Capacity Building Supports Budget: What Is It and How Does It Work?

In the NDIS, capacity building is an idea that goes to the heart of the Scheme’s aim: to empower individuals with disabilities to become self-sufficient and, ideally, reduce their reliance on ongoing support.

The Capacity Building Supports budget is one of the three main budgets that can be included in NDIS Plans, alongside Core Supports and Capital Supports.

So what are capacity building supports?

“What shape and form that capacity building takes is as unique as a fingerprint,” says Capital Guardians Tasmanian Manager Bryce Cutting.

“The guiding principle is that, by using the Capacity Building Supports budget as intended, there will come a day that the support is no longer needed.”

A Plan’s Capacity Building Supports budget should help participants to better engage with their community and exercise greater self-management control in their lives.

These supports can apply to 6 key areas: employment, education, independence, living arrangements, social participation, and health and wellbeing and these are delivered via 9 different categories.

Capacity Building Supports Categories

The Capacity Building Supports budget is applied to nine specific categories and, unlike in the Core Supports budget, this funding isn’t flexible (so it can’t be moved from one category to another).

Funding for any category of the Capacity Building Supports budget is outlined in the NDIS participant’s Plan and is tailored to their needs based on their initial assessment.

1. Support Coordination

Support Coordination is about dedicating funding towards a specialist – someone who can help a participant make the most of their NDIS Plan.

This person is called a support coordinator. Their job is to work closely with their client (the participant or their nominee) to figure out what services and resources would be best. They can also help explain a participant’s rights and options, making sure all the services are delivered smoothly within their budget.

Support coordinators are there to help participants develop new skills, independence and funds management. Basically, they’re there to help participants make sure the implementation of their Plan is effective.

Relevant Support Providers:

Support Coordinators and Recovery Coaches.

Case Example:

Danny and May are both NDIS participants, but they have vastly different Plans according to their individual needs and goals.

Danny is a budding artist, but wants to improve his ability to manage his moods and expand his social circles.

May is a Uni student and is committed to becoming a teacher as soon as possible, but needs to be able to increase her physical strength and mobility to be truly confident in her work.

Due to the variety of supports each of them requires to achieve their goals, Danny’s and May’s funding via Support Coordination means they can both access a support coordinator who helps them understand their funding and find out how to best engage the correct support providers.

2. Improved Living Arrangements

Improved Living Arrangements, also known as “CB Home Living,” aims to make sure that people with disabilities can find suitable housing options and get the support they need to live independently or with the right level of assistance.

This support may include help with tasks like inspecting properties, negotiating contracts, and applying for rentals. The goal is for NDIS participants to secure access to the right housing and assistance they need to live comfortably and independently.

Relevant Support Providers:

Assistance With Accommodation And Tenancy Obligations.

Case Example:

May is a Uni student and completing her Diploma of Education. She has a part-time job and wants to move out of her sister’s apartment so that she can be more independent by the time she starts working as a teacher.

At the same time, May’s physical disability impacts her mobility and can often be quite painful, making it difficult to travel around to inspect apartments while also juggling work and Uni. Improved Living Arrangements means May is able to work with a specialist agency that helps people like May to find the right accommodation to suit her needs, without her having to physically exert herself.

3. Increased Social and Community Participation

Increased Social and Community Participation (or “CB Social Community and Civic Participation”) helps individuals to engage with their community.

This category offers training and assistance to:

• Enhance social interactions and connect with others
• Develop skills for community, social and recreational participation
• Increase independence in daily personal activities

Not to be confused with the ‘Assistance with social, economic and community participation’ category of the Core Supports budget (which has a lower maximum hourly rate that can be charged as it does not include the emphasis on training and capacity building development).

Relevant Support Providers:

Camps, classes, and vacation activities that have capacity building components.

This category can also be used to establish volunteer arrangements in the community, mentoring, peer support and individual skill development.

It offers reimbursement for the costs of tuition fees, art classes, sports coaching and similar activities that build a participant’s skills and independence. These supports need to be specific to the participant’s needs and goals and aren’t funded on an ongoing basis.

Case Example:

Danny has always wanted to attend an art school, but has been unable to due to learning and behavioural challenges. He sometimes struggles to contain his frustrations about this situation, but things have been a lot better for him in recent years.

That’s because ‘being more creative’ is one of the goals in Danny’s NDIS Plan. As a result, he receives funding under the Capacity Building Supports category for Improved Social and Community Participation. This pays for creative mentoring and weekly art classes, helping Danny to build social skills and engage with people in the local art community.

4. Finding and Keeping a Job

Everyone wants to be gainfully occupied, and the Finding and Keeping a Job category (also known as “CB Employment”) assists participants to do just that. It covers assessment or counselling to help make finding and keeping a job easier.

The purpose of this category is to make sure participants find themselves engaged in a workplace that’s best suited to them. It may include supports to build essential skills, career plan development or specific School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES).

SLES are delivered to create a pathway from school to employment (and, no, that doesn’t include funding for Schoolies Week unfortunately).

