NDIS Capacity Building Supports: What They Cover and How Hilda Care Can Help
Written by the Hilda Care NDIS Team, registered NDIS provider #4050126032
Price Limits Checked Against the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27
Capacity Building funding is the part of your NDIS plan designed to help you need less support over time. Instead of someone doing a task for you, it pays for support that teaches you to do more yourself, whether that is cooking a meal, managing a budget, catching a train.
Most guides stop at listing the categories. This one also explains which Capacity Building supports Hilda Care delivers in Melbourne, what a session actually looks like, the current price limits, and how to tell whether your support is genuinely building skills.
The 9 Capacity Building CategoriesÂ
Capacity Building funding is split into categories, and unlike most Core funding, it generally has to be spent within the category it was allocated to. Here is what each one funds and where Hilda Care fits in:
| Category | What It Can Fund | Does Hilda Care Deliver It? |
|---|---|---|
| Support Coordination | Help to find, connect with and manage your providers | Yes, Level 1 and Level 2 (not Specialist Support Coordination) |
| Improved Living Arrangements | Help to find and keep a suitable home, including tenancy obligations | Yes |
| Increased Social and Community Participation | Skill building for community life, life transition planning and mentoring | Yes |
| Finding and Keeping a Job | Employment preparation, job coaching and workplace support | No |
| Improved Relationships | Social skills development and positive behaviour support | Yes, individual social skills development |
| Improved Health and Wellbeing | Exercise physiology, dietetics and personal training | No |
| Improved Learning | Support moving from school to further education | No |
| Improved Life Choices | Plan management | No |
| Improved Daily Living | Therapy, skills training, daily planning and budgeting | Yes, skills training, daily planning and budgeting (not therapy) |
Capacity Building Supports Hilda Care Delivers
Hilda Care is registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission for the registration groups that cover these supports, including Development of Life Skills, Assist Life Stage Transition, Accommodation and Tenancy, and community participation supports.
Support Coordination
Support coordination helps you understand your plan, choose providers, set up service agreements, and keep your supports working together. We deliver Level 1 (Support Connection), which helps you get your plan started, and Level 2 (Coordination of Supports), which provides ongoing help to manage your supports and build your ability to do this yourself. If you need Specialist Support Coordination for more complex situations, we can work alongside your specialist coordinator.
Life Skills Development
Our life skills development support focuses on the everyday tasks that make the biggest difference to independence. Common goals include planning and cooking simple meals, managing money and paying bills, keeping a household routine, using public transport safely and managing appointments.
A typical session is practical and hands-on. For example, a participant working towards cooking independently might plan a meal with their support worker, write a shopping list, shop for ingredients together and then cook with step-by-step prompts. Over the following weeks, the worker gradually steps back until the participant can do each step alone.
Life Stage Transition Support
Big changes can be unsettling, especially when routines and support arrangements change at the same time. Our life stage transition support helps participants through moments such as leaving school, moving out of the family home, returning home after a hospital stay or changing living arrangements. Support can include planning the move, building a new routine, decision-making, budgeting, and mentoring so the participant feels confident in the new stage of life.
Social Skills and Community Participation
Many participants use Core funding to have a support worker join them at activities. Capacity Building takes this a step further by building the skills to take part more independently, such as starting conversations, managing social anxiety, travelling to a group alone or joining a club without a worker present. It works alongside our community participation support to reduce the level of support needed over time.
Accommodation and Tenancy Support
Keeping a home involves more than paying rent. We help participants understand their lease, set up a system for rent and bills, communicate with real estate agents, keep up with routine maintenance and resolve problems before they put a tenancy at risk. This support is funded under Improved Living Arrangements.
2026-27 Price Limits for These Supports
These are the national maximum hourly prices for the Capacity Building supports above, taken from the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27. For all other supports, see our full breakdown of 2026-27 NDIS price limits.
| Support | Support Item | Price Limit per Hour |
|---|---|---|
| Support Coordination Level 1: Support Connection | 07_001_0106_8_3 | $80.06 |
| Support Coordination Level 2: Coordination of Supports | 07_002_0106_8_3 | $100.14 |
| Skills Development and Training | 09_009_0117_6_3 | $83.87 |
| Life Transition Planning Including Mentoring, Peer Support and Individual Skill Development | 09_006_0106_6_3 | $83.87 |
| Individual Social Skills Development | 11_024_0117_7_3 | $83.87 |
| Assistance With Accommodation and Tenancy Obligations | 08_005_0106_2_3 | $83.87 |
| Assistance With Decision Making, Daily Planning and Budgeting | 15_035_0106_1_3 | $73.58 |
| Skill Development and Training Including Public Transport Training | 15_037_0117_1_3 | $73.58 |
How to Tell If Your Support Is Really Building Skills
The difference between Core and Capacity Building support is simple: Core support does a task with or for you, while Capacity Building support teaches you to do it yourself. If you already receive daily living assistance through your Core budget, Capacity Building should add something different, not repeat the same help under another budget.
Good skill-building support usually has these signs:
- A clear, measurable goal: For example, “catch the bus to TAFE on my own by March” rather than “improve independence”.
- A written plan: The steps to get there are agreed with you before support starts.
- Progress notes: Each session is recorded so you can see what has improved.
- Support that fades: Prompts and hands-on help reduce as your confidence grows.
- Regular reviews: Goals are checked every few months and updated when you reach them.
If none of these are happening, it is worth asking your provider how the support is helping you build skills.
Getting the Most From Your Capacity Building Funding
- Start early in your plan: Skill building takes time, so booking support in the final months of a plan leaves little room to show progress.
- Keep your progress notes: Evidence of skills gained is valuable at your next plan reassessment, especially if you want funding for new goals.
- Check your category balances: Because funding usually cannot move between Capacity Building categories, keep an eye on each one separately.
- Combine supports with the same goal: For example, life skills training and community participation can work together towards a goal like travelling to work independently.
How We Work With Your Other Providers
Some Capacity Building supports, such as therapy, employment support and plan management, are delivered by other specialists. We work alongside your therapists, plan manager and any other providers so everyone is focused on the same goals. For example, if your occupational therapist designs a cooking program, our support workers can help you practise it between therapy sessions.
Talk to Hilda Care About Building Your Skills
If you have Capacity Building funding in your plan and want to use it to build real independence, our team can review your goals and match you with a support worker who suits you. You can also check the registration groups Hilda Care is approved for on the NDIS Commission’s provider register.
Author Bio:
The Hilda Care NDIS Team writes and reviews every guide on this site. Hilda Care is a registered NDIS provider (#4050126032) in Melbourne, assessed against the NDIS Practice Standards. Our multilingual team of support coordinators and support workers helps participants with NDIA-managed, plan-managed, and self-managed plans turn their funding into practical, everyday support.