In short. A local area coordinator helps you understand and start your plan, and is free. A support coordinator is funded in your plan and helps you find and manage providers. A plan manager pays your invoices. Many people have a plan manager and an LAC and no support coordinator, and that is normal.
Why do these three blur together?
They blur because all three are people who help with your plan, they all get introduced in the same week, and two of them have “coordinator” in the title.
The quickest way to separate them:
- LAC: helps you understand the plan. Free, funded by the NDIA through partner organisations.
- Support coordinator: helps you use the plan. Funded inside your plan, so it takes up a portion of your budget.
- Plan manager: pays for the plan. Funded separately, and it does not come out of your support budget.
Local Area Coordinator
What they do. LACs work for partner organisations contracted by the NDIA. They help you understand what is in your plan, connect you with mainstream and community services, and help you get started. They also help people who are not NDIS participants find community supports.
What they cost you. Nothing. It does not come out of your plan.
Where people get frustrated. LACs carry large caseloads and their role is broad rather than deep. They generally cannot spend weeks helping you compare providers or chase one that is not delivering. They also cannot recommend a single provider, which surprises people. That is a deliberate boundary, not unhelpfulness.
When they are the right call. New plan and you do not know where to start. Plan review coming up. You need to be pointed toward community or mainstream services rather than NDIS-funded ones.
Not everyone has an LAC. In some areas and for some participants, an NDIA planner or an early childhood partner does the equivalent job.
Support coordinator
What they do. Find providers, set up service agreements, keep an eye on whether things are working, and step in when they are not. They help you build the capacity to do more of this yourself over time, which is the actual stated purpose.
There are levels. Support connection is lighter and short term. Support coordination is the common one. Specialist support coordination is for complex situations with higher risk, delivered by someone with relevant qualifications.
What they cost you. It is funded in your plan under capacity building, and it uses budget you could otherwise spend on other supports. That is worth knowing rather than discovering later.
Where people get frustrated. Support coordination is not automatic. If it is not in your plan, you do not have it, and you have to make the case at a plan review for why you need it. Common grounds include complexity, a recent change in circumstances, multiple providers to juggle, or difficulty navigating the system alone.
When they are the right call. Several providers to coordinate. Complex or changing needs. A hospital discharge or a housing change. You tried to arrange things yourself and it did not work.
A good one is worth a lot. They know which providers actually have capacity rather than which ones say yes to everything, and that knowledge saves months.
Plan manager
What they do. Receive your provider invoices, claim from the NDIA, pay the provider, and give you a record of what has been spent. Some also provide budget reporting so you can see where you are up to.
What they cost you. It is funded separately in your plan under improved life choices, and it does not reduce your support budget. If you ask for plan management at a planning meeting, it is usually approved.
Why people choose it. It is the option that gives you the widest choice of providers. Plan-managed participants can use registered and unregistered providers, where NDIA-managed participants can only use registered ones. There is more on that in our guide to registered and unregistered providers.
Where people get frustrated. A slow plan manager delays provider payments, and providers notice. If invoices routinely take weeks, that is worth raising, and you can change plan managers.
Side by side
| LAC | Support coordinator | Plan manager | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helps you understand the plan | Yes | Sometimes | No |
| Finds and sets up providers | Rarely | Yes | No |
| Chases a provider who is not delivering | No | Yes | No |
| Pays your invoices | No | No | Yes |
| Comes out of your support budget | No | Yes | No |
| Everyone has one | No | No | No |
Who do I probably need?
A first plan, straightforward supports, one or two providers. LAC plus a plan manager is usually enough.
Several providers, or a complicated situation. Ask about support coordination at your next plan review, and bring evidence of why the complexity is real.
You want maximum choice of providers. Ask for plan management. It costs you nothing from your support budget.
You are managing everything yourself and it is working. Self-management gives you the most control and the most admin. Plenty of people do it well.
How do I work out which one I already have?
Look at your plan document.
- Capacity building, improved relationships or improved daily living, with a line about support connection or coordination, means you have funded support coordination.
- Improved life choices with a plan management line means you have a plan manager.
- Neither of those tells you about your LAC, because that sits outside your plan. If you are unsure, call the NDIA on 1800 800 110 and ask who your partner organisation is.
What none of them do
None of them deliver your day to day supports. That is what a service provider does, and it is a fourth role.
A support coordinator will help you find one. A plan manager will pay one. An LAC will point you toward the list. But the person who turns up on Tuesday morning works for a provider, and choosing that provider well is a separate decision from any of the three roles above.
Some questions worth asking any provider are in our guide to eight questions worth asking any NDIS provider in Sydney.
Where we sit
Serenica Support is a service provider. We are not registered for support coordination and we are not a plan manager, deliberately. Those roles exist partly to hold providers like us to account, and we think that works better when they are not the same organisation.
We work with support coordinators, LACs and plan managers every week. If you are a coordinator, our scope, how we report and what we can take is set out on our page for support coordinators.
Serenica Support is a registered NDIS provider, registration number 4-LOHEV53, delivering eleven registration groups across Sydney.
General information only. This is not advice about your plan. For questions about your own NDIS plan, speak to your support coordinator, your local area coordinator, or the NDIA on 1800 800 110. For concerns about a provider, the NDIS Commission is on 1800 035 544.
Working out who you need? Tell us what you are trying to arrange and we will tell you which of the three would help, even where the answer is that you do not need us. Make a referral or call 1800 770 781.