Capacity Building Supports budget: Improved Relationships Explained

Capacity building supports aim to help you live a better, more independent life by helping you gain skills or learn strategies. For some National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants, this might mean assistance with learning social skills, communication, and emotional regulation in order to form more meaningful connections to those around them.

The funding subcategory for this is called NDIS Improved Relationships. 

What are improved relationships in NDIS?

This category focuses on building positive relationships and managing challenging behaviours so you can better participate in social situations, out in the community, or at work, school or uni.

Improved Relationships funding can be added to an NDIS plan to support people with complex behavioural needs, providing specialised assessment and supports to help these participants better interact with the world around them.

How these supports look in your NDIS plan will depend if you are on a legacy plan, or whether you have been switched over to the new PACE system. These differ in how the categories are funded, though what they fund remains much the same.

Improved Relationships (non-PACE)

In legacy plans, which some participants may still be using while everyone transitions to PACE, Capacity Building Improved Relationships covers two kinds of support.

1. Specialist Behavioural Intervention Support

These therapeutic supports focus on reducing or eliminating behaviours of concern; persistent behaviours that can cause distress or pose a safety risk to you, or to the people around you. 

Your NDIS plan will outline positive behaviour support strategies for yourself, your family, and any other support persons, in order to address behaviours of concern. Following a behavioural support plan can also help you to form healthier relationships going forward.

2. Individual Social Skills Development

Social skills training has been shown to help people make new friends, and it can help open up more opportunities to participate in social and recreational activities. For some people, group training works well; but for others, this can have a better impact if done on a 1:1 basis.

This category funds supports to be delivered on an individual basis. These are designed to develop positive social skills, so you can participate in community and social activity.

Your Improved Relationships funding can also be used for:

• Activity based transport
• Provider travel – non-labour costs

All costs are subject to current NDIS Price Arrangements and Price Guides.

Related: A Guide to the NDIS Travel Allowance for Support Workers

Relationships (PACE Plans)

Under the new PACE plans, CB Relationships focuses solely on individual social skills development. Behaviour Support has been established as its own sub-category (still listed under Capacity Building supports). This is because while both areas can help you to work towards more effective social interactions, they go about it in different ways. 

If you are used to the old set up, there’s no need to worry: the same supports still exist, and you can still access them (provided they are reasonable and necessary for your disability needs). They are just in their own categories now.

PACE Relationships funding is earmarked purely to help you to develop social skills – how to interact with those around us, communicating more effectively… and with more confidence!

How Improved Relationships helps you

Improved relationships promotes better social and community participation. This is a key area of goal setting for NDIS participants. The more we learn how to connect with others, the more happy and confident (and often, independent) we become as a result.

Our everyday lives are made up of social interactions: with our loved ones or carers, with friends, with coworkers or schoolmates, people in support groups… and with anyone else we meet along the way.

Improved relationships can help you to be more aware of how you’re communicating with others, and how to do it more effectively if you are struggling.

Building stronger personal connections often starts with feeling confident and included in your wider community. If you’re looking to build independence and engage more in everyday life, increased social and community participation supports can help you develop the skills to get there.

Regardless of ability, knowing what to do or say in these situations can be hard. That’s why being able to learn and improve your social skills can be very helpful in building confidence and overall happiness.

Skills you might work on include:

• Verbal and nonverbal communication: Words, body language, eye contact, facial expression, physical and spatial boundaries
• Essential skills of effective communication: Active listening, empathy, respect, conflict resolution, relationship building
• Time management skills

Related: The Top 4 Dating Apps for People Living with Disability

Accessing Improved Relationships funding

Capacity Building funding is less flexible than Core funding, and more flexible than your Capital supports budget. Improved Relationships / Relationships is not very flexible at all, because it’s a stated support.

This means that the funding can only be used in this category. It’s important to make sure you go over this during your planning sessions, so that it can be specified in your plan and funding will be allocated.

If you are being transitioned into the PACE format for the first time and need both CB Relationships and Behaviour Support, be sure to ask for this during your planning session. You can also request changes to your plan at any time if your situation changes.

In terms of eligibility, the usual rules apply – funding must be in support of achieving the goals in your plan, and be reasonable and necessary in direct relation to your disability needs. Any items or services you want to purchase must be approved NDIS Supports.

Related:

• Reasonable and Necessary Supports Under the NDIS
• NDIS Eligibility: A Complete Guide on How to Apply for Funding

Managing stated supports in your Plan

With stated supports like Improved Relationships (among others in your Capacity Building budget) you will need to be careful about:

• Only purchasing eligible items with your respective support budgets
• Making sure you don’t overspend (risking invoice rejection or penalty)
• Making sure you don’t underspend (as this may indicate to the NDIS that you don’t actually need that funding in future budgets)

When it comes to managing your plan budget, there are three options.

1. You can be agency managed directly by the NDIA. This gives you the least admin, but also the least choice when it comes to choosing support providers.
2. You can be self managed, which offers the most freedom of choice but also the most responsibility. You are solely responsible for your record keeping, budgeting, tracking invoices, and may be required to pay upfront for some services and claim reimbursement later.
3. You can be plan managed. This means working with a Plan Manager, who will take on the administration and management of the financial parts of your plan. This includes budget tracking and alerting you to anything that needs your attention – like over or under spending – before it can become a bigger issue.

Note: The NDIA has the authority to change how your plan is managed; particularly if you, or whoever handles your plan on your behalf, are assessed as potentially mismanaging NDIS funds. This change currently applies to self-managed participants, but will eventually include individuals using a plan management provider.

NDSP makes your NDIS journey easier

Working with NDSP plan management specialists means you don’t have to worry about the day-to-day financial management of your plan. Instead of spending time and energy tracking budgets to support your social and community participation, you can focus on making friends, strengthening bonds, and enjoying life!

We know the funding rules and ever-evolving best guidance from the NDIS can be confusing for participants. We try to make things as easy as possible with our free Participant Toolbox – and if you would prefer to find out directly, you can contact our team and lean on our NDIS expertise. 

Why not contact NDSP today and find out more about how we can help demystify and simplify your NDIS journey. Our friendly team would love to hear from you!