Navigators Are Coming: What The 2028 Change Will Mean For Your Support Coordination

If you have a support coordinator you have confidence in, then here is the news you can understand, not just through rumour: your present support coordinator will be replaced. A newly commissioned support coordination function will start from 1 July 2028, as the government moves to a single “navigator” role as called for in the NDIS Review.

Many participants have been experiencing a lot of anxiety over that sentence, much of it stemming from a lack of clarity on what is really changing, and when. So here is what we know, what is still in the design phase, and what you should and should not do about it.

If you've heard people talking about 'Navigators' and you're worried about what it means for your current supports, you're not alone. Many participants are hearing different versions of the changes and aren't sure what information they can trust.

At Support Network, we believe the best way to reduce uncertainty is to focus on the facts. This guide explains what has been confirmed, what is still being developed and what you can do now to prepare with confidence.

The first thing to be said is that nothing changes right now. Your support coordination arrangement remains the same as usual. Your coordinator continues to work, your funding continues to work, and reassessment continues to fund coordination as it does now. The reform is genuine, but it is staggered and time bound, the commissioned coordination model is from 1 July 2028, and the government will communicate the changes well in advance of them impacting anyone’s plan. No one’s coordinator is gone next month.

So What Is Decided?

The final report of the NDIS Review stated there was a lack of consistency in the provision of navigation support across several roles (such as support coordinators, Specialist Support Coordinators, Local Area Coordinators, psychosocial recovery coaches, early childhood partners) and identified ‘gaps’ and ‘duplication’ as well as ‘recurring conflicts of interest’ where coordinators worked for organisations that also deliver services. Its response: to substitute the lot for a family of roles, navigators.

The government has since made it official and set dates for it. The main elements confirmed:

A commissioned model starting from 1 July 2028. Whereas today it is an open market for anyone to provide standard coordination, coordination/navigation will be commissioned, that is, the NDIA will choose and fund the provider. Consultation and design has been under way since 2024-25, with a funded pilot to test the delivery of quality coordination.

Funds are not kept in participant plans. This is the structural change participants might feel best about. All of your coordination hours are deducted from your plan today, a true giveaway for other supports. With the navigator model, the NDIA will fund navigation outside of plans, and that trade-off becomes a thing of the past.

Broader eligibility. Navigators are designed to be accessible to everyone with disability under 65, and not only those who are in the NDIS. Those waiting for access decisions, or who are ineligible for the scheme, would receive support to access services.

Multiple navigator types. Today’s Specialist Support Coordination is part of six navigator types recommended by the Review to suit different levels of need, such as specialist navigators (expected to have allied health or social work qualifications) and psychosocial recovery navigators.

Separation from service delivery. To resolve conflicts of interest, navigators will not be able to deliver other NDIS services.

What’s Still Genuinely Unknown

Lots and lots, and it’s worth saying so plainly:

Whether you will have the option to pick your navigator or not. Today’s coordination market operates on participant choice; a commissioned model might be different, and the Review did not rule it in or out, just noted it as one of the priorities. How existing arrangements will change: the Review expects a lot of the existing coordination and LAC workforces to be transformed into navigators, and there is a good chance these will be the same people doing the new work, but the detail isn’t settled. And the detail of the six navigator types, their intensities and the allocation rules is still being designed.

Anybody who tells you with absolute confidence what navigators will do for you in 2028 is ahead of the decision.

The Compromises, In Simple Terms

The upside of the story is coordination without consuming the plan, service to those who are missing from the current plan, flexible intensity (that can go up or down without needing to review the plan in the middle of a crisis), and independence from provider agendas.

The worries are real, as well. The largest is relationships: a lot of participants have coordinators they trust after years, and a commissioned model doesn’t ensure that the same coordinator, or perhaps the same level of choice, will be provided. Additionally, open questions remain about the ability of a commissioned system to remain as responsive as the competitive market, and whether a standardised system will adequately meet the needs of highly individual situations. These aren’t reasons to fret, they’re what to look out for while design consultation goes on.

Specific Practical Advice (And Non-Advice)

Changes to the NDIS can understandably feel unsettling. The important thing to remember is that these reforms won't happen overnight, and participants will be given information as the new system is introduced. Right now, your focus should remain on getting the most from your current plan and supports.

Don’t make any defensive changes now; coordination goes on normally for several years.

Do keep your own records. The smoother the transition can be, the better the chances of a good outcome, if the goals, providers, history and support arrangements are in your own documented hands. Just a one-page running summary is sufficient.

Continue to build capacity. It is the role of coordination today, and it’s transition-ready: the more you understand your own plan and supports, the less any structural change can shake you.

Discuss it openly with your coordinator. Where does the navigator transition sit in their plans? Good coordinators are monitoring this closely, and many will become navigators, so a candid answer is a good indicator of their engagement.

Be sceptical of confident predictions, including from vendors with a vested interest in selling. The honest state of play is: direction announced, start date determined, details being designed.

The Bottom Line

Support coordination as we know it has a definite deadline on the horizon, 1 July 2028, and a new system with potential: navigation, outside of the plan, accessible to more people, independent of provider interest. It also brings real open questions, mainly about choice and continuity of the relationships that participants value most.

In the intervening period, your coordination doesn’t change at all, and the most important preparation is unadventurous: keep good records, build your own capability, and get your information from official sources, not gossip. The scheme has undergone significant changes in the past. The winners are always the same people: the ones who knew what was really going on, which now includes you, after reading this.

Regardless of how the transition unfolds, Support Network will continue to help participants connect with support workers and coordination throughout Australia. Learn more at supportnetwork.com.au or call 1300 671 931.