can do and any timing. A meeting note or software assignment does not create a new professional responsibility by itself.
Is a Kinovo Team leader the same as an NDIS support coordinator?
No. Team leader is the Kinovo workspace role for coordinating access and the shared space. An NDIS support coordinator is a professional role with its own agreed service responsibilities. The same person may hold both roles, but one does not automatically confer the other.
Disclaimer
General preparation and coordination information only, not clinical, legal or NDIS funding advice. No independent clinical review is claimed. These optional resources are not NDIA forms and do not replace professional advice, required records or provider processes. Examples are fictional. Check current official guidance for your circumstances.