Core Supports in Northern Territory

What core supports actually covers

The day-to-day help: personal care, assistance around the house, getting out into the community, and transport. Core is the largest and most flexible part of most plans, and for most participants it is the support they notice week to week.

How it's funded

Core Supports is usually the most flexible budget in your plan. In most cases you can move funding between the core categories without asking the NDIA first. Not many participants are told this, and it is one of the more useful things to know.

What to know in Northern Territory

Workforce is the binding constraint on core supports in the Territory. In remote communities, providers may only be able to deliver at particular times or on particular days, and staff turnover is high. Local knowledge and cultural safety count as much as capability. For Aboriginal participants especially, ask whether the provider employs local workers and how they work with the community.

Choosing between providers

With core supports, reliability beats anything on a brochure. A provider who sends someone different every week, or cancels when a worker is sick, causes far more disruption than one charging a slightly higher rate with a stable roster.

Questions worth asking

• Do I get to choose my support worker, and can I change if it is not working?
• What happens when my regular worker is sick or on leave?
• How much notice do I give to cancel, and what do you charge if I am late?
• Do you charge for the worker's travel time, and how do you calculate it?
• Realistically, how many different workers will I see in a month?

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