Supported independent living in Perth for people whose needs are clinical as well as daily.
SIL is a roster, not a building. We build the roster around the person.
Supported independent living is NDIS funding for help with daily tasks at home for people who need a lot of support, usually around the clock. It pays for the workers, not the house. That distinction matters, because it means SIL can happen in the participant’s own home, a home they rent with housemates, a family property, or specialist disability accommodation, and the provider’s job is the same in each: a roster that holds, workers who know the person, and someone clinically accountable for the care.
Most SIL providers in Perth are set up for support work. We are set up for support work with a registered nurse behind it. Our clinical lead writes the support plan, signs off every worker’s competency for the participant’s clinical tasks, reviews the care monthly and is on call at night. For a participant with a tracheostomy or a seizure plan, that is the difference between a provider who can say yes and one who has to say no.
We keep teams small and stable: typically eight to ten trained workers for a 24-hour roster with a 2:1 component, so the participant sees the same faces and the family and coordinator have one point of contact.
Eligibility, and the honest version.
The NDIA funds supported independent living for participants, generally aged 18 or over, who need significant help with daily tasks throughout the day and often overnight, seven days a week. It is usually the right funding for someone with high physical support needs, a combination of physical and behavioural needs, or a level of clinical need that means a worker has to be present at all times.
It is usually not the right funding for someone who needs a few hours of support a day, who lives with family who provide most of the care, or who is under 18. For those people the NDIS has other options: Individualised Living Options, in-home supports under Core, or high-intensity daily personal activities without a SIL package. We will tell you which one fits rather than push SIL because it is the larger line.
To fund SIL the NDIA needs evidence of the support required: functional assessments from the treating team or allied health, a description of a typical day and night, the hours and number of workers, and, if the participant is in hospital, the discharge plan. The provider then submits a roster of care. We prepare that roster with the support coordinator, and we prepare it truthfully, because a roster that overstates hours fails at the next reassessment and a roster that understates them leaves the participant unsafe.
How SIL funding works.
SIL sits in the Core Supports budget of the plan as a stated amount for supported independent living, based on the roster of care the NDIA approves: the hours of support each day, the support ratio (1:1, 2:1, or shared between housemates), and whether overnight is active or a sleepover. High-intensity supports such as tracheostomy, ventilation, PEG feeding, complex bowel care and seizure management are funded at the high-intensity rate, and community nursing for the nurse’s own visits is usually funded separately under Improved Daily Living.
SIL funding does not cover rent, board, food, utilities or the house itself. Those come from the participant’s own income, the Disability Support Pension, Commonwealth Rent Assistance and, where they have it, SDA funding. We set this out in the service agreement in plain figures so there is no confusion about what the plan pays for and what the participant pays for.
SIL plans are reassessed. We produce a monthly summary and a plan-reassessment report that documents the hours delivered, the clinical events and the reasons each support is needed, so the next plan funds what the first one proved was necessary.