Your guide to Supported Independent Living (SIL)
Published at 04-03-2024 15:00:00
Your guide to Supported Independent Living (SIL)
Supported Independent Living (SIL) provides help for people with disabilities to live more independently. This support provides assistance for many different parts of like daily tasks and activities, allowing participants to live as autonomously as possible! Let’s take a closer look at SIL and how it can help you.
What is Supported Independent Living (SIL)?
SIL is a type of funding provided by the NDIS to assist participants with higher support needs who may require 24/7 around the clock support. This support can be tailored to the individual’s needs and is typically provided in shared housing arrangements, although it can also be available for individuals living alone. SIL can provide:
- Assistance with daily life and tasks such as cleaning, cooking and developing a routine
- Assistance with accessing social and community activities
- Assistance with travel
- Assistance with personal care
- Help with development of social skills
- Support for medical appointments and giving you your medication
How can SIL help me?
SIL provides many different ways to support you, this can include:
Personalised support: SIL services are designed to fit your unique needs. Support coordinators are funded for those SIL on their NDIS plan and they can assist in finding the right providers for you. Support workers can help with personal care, household chores, meal preparation, medication management and much more.
Skill development: SIL aims to help you learn and improve skills that boost your independence. This can include help or supervision for cooking, managing your money, cleaning as well as participating in social activities.
Community participation: SIL encourages you to be active in your community! You can get assistance to help you access local resources, join social activities and build relationships.
Around-the-clock support: SL is best suited for participants who need a significant level of help at home all the time. This means you will be provided help through out the day, 7 days a week, including overnight support.
Funding for SIL
SIL is included in your NDIS plan under Home and Living. This is a stated core support which means that it must be used as detailed in your NDIS plan and is not flexible.
The amount of funding you receive for SIL depends on the level of support you need. The NDIS will use available information, such as your roster of care, assessments and reports to work this out.
SIL funding cannot be used for expenses that are unrelated to your disability support needs, examples include:
- Grocery costs
- Rent costs
- Utilities such as electricity, water, gas or internet bills
- Vehicle costs
- Expenses related to holidays such as travel costs
How can I get SIL on my plan?
To get access to SIL funding, these following steps can help you get started:
- If you don’t already have information to provide the NDIS, consider collecting documents such as any assessments of your disability support and housing needs, allied health professional reports and reports about your daily support needs.
- Once you have the relevant documents necessary, you can ask about SIL at your NDIS plan meeting, you can also reach out directly to your support coordinator who can assist you in getting this funding.
- Once your eligibility has been determined and SIL has been added to your plan, your support coordinator will help connect you with the most suitable SIL provider and housing options.
- A service agreement is then recommended to be signed between you and the provider, after you have your agreement you can ask your provider how to begin getting the supports you need for independent living!
If there are any changes to your circumstances or your disability support needs, you can reach out at any time to ask for reassessment of your plan. The NDIS will then reevaluate your information to work out the best supports that suit your current situation.
Get in touch
If you would like to know a bit more about SIL or have any general questions, we would love to help you out! Call us on 1300 217 037 or email us at info@justplanmanagers.com.au and our friendly team will get back to you in no time.