NDIS PACE: The Difference between Capacity Building and Core in my NDIS PACE plan?

In Short:

Your CORE funding helps you with everyday activities. It is flexible - funding can be switched between the different categories. It funds things like Support Workers (or personal care and social access), transport and consumables (continence, feeding etc) 

Your CAPACITY BUILDING supports help you maintain or build your skills and independence. It is not flexible and it can only be spent in the 'stated' categories, It funds things like therapy, employment, living arrangements and social activities.

Core Supports in your NDIS PACE plan

Core supports can be 'flexible' core supports or 'stated' core supports.

You can check your plan to see if your funding for these support categories is described as flexible or stated.

Flexible Core Support Categories 

When your funding is flexible, you can use it to buy supports from other flexible support categories (see the list below), as long as they have the same fund management type (e.g. plan managed, self managed or agency managed).

There are 4 flexible core support categories in your plan (remember you can move funds between these categories)

1. Assistance with Daily Life
   Supports to assist or supervise you with your personal tasks during day-to-day life so you can live as independently as possible. These supports can be provided individually in a range of environments, including your own home.
    
2. Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation
   Supports to help or supervise you to take part in community, social, recreational, or economic activities. These supports can be provided in a range of environments, such as in the community or a centre.
    
3. Consumables
   Supports to purchase everyday use items that you need because of your disability.
   For example, continence, low-cost assistive technology and Home Enteral Nutrition (HEN) products are included in this category.
    
4. Transport
   Supports to pay a provider to transport you to an activity that is not itself a support – or to a support that is delivered by another provider.
   This support category is for transport from a provider. If you receive funding for day-to-day transport, like taxis or public transport, you’ll usually use the Transport Recurring support category instead.

Stated CORE Support Categories

There are 2 stated support categories in your NDIS PACE plan. This means you MUST use your funding in the way described in your plan:

5. Home and Living
   Supports to help you live as independently as possible. We’ll specify what type of home and living supports you can use in your plan. They include:
   • Supported independent living (SIL) helps you live in your home as independently as possible, while building your skills. It includes help or supervision with daily tasks, like personal care or cooking meals. Supported independent living is for people with higher support needs, who need some level of help at home all the time.
      
   • Medium-term accommodation (MTA) gives you somewhere to live if you can’t move into your long-term home because your disability supports aren’t ready. To be eligible, you must have a home you’ll move into, and you need somewhere else to live in the medium-term. We usually fund medium-term accommodation for up to 90 days.
      
   • An individualised living option (ILO) lets you choose the home you live in and set up supports in the way that best suits you. It can include things like personal care, help to build your skills, or support with household tasks like shopping or cooking. Family, friends, and other networks can complement your paid supports.
      
   • Assistance with daily life tasks provided in a residential aged care facility is funding for younger people in residential aged care (YPIRAC). We can provide this funding if you need to pay extra daily care or accommodation costs because of your support needs.
      
6. YPIRAC - Cross Billing
   Funding for some of your fees and charges if you are a younger person in residential aged care (YPIRAC). The NDIS has an agreement with the Department of Health and Aged Care to cover some of these costs.

Capacity Building Supports in your NDIS PACE plan

All capacity building supports are stated. This means you must use your funding in the way described in your plan.

Capacity building support categories in your NDIS PACE plan include:

1. Behaviour Support
   Supports to help you develop behavioural management strategies to reduce behaviours of concern. This includes specialist behavioural intervention supports to help improve your quality of life.

2. Choice and Control
   Supports to help you manage your plan funding and pay for services using a registered plan manager.

3. Finding & Keeping a Job
   Supports that help you find and keep a job. This may include employment-related support, training, and assessments.

4. Health & Wellbeing
   Supports that are directly related to managing the impact of your disability on your health.

5. Improved Daily Living Skills
   Supports including assessment, training, or therapy (including early childhood supports) to maintain, develop or increase your skills and capacity for independence and community participation. These services can be delivered in groups or individually.

6. Improved Living Arrangements
   Supports to help you find and keep an appropriate place to live. For example, if you need help with your obligations as a renter or finding somewhere to live.

7. Increased Social & Community Participation
   ​Supports to help you take part in skills-based learning to develop independence in accessing the community.

8. Lifelong Learning
   Supports to assist you to move from school to further education, such as university or TAFE. Examples include training, advice and support.

9. Relationships
   Supports to help you develop positive social skills and interact with others in the community.

10. Support coordination and Psychosocial Recovery Coaches
    Funding for some of your fees and charges if you are a younger person in residential aged care (YPIRAC). We have an agreement with the Department of Health and Aged Care to cover some of these costs.