How to Get SIL Funding in Your NDIS Plan
To get SIL in your plan, ask the NDIA for home and living supports. Make a list of your support needs and goals, talk to your my NDIS contact, and send recent evidence from a treating health professional, such as an occupational therapist, explaining your daily support needs and the options you've already looked at. The NDIA then decides which home and living support to fund.
What Are the Steps?
The NDIA describes three.
- Think about what you need: your disability support needs, your goals, and the informal and community support you already have.
- Talk to your my NDIS contact about your current and future needs and the home and living options.
- Provide your evidence, through the NDIS service hub, by mail to NDIA, GPO Box 700, Canberra ACT 2601, or in person.
What Evidence Helps?
A recent report from a treating health professional that explains three things.
- Your daily support and housing needs, including how often and when you need support each day
- What you can and can't do because of your disability, and how that affects daily life and housing
- What other home and living options you've explored, and why they don't meet your needs
For SIL in particular, it helps to show the hours you need active support, what happens overnight, and why sharing support does or doesn't work for you. Reports from a behaviour support practitioner can help too. If you already have home and living supports, the evidence needs to be dated after your last plan was approved.
Looking for SIL Support?
We'll connect you with a registered SIL provider who may have support or a vacancy that suits.
What Happens Next?
The NDIA reviews your evidence, may ask for more, and lets you know its decision.
If you're new to SIL or there isn't enough information, the NDIA may fund an assessment of your home and living needs. If it includes home and living supports, you'll be invited to a plan meeting. Your plan will show the SIL funding and the hours and ratios it's based on.
What If the Answer Is No?
You'll get written reasons, and you can ask for an internal review within 3 months of getting your plan.
The NDIA may fund other home and living supports instead, such as personal care or individualised living options. You can also ask for a change to your plan later if your needs change.
Who Can Help?
A support coordinator, an occupational therapist, and the people who know you best.
Participants with home and living supports will typically also have funding for a support coordinator, who can help you understand your plan and find a SIL provider. If you're already working with a provider, the information they hold about your support can help too, but the decision is the NDIA's.
Questions People Ask
How long does it take to get SIL funding?
The NDIA doesn't publish a set timeframe. It depends on whether it has enough evidence or needs an assessment first.
Does a provider need to send a quote?
No. The NDIA works out SIL funding from evidence about your needs and the pricing schedule. A provider's roster of care isn't required.
Can I ask for SIL before I've found a home?
Yes. Funding is based on your support needs, not on a particular house, and your coordinator can help you look for a home and provider.
Keep Reading
- SIL eligibilityWho is eligible for supported independent living (SIL) under the NDIS: the support needs the NDIA looks for, the age rule, the evidence used and if it's a no.
- How SIL funding worksHow SIL funding works: hours of support, ratios, standard or high intensity, overnight support, irregular support days and how the pricing schedule sets limits.
- The SIL roster of careWhat a SIL roster of care is, what goes in it, who writes it, whether the NDIA needs it, and how it relates to SIL funding and so-called SIL quotes.
- SIL vs SDA vs ILOSIL, SDA and ILO compared from the support side: what each one funds, who it's for, how they combine, and which to ask about when you need help to live at home.
- Finding a SIL vacancyHow to find a supported independent living (SIL) vacancy: what providers need to know, what to have ready, where vacancies are listed and how to judge the fit.
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