Individualised Living Options (ILO)

What is Individualised Living Options (ILO)?

Individualised Living Options (ILO) is NDIS funding to design and put in place a home support arrangement built around one person: where they live, who they live with and how they are supported. It often mixes paid support with help from a host, housemate, family, friends and neighbours. ILO pays for the support arrangement, not the home itself, and it is usually an alternative to shared Supported Independent Living (SIL).

The NDIA's ILO operational guideline stresses that ILO is "not the home itself". Rent, mortgage and everyday costs stay with the participant. What ILO funds is the work of exploring options, designing a living arrangement that suits the person, and then the supports that make it work week to week — for example a host who shares their home, a live-in housemate who provides some support, or a mix of drop-in support and on-call help.

ILO is one of the NDIS home and living supports, alongside SIL, Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), short-term accommodation and medium-term accommodation. People sometimes call it "individual living options" or "ILO funding".

How ILO works: two stages

ILO is usually added to a plan in two stages, described in the NDIA's ILO funding information and the guideline.

Stage 1: Exploration and Design

Stage 1 funds time with an ILO provider to work out where and how the person wants to live. During exploration and design the provider and participant typically:

• explore where the person wants to live and who with, including whether they want to live with a host, housemates or on their own;
• understand the person's strengths, routines, support needs and goals;
• map the informal supports — family, friends, neighbours and community — who could play a role;
• decide who will provide the paid supports and how they will be monitored;
• write a service proposal that sets out the primary and supplementary supports, weekly hours, who delivers and monitors them, and what they cost.

When Stage 1 is funded, the NDIA gives an estimate of Stage 2 funding, so the arrangement can be designed to fit. Exploration and design is claimed against its own hourly support item; you can look it up in the NDIS price guide.

Stage 2: Supports

Stage 2 funds putting the arrangement in place and keeping it working. The NDIA assesses the service proposal and other evidence against the reasonable and necessary criteria. ILO supports in Stage 2 fall into two groups:

• Primary supports: the main support in the home. The NDIA's examples include a host arrangement, where the participant lives full time in the home of a host who is not related to them, and a housemate arrangement, where the participant lives in their own home or a shared rental with someone unrelated who provides some support.
• Supplementary supports: extra supports that work with the primary support, for example when a host or housemate has work, appointments or holidays. They can be paid (a support worker staying over) or unpaid (staying with a family member), and can also include things like mentoring, drop-in help or on-call support.

Stage 2 also funds the provider's work to set up, monitor and adjust the arrangement, because ILO arrangements depend on relationships and need active care to last.

Who ILO is for and what it covers

According to the guideline, ILO might be right for someone who:

• is 18 or over, or 17 and planning ahead for adulthood;
• needs at least 6 hours of support at home each day, formal or informal;
• is ready to invest time in designing their future home and support arrangement.

The guideline also says ILO might not be right if the person needs less than 6 hours of support a day and no help with problem-solving at other times, needs 24-hour rostered support from one or more support workers, needs frequent support overnight, or has restrictive practices in their behaviour support plan. Those situations usually point to SIL or other supports.

Source: ILO operational guideline. ILO can be used in an SDA dwelling: the SDA guideline notes that supports such as personal care or ILO may suit someone living in SDA, and the NDIA needs to know how they would work in that home.

ILO vs SIL

ILO and SIL both fund support at home, but they are built differently. SIL is usually shared, rostered support delivered by a provider's workers; ILO is a personally designed arrangement that leans on relationships and informal support as well as paid help. The ILO guideline lists SIL among the things ILO does not include, so the two are generally not funded together for the same living arrangement.

The NDIA's SIL operational guideline describes SIL as suiting people who need active support for more than 8 hours a day plus some support at all other times, including overnight. ILO is aimed at people who need at least 6 hours a day but not 24-hour rostered staff or frequent overnight help. Someone in the middle might be able to choose either, and the NDIA will consider which option best meets their goals and represents value for money.

What ILO providers need to do

The NDIA's guide to providing ILO describes the provider's role across both stages. In practice an ILO provider needs to:

1. Lead exploration and design with the participant (and their family or nominee), not around the provider's existing services.
2. Write a clear service proposal that shows each primary and supplementary support, weekly hours, who delivers and monitors them, and the cost.
3. Recruit and match hosts, housemates or co-residents carefully, with written agreements that cover everyday issues such as rooms, shared bills and time off.
4. Put backup in place so the arrangement doesn't collapse when the host or housemate is sick, on leave or moves on.
5. Monitor and adjust the arrangement, keep records, and help the participant ask for a plan reassessment if needs change.

ILO is not on the list of supports that need mandatory registration from 1 July 2026, which covers SIL and digital platform providers. But a provider must still be registered for some participants and supports, for example anyone whose plan is NDIA-managed. Check the NDIS Commission's registration requirements for the supports you deliver, and use a service agreement that matches the service proposal.

Questions participants can ask an ILO provider

Because ILO depends so much on design, the provider you choose matters. Before you agree to Stage 1, it is reasonable to ask:

• How will you get to know me, my family and my routines before suggesting an arrangement?
• How do you find, check and match hosts or housemates, and what written agreements do you use?
• What happens if my host or housemate is sick, goes on leave or wants to end the arrangement?
• How often will you check in once the arrangement starts, and how do I raise a concern or make a complaint?
• Will the service proposal show every support, its hours, who delivers it and what it costs?

Write down the answers and share them with your support coordinator or nominee if you have one. Good answers are specific; vague answers are a warning sign.

Common misunderstandings about ILO

• "ILO is a type of house." It isn't. ILO funds the support arrangement; the person rents, owns or shares the home.
• "ILO pays my family for helping." No. Payments to informal supports such as family and friends are excluded. Funded primary supports, such as a host, are arranged through the ILO provider under the service proposal.
• "I can have ILO and SIL together." Generally not for the same living arrangement — ILO is the alternative to shared SIL.
• "Stage 1 means I'm approved for Stage 2." Stage 2 is a separate decision based on the service proposal and evidence, although the NDIA gives an estimate at Stage 1.
• "ILO only means living with a host family." Hosts are one option. Housemates, co-residents and living alone with a designed mix of supports are others.