What is Capacity Building?

Capacity Building is the NDIS budget category funding supports that build a participant’s skills and independence rather than assisting with daily tasks. It covers therapy, employment supports, improved living arrangements, and support coordination. Unlike Core, funding is allocated to specific sub-categories and cannot be moved between them.

The rigidity is the point: the NDIA allocates Capacity Building against stated goals in the participant’s plan, so therapy funding cannot be redirected to daily support hours.

Support coordination and psychosocial recovery coaching are both funded here, which is why a coordination provider’s budget conversations look different from a support provider’s — the money genuinely cannot be borrowed from elsewhere.

Related terms

Core SupportsCore Supports is the NDIS budget category funding everyday assistance: personal care, help with household tasks, community participation, transport, and consumables. It is the most flexible category — funding generally moves freely between most Core support items — and it is where the majority of a typical participant’s plan sits.Capital SupportsCapital Supports is the NDIS budget category funding one-off, higher-cost items: assistive technology, home and vehicle modifications, and Specialist Disability Accommodation. Funding is tied to specific approved items, usually requires a quote and often an allied health assessment, and cannot be spent on anything else.Support coordinationSupport coordination is a funded NDIS support in which a coordinator helps a participant understand and use their plan: finding and connecting providers, negotiating service agreements, building the participant’s capacity to manage their own supports, and resolving problems when supports break down.

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NDIS NDIA Participant Plan management

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