Supported Independent Living (SIL)

What is Supported Independent Living (SIL)?

Supported Independent Living (SIL) is NDIS funding for paid support workers who help with, or supervise, a participant's daily tasks in their home. It is designed for people who need support at all or most times of the day, including overnight, and it is usually shared with housemates who are also NDIS participants. SIL pays for the support, not the house: rent, food and bills are paid by the person.

The NDIA describes the purpose of SIL as helping a participant live as independently as possible while building their skills. In a participant's plan, SIL sits in the Core supports budget under Assistance with daily life. The building itself may be funded separately as Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), or it may be a private rental or social housing.

When people search "SIL NDIS", they usually mean one of three things:

• The support: workers helping in the home, often 24 hours a day.
• The funding: the SIL amount in a participant's plan that pays for that support.
• The provider: the organisation that delivers it, usually called a "SIL provider".

How SIL works

SIL is funded individually. Even when three people share a house and the same workers, each person has their own SIL funding based on their own support needs, not on how the house is run. The NDIA's SIL operational guideline (July 2026) says it looks at:

• Hours of support the person needs in an ordinary week at home.
• The support ratio: how many workers support how many residents at different times of the day, for example 1:3 in the evening and 1:1 for personal care.
• Intensity: standard or high intensity. High intensity is usually funded when someone needs continual active support from workers with extra skills, such as for unstable seizures or respiratory support.
• Overnight support: a sleepover (up to 2 hours of awake support a night) or active overnight support, where a worker is awake to support the person.
• Irregular support: unplanned days at home, for example when the person is unwell. The guideline sets an initial maximum of generally 10 days a year for standard needs and 15 days for high intensity needs (see irregular SIL supports).

Evidence for these decisions comes from the participant, allied health assessments such as a functional capacity assessment, behaviour support assessments, and reports on daily support needs. The funding is then priced using the NDIS pricing schedule, which sets maximum prices; you can look up the current SIL support items and price limits in the free NDIS price guide.

The guideline also says SIL funding includes an average of 12 public holidays a year, and that provider overheads (management, staff training, shadow shifts) are built into the hourly rates rather than funded separately. Once SIL is in a plan, the participant can use it flexibly within the SIL budget, and minor changes to routine that still fit the funding don't need to be reported. If support needs change significantly, the plan may need a plan reassessment.

Rosters of care

A roster of care sets out, half-hour by half-hour, who is supported in the home, at what ratio, and when. Under current NDIA guidance a roster of care is not a requirement and does not have to be submitted to the NDIA. It is a tool for the participant and provider to agree what support will be delivered each week and how it will be claimed (NDIA roster of care guide, June 2026). The guide stresses that it must be built with the participant or their nominee, and that it is not an agreement with the NDIA. You can draft one with the free SIL roster of care tool.

Who SIL is for and what it covers

According to the July 2026 operational guideline, SIL may suit someone who needs active disability support for more than 8 hours a day and some level of support for the remaining hours — in practice, 24/7 support including overnight. It is generally only considered for people aged 18 or over.

The NDIS Commission summarises when support counts as SIL: the person needs support at all or most times of the day; the help is with, or supervision of, daily life tasks so they can live in their home as autonomously as possible; and the provider is managing and delivering the package of supports (NDIS Commission). It is not SIL if someone receives only a few hours of support a day or week, or if the participant chooses and manages their own workers, including directing, planning and rostering them.

Sources: the NDIA's Guide to providing SIL and the SIL operational guideline. Only one support can be claimed for any period of time, so hours a participant spends at a day program are not also claimed as SIL.

How to get SIL funding

SIL is requested and decided as part of a participant's home and living supports. The usual path looks like this:

A support coordinator often helps pull the evidence together. If the NDIA decides not to fund SIL, the participant can ask for an internal review of the decision and, after that, apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal.

SIL vs SDA, ILO, STA and MTA

SIL is one of several NDIS home and living supports, and the acronyms are easy to mix up. The short version: SIL funds the support, SDA funds the building. Individualised Living Options (ILO) is the main alternative to shared SIL, while short-term accommodation (STA) and medium-term accommodation (MTA) cover temporary stays.

What SIL providers need to do in 2026

2026 brought the biggest changes to SIL in years. Since 1 July 2026, providers delivering SIL must be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission — see mandatory registration and registered NDIS provider. Existing unregistered providers had to apply by 30 September 2026 to keep claiming SIL from 1 October 2026 (NDIS Commission: mandatory registration for SIL).

Supports delivered from 1 July 2026 are claimed under the new registration group 0138 – Assistance with Supported Independent Living (NDIA news, June 2026). Providers need a service agreement before claiming, and regular SIL is now claimed either weekly (a bundled amount with no weekday, weekend or public holiday adjustment) or hourly — not both (How to claim SIL supports).

Registered SIL providers must also meet the SIL Practice Standards, which commenced on 1 July 2026. Among other things, the SIL module expects:

Common misunderstandings about SIL

• "SIL is a type of house." It isn't. A "SIL house" is just a home where SIL is delivered; the house may be SDA, private rental or social housing.
• "Housemates share one SIL budget." They don't. Each resident's funding is individual, even when workers are shared.
• "The provider can charge more when a room is empty." Vacancies are not funded and should not be passed on to the remaining residents.
• "A roster of care must be sent to the NDIA." Not any more. It's an agreement tool between participant and provider.
• "Sleepover staff can be awake all night." If awake support regularly runs past 2 hours, the guideline says to talk to the NDIA about funding active overnight support instead.
• "Changing SIL provider means moving out." Not when the provider also owns the home: the SIL Practice Standards require separate service and tenancy agreements.