Responsibilities of Disability Support for Older Australians (DSOA) Program service coordinators

Responsibilities to clients

As a DSOA service coordinator, you are responsible for:

• managing your clients’ DSOA funding package to meet their needs
• helping clients to access the supports they need to continue living as independently as possible
• responding to your client’s support and changing needs. 

This includes: 

• developing, maintaining and reviewing the client’s Individual Support Package 
• delivering services directly or through subcontracting arrangements 
• making sure special needs groups have equitable access to services
• meeting the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Quality and Safeguards Commission standards and quality requirements.

Read more about managing DSOA Program services.

Quality standards

As a DSOA service coordinator, you must provide services that:

• comply with the requirements of the DSOA grant agreement
• meet the Quality Standards of the NDIS Commission (Code of Conduct) Rules 2018 and NDIS Rules
• support and recognise users rights outlined in the National Standards for Disability Services or state/territory requirements
• consider a client’s diversity including:
  • disability
  • age
  • gender
  • cultural heritage
  • language
  • faith
  • sexual identity
  • relationship status 
  • other relevant factors outlined in the National Standards.

Registration with the NDIS Commission

You must register with the NDIS Commission to be a DSOA Program service coordinator. You only need to register for the types of services you deliver. 

Exemption

You may apply to be exempt from registration due to exceptional circumstances. 

This could be if your organisation is already registered as an government-funded aged care provider and only supports a very small number of DSOA funded clients.

We will consider the quality standards you are already bound by when deciding whether to grant an exemption.

Funding

We pay DSOA Program service coordinators a management fee of 1% of a client’s total funding. This fee:

• is included in the DSOA service coordinator’s client funding breakdown 
• covers the costs associated with:
  • managing a client’s Individual Support Package
  • meeting program compliance
  • meeting reporting requirements.