Relevant Support Providers:

• Employment Related Assessment And Counselling
• Employment Skills Training
• Job Coaching and Support
• Supported Employment

Case Example:

May is a keen student and has always aspired to become a teacher someday. Living with a physical disability represents several challenges to achieving this goal, but thanks to the funding she receives under Finding and Keeping a Job, May has been able to seek specialist assistance to better understand her options and career pathways in her unique situation.

5. Improved Relationships

Improved Relationships (also known as “CB Relationships”) helps develop participants’ positive social skills and behaviours in the case that the participant has complex or unclear needs that require an extra level of support.

Relevant Support Providers:

Because of the specialised nature of the category, the only support providers that can qualify to be funded under Improved Relationships are NDIA-registered behavioural therapists.

Case Example:

Alongside Danny’s art classes, funding he receives through Improved Relationships is used to fund sessions with a behavioural therapist. Danny’s therapist helps him to better regulate his moods, which has helped him to expand his social circles in the local art community.

6. Improved Health and Wellbeing

Also known as “CB Health and Wellbeing”, this category aims to address specific health needs, enhance functional abilities, prevent health deterioration, and promote overall wellbeing.

Relevant Support Providers:

• Exercise physiologist (accredited by Exercise and Sports Science Australia)
• Personal trainer with a (Certificate III, IV or Diploma in Fitness)
• A dietitian ( accredited by the Dietitians Association of Australia)

Case Example:

May’s physical condition is chronic, but manageable. In her Plan, securing a career as a teacher is paired with a goal that focuses on improving her mobility and reducing pain. For this reason, she receives funding under the Improved Health and Wellbeing category to work with an accredited exercise physiologist and personal trainer. Both specialists work together to help May improve her physical health and give her the confidence she’ll need to take on the physical demands of teaching.

7. Improved Learning

Education doesn’t necessarily finish with high school, which is where the Improved Learning (also known as “CB Lifelong Learning”) comes in.

This category is for the provision of skills training, advice and assistance for a participant moving from school to further education. For example, funds for a support worker to assist a participant in attending TAFE or university.

Relevant Support Providers:

• Education and Training Institutions
• Therapists and Specialists who provide educational support and interventions tailored to the individual’s needs

Case Example:

May has nearly finished her Diploma of Education, but she wouldn’t have gotten this far without a little support to help her navigate her University degree in the first place. Funding delivered via Improved Learning meant May was able to seek help to better understand the course options available to her and apply for the degree that best suite her.

8. Improved Life Choices

Also called “CB Choice and Control” this category funds a Plan Manager (and not an on-call guidance counsellor as the name may suggest).

A Plan Manager essentially acts as the participant’s own bookkeeper, helping them to manage their NDIS finances and to get their support providers paid.

Relevant Support Providers:

Only Plan Manager invoices are funded by this budget category.

Case Example:

When Danny first started out with the NDIS, he found all the information he was trying to learn frustrating and a little daunting – especially when it came to understanding how to get support providers paid. But, given he had Improved Life Choices included, it meant he’s been able to work with a Plan Manager to manage this important aspect.

As Danny continues to build his understanding of the NDIS and develop abilities in managing his own funds, he can begin working with his support coordinator to build more flexibility into his Plan.

9. Improved Daily Living

Improved Daily Living (or “CB Daily Activity”) funds supports for the assessment, training, therapy or strategy development aimed at increasing participants’ skills, independence and community participation.

This category may include funding for things like physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychology and speech pathology, as well as Early Childhood Supports (for children younger than 9 years old).

Relevant Support Providers:

• Exercise Physiologist
• Counsellor
• Psychologist
• Physiotherapist
• Physiologist
• Dietitian
• Art Therapist
• Audiologist
• Developmental Educator
• Music Therapist
• Occupational Therapist
• Orthoptist
• Podiatrist
• Rehabilitation Counsellor
• Social Worker
• Speech Pathologist

Case Example:

Alongside the support May receives under Improved Health and Wellbeing, she also receives funding under Improved Daily Living to fund her podiatry appointments, which are critical to her maintaining and improving her mobility. The funding from both these categories has been designed to work together with the stated goal of help May increase her physical capacity and to make sure she’ll feel ready to take on her dream career as an educator.

Understanding Support Category Codes

Another potential point of confusion is the way the NDIS Pricing Arrangements document allocates support category codes against the above categories. As such, you’ll see that ‘Support Coordination’ is actually listed as ‘07’, following on from the Core and Capital Supports categories.

The full list of support category codes under Capacity Building is as follows:

• 07 Support Coordination
• 08 Improved Living Arrangements
• 09 Increased Social and Community Participation
• 10 Finding and Keeping a Job
• 11 Improved Relationships
• 12 Improved Health and Wellbeing
• 13 Improved Learning
• 14 Improved Life Choices
• 15 Improved Daily Living Skills

Capacity Building for Greater Independence

Ultimately, the Capacity Building Supports budget should be thought of as the funding for supports that complement the Core and Capital Supports, giving participants what they need to become more self-sufficient.

In short, the Capacity Building Supports budget helps take an NDIS Plan to that next level, where participants can start to explore new passions and opportunities.

Whether it’s in supporting them to take on new learning or wellbeing activities, or simply chase the career that’s best for them, capacity building supports are the key to creating an NDIS Plan that delivers against each individual’s goals.