What happens once supported independent living is in your plan?

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You will get a copy of your plan once it is approved. It will explain how much funding you have for supported independent living. We’ll also explain the hours and ratios of support funded in your plan.

You can then choose which provider you want to use for your supports. You can talk to your support coordinator, planner or your informal supports such as friends or family to help find a provider. If you want to use a registered provider, you can search for providers on the myplace portal or on our website .

Where supports or services are likely to include the use of regulated restrictive practice, you will need to use a registered provider. Restrictive practice is any practice that limits the rights or freedom of movement of a person with a disability, to protect them or others from harm. The NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework sets out how and when providers can use restrictive practice.

You may want to speak with different providers to choose the best one that will help you work towards your goals. After you choose your provider, you’ll need to agree on how they will deliver your supported independent living supports. You should tell the provider your goals for your home and living arrangements, and the support you need for daily tasks to help you live as independently as possible.

Your provider will need to deliver your supported independent living supports within your approved funding. We don’t fund providers’ costs directly to work out your day-to-day supported independent living needs.

You can also talk to your support coordinator, planner or provider if you need help to find somewhere to live where you can use your supported independent living supports.

Supported independent living is suitable for people who share some of their supports with other participants. It’s your choice how many people you share your home with.

If you live with more than 2 other participants, there may also be times where you share more than one support worker.
For example, one disability support worker might support 2 participants, including you. Or 2 disability support workers might support 4 participants, including you.

We recommend you make a service agreement with your provider for your supported independent living. A service agreement is an agreement between you and your provider. It sets out what supports you have agreed to buy from your service provider and how those supports will be provided. It should include the details of how your provider will deliver your supported independent living support.

When you make a service agreement for supported independent living, you should discuss:

the ratio, amount and intensity of your supports
the price of your supports
your responsibilities
your provider’s responsibilities
how long the agreement goes for and how it can be changed
how you and your provider will solve any disputes
how you’ll use your supports if you go on holiday
what supports you’ll get if there’s a vacancy – that is, if someone moves out of the home you share and you aren’t sharing supports with as many people permanently or for a long time.

Once you have a service agreement, ask your provider how you start getting supported independent living.

Learn more about making service agreements .

The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits lists the maximum hourly price limits that you or your provider can claim for supported independent living.

You should use your supported independent living funding to purchase the home and living supports described in your plan. You should agree with your provider about how they will deliver your supports and make claims.

Supported independent living is flexible. It allows for minor changes in your daily or weekly routine. You can use more funding at times when you need more support and less when you need less support. But all support provided must fit within the available funding.

You can also make minor changes to your roster of care that fit within the funding available. You should discuss minor changes with your supported independent living provider. You may choose to work with your provider to create a new schedule to describe any changes. However, we don’t need to see this.

Your supported independent living will generally continue each year, unless your situation, disability support needs or home and living goals change. We will update your funding if there are changes to the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits.

Your supported independent living support might need to change if there’s a significant change to your situation or disability support needs.

If this happens, you can ask us to reassess your plan. We can also decide to reassess your plan without a request from you.

When we reassess your plan, we will decide what supports we can fund using the NDIS funding criteria. We’ll need current information about your situation and disability support needs. We may need a new assessment from your treating medical professional or an appropriately qualified and registered allied health professional to help us work out what supports meet the NDIS funding criteria. Learn more about when we can do a plan reassessment .

You need to tell us about events and changes in your life, or changes likely to happen, that affect, or might affect, your plan. You need to tell us about the event or change in your situation as soon as you become aware of it. For example, you may increase your hours at work or participation or other programs in the community; this may affect how much supported independent living you need.

If your home and living goals change and you ask for a change to your plan, we’ll use all information available to work out which other home and living support may suit you.

A vacancy is where another participant stops sharing support permanently or for a long time. This means you don’t share your support with as many people.

We don’t fund vacancies in your shared living support arrangement. We fund supported independent living based on your support needs, not based on the arrangements of the other people who share your support.

A supported independent living provider shouldn’t increase the price of supported independent living or claim extra funds from your plan to cover vacancy periods.

You should talk with your supported independent living provider about how they will manage vacancies. Your service agreement should include how your provider will manage vacancies in your shared housing.