Individualised living options

About individualised living options

ILO is a package of supports that lets you choose where and how you live in the way that best suits you. ILO funding does not pay for a house.

Using your ILO funding, you can:

explore different ways to live – with friends, family or a host
design a support package to help you live the way you choose

There are lots of choices with ILO. You can share your home with friends or housemates or you might live in the home of a host.

The purpose of ILO is for you to live in a way that best suits you. Your ILO and the funding you get will be specific to your needs. We consider your preferences, strengths, support needs, informal and community networks when deciding the right ILO funding for you.

Transcript for 'What is an Individualised Living Option'

What makes ILO different

ILO is designed just for you. ILO supports work with other funded supports and services you receive as well as the help you might get from your family, friends or community.

ILO is not:

a group home where people with disability share supports and don’t get to choose who they live with
a ‘placement’ where children and adults with disability are placed with a family or other people to ensure a roof over their heads
a facility, hostel or other shared accommodation service
a program of 1:1 rostered care with set supports and services that don’t reflect the participants preferences or needs
funding for where you live.

ILO: Our Guideline

The Individualised Living Options (ILO) Guideline explains what an ILO is, how it benefits participants, how we fund ILO supports and how you get ILO supports in your NDIS plan.

Read the ILO Guideline to learn:

ILO participant scenarios

Learn more about how ILO can help participants achieve their home and living goals:

Getting started – Stage 1 explore and design

It is never too early to start thinking about where and how you want to live in the future. If you or your family think you might want to change how you live, this is a good time to talk to the NDIA about your home and living goals and include these in your NDIS plan.

Talk to your LAC or planner about exploring your home and living options.
If you have a goal to explore home and living options, we’ll start by getting some information from you. We’ll ask you to complete the Home and Living Supports Request form and request a change to your plan
Based on the information in the Home and Living Supports Request Form and request to change your plan, the NDIA will consider your request and determine how much support you need to explore and design your ILO package. We’ll communicate with your through the plan reassessment process before it is approved and added to your plan. Funding for the ILO Exploration and Design stage can be self-managed, Agency or plan managed.

Remember all of the supports in your NDIS plan must be considered reasonable and necessary and most appropriately funded by the NDIS.

If you have a support coordinator funded in your plan, they might help you with Stage 1. Your support coordinator should have:

experience with person-centred design
experience in understanding how engage effectively both primary and supplementary supports that make up the ILO
ability to facilitate access to, and coordination of, community resources, services and other government service systems.

You might get you support coordinator to do all of the explore and design stage, or your support coordinator and you might also work with an ILO provider.

It’s a good idea to include the provider of Stage 2 in your Explore and Design stage. This work would be funded using the flexible portion of your core budget.

ILO providers play a critical role in helping you set up your ILO supports.

When you are looking for a provider, you should think about if they:

understand your needs
listen to you
explain things clearly to you
help you to think about what home and support options might suit you
are a good problem solver
negotiate well with others on your behalf
are someone you can work with
are flexible and willing to try something new or explore possibilities for your home and life
are able to identify supports suited to you rather than offering or suggesting an existing service that might not be right
are able to support you to help you decide and find who you want to live with.

There is no requirement for you to use the same provider to deliver both Stage 1 and 2 of your ILO. If you want, you might choose to do Stage 1 without a provider, however, but we strongly encourage that the provider of Stage 2 is involved in the preparation of the Service Proposal Form .

You can get help from:

your family or friends
people who have already done something similar
a support coordinator or provider that have experience in delivering ILOs
a capacity building or advocacy organisation.

How does ILO Supports (Stage 2) work?

The ILO Supports stage will ensure your ILO package is implemented, managed, monitored and adjusted to support you to work toward your home and living goals.

Providers of ILO Supports will:

engage in the Exploration and Design stage and contribute in writing your ILO Service Proposal
build and organise the ILO Supports package, including detailing the roles and responsibilities of the primary, supplementary, formal and informal supports, which should be written in agreements that you are happy with
implement the ILO package, including facilitating and managing the primary and supplementary support arrangements
when needed, undertake home assessments to ensure you have a safe and welcoming environment
monitor and adjust the ILO package and arrangements. Monitoring may include: face to face visits, phone calls, virtual check-ins and informal supports dropping in and will generally depend on how you would like this happen. The details of monitoring arrangements need to be recorded in the ILO Service Proposal.

The ongoing success of the ILO is based on agreements between the you, the provider and your host or housemate. They set out roles, responsibilities and expectations of everyone. Agreements should be co-authored by you, your provider and host or housemate based on individual circumstances.

Primary supports are delivered by the people you live with. They help with the supports you need every day in your home.

There are two types of arrangements:

Host – you live full time in the home of a person or family (host) who is not related to you.
Housemates – you live full time in your own home, or a shared rental premises, with other people who are not related to you.

The level of support provided by host(s) or housemate(s) will be determined through a combination of the consideration of your circumstances, your choices and home and living goals and the NDIA’s assessment of reasonable and necessary.

These help at home supports may include things like:

personal care, if that’s what you want
cooking
cleaning
emotional support
helping you get ready for work
making sure you are safe at home.

Whether you are supported by a host or housemate, supplementary support arrangements should be planned to help the primary supports. Supplementary supports can be paid or unpaid. Examples of supplementary supports include:

a second host to share your support needs
on-call arrangements
support of a mentor
volunteers
a good neighbour
paid “drop-in” support
structured supports from family or friends

Sometimes your supports will need to attend to other commitments such as planned holidays, travel for work or medical appointments that take them away from the home.

In these situations, you might talk to your ILO provider about building formal support options into the ILO package, such as respite care or having support workers stay in the home either ad hoc or on a regular basis provided these relationships are well established before implementation.

Monitoring means your provider checks in to make sure ILO is working well for you. Sometimes you might like to make a small change, or things might not be working out as well as you thought they would.

Monitoring and making necessary adjustments to the ILO package requires providers to:

maintain regular contact with you, primary, supplementary and other relevant supports and provide guidance and support along the way
support decision making and problem solving throughout the arrangement, including conflict resolution
review and redesