Stage 2: Individualised living option supports

If your individualised living option supports meets the NDIS funding criteria, we’ll decide what level of Stage 2 funding is right for you.

We’ll make sure the supports described in the service proposal you developed in your Stage 1 funding suit your needs and situation. We’ll consider all the information we have to help us decide.

Individualised living option Support Level 1 is funded up to $105,000 per year.

We may consider this level of support where:

primary support involves you sharing a home with a person who provides companionship and some casual direct support. Direct support may involve prompting with personal care, household tasks, and help to manage emotions and behaviours
supplementary support involves things like drop-ins, on-call support, regular time with family or formalised assistance from a neighbour
monitoring may result in limited re-design and adjustment of supports.

Individualised living option Support Level 2 is funded up to $150,000 per year.

We may consider this level of support where:

primary support involves you sharing a home with a person who provides companionship and more regular direct support
direct support involves physical assistance with personal care, supervision with household tasks, and help with supporting behaviour
supplementary supports involve things like paid drop-in support, on call support, structured supports from family or friends, formalised support from a neighbour or mentor
monitoring is likely to result in the re-design and adjustment of supports.

Individualised living option Support Level 3 is funded up to $230,000 per year.

We may consider this level of support where:

primary support involves companionship and sustained support
supplementary supports likely include paid drop-in support, on call support, structured informal supports from family or friends, a neighbour or mentor. An alternate primary support provides relief assistance for the usual supports
direct support will involve physical assistance and personal care, direct supervision with household tasks and help with supporting behaviour. It includes a significant physical disability, or disability-related health supports.
significant monitoring is needed and there is a high likelihood of re-design and adjustment of supports.

These levels are a guide only. We decide your actual level of support based on your individual situation.

The supports we fund must meet the NDIS funding criteria, both individually and as a total package of supports.

To work out what Stage 2: individualised living option supports meet the NDIS funding criteria, we think about the following questions.

We can only fund individualised living option supports if they’re related to your disability support needs. This means they need to help you do things you can’t do because of your disability.

We’ll look at your service proposal to check the individualised living option supports detailed relate to your disability support needs.

For example, your disability may mean you need support to do some things that housemates do when they share a house, like cooking meals. Or you might need prompting with personal care. Also, if your disability means you need help to meet your responsibilities as a tenant, such as keeping the property clean, we may fund someone to help you.

We don’t fund things that everyone needs whether or not they have a disability, such as your food and rent.

An individualised living option must help you pursue the goals in your plan. To fund an individualised living option support, there must be a goal in your plan that the support would help you pursue. This might be something like to feel safe in your home.

An individualised living option could also help you pursue goals to build your skills or do more things yourself, such as managing household chores.

Remember, it is important to understand:

setting more and bigger goals doesn’t mean we’ll fund more NDIS supports
setting a goal about a certain type or amount of NDIS support you might want doesn’t mean we have an obligation to fund that NDIS support or in that amount.

Find out more about setting goals .

Your individualised living option must be likely to be effective and beneficial for you. This means it will do what it’s meant to do, and it will help you. Your individualised living option support should help you have a place you can call home. You should be able to express who you are and make choices about your daily life activities.

Your service proposal will provide important information to help us decide if your individualised living option support is likely to be effective and beneficial for you. We’ll see if your supports provide the flexibility you need and if the mix of support will work in the long term.

For example, we need to check things like:

Does your service proposal clearly describe how your primary and supplementary supports will be provided?

This helps us understand what NDIS supports you’ll get, when you’ll get them, and who you’ll get them from. From this, we can better understand if the NDIS supports match what you need and want. It also helps us work out whether there are any risks to you or others and whether the NDIS supports are value for money.
Are there one or more supplementary supports that provide flexibility and will help sustain your primary support?
Does your service proposal include detail for monitoring and adjusting the supports?
Your individualised living option support is more likely to be effective and beneficial if there are ways to check how you're going and change your supports.
Is there evidence you’ve been involved with and agreed to the service proposal?
Your service proposal isn’t likely to be effective and beneficial if you haven’t been involved in designing it, or you don’t agree with it.
How will your individualised living option supports fit with other home and living supports, or NDIS supports you use for things like recreation, work or study?

When your individualised living option support works with other NDIS supports you use, it’s more likely to be effective and beneficial. For example, supports such as transport, assistive technology and capacity building supports. We’ll check this and make sure they’ll work together.

NDIS supports for work and study or daytime activities is funded separately from your individualised living options support. These NDIS supports are very important to help you live the life you want. It’s important they’re described in your service proposal so you can be sure all your NDIS supports will work together. It’s also a good idea to include your existing housing-related NDIS supports in your service proposal. This will help make sure all your NDIS supports work together.

Individualised living option supports are for the support you get from other people. Individualised living option supports don’t cover the house or accommodation itself.

We can’t fund an individualised living option support that is likely to cause you harm or might be a risk to others. We also can’t fund NDIS supports that go against state, territory or commonwealth laws.

Your individualised living option support must be value for money. This means the cost of the NDIS supports must be reasonable. We also compare this to the cost of other NDIS supports that would give you the same benefit.

We need to consider if:

there are other NDIS supports that might achieve the same outcome that are less costly
your individualised living option support will increase your independence, or reduce your support needs in future.

For example, we may be able to fund modifications to your house. This means you’ll be more independent and don’t need ongoing NDIS supports to help with certain tasks.

We know that getting support from your family, friends and the community can be important for you and your wellbeing. An individualised living option support is designed to complement and not replace unpaid informal supports.

We don’t fund supports in your individualised living option that would be reasonable to expect your family, friends or the community to provide. These are the things we all do for each other, and it would be reasonable to expect friends or family would do for you.

We’ll think about:

how much support you need and what type
whether the activity you need support for is something an adult would usually do without support from family or friends
if your family, friends or the community provide the support, whether it would pose a risk to your wellbeing or to theirs
whether support from your family, friends or the community would help you become more independent, or less independent
whether it’s suitable for your family, friends or the community to provide this support. For example, they may not have the capacity to provide support at the level you need.

It’s a good idea to include any help you get from your informal supports in your individualised living option. This helps to recognise the important role they play. Including unpaid informal supports in your individualised living option is also a proven way to reduce the overall cost of these supports.

All the supports we fund as part of your individualised living option must be NDIS supports for you. This means they must all be supports that the NDIS laws says we can fund. We don’t fund supports that are appropriately funded by another service or organisation.

For example, an individualised living option doesn’t include funding for medical treatment if you get sick, because this is the role of the health system. Medicare will fund a doctor’s visit, not the NDIS. Your local area coordinator or support coordinator can help you connect to other organisations in the community.

They can help you find information on what’s available, or support you to develop the skills and confidence to connect with those services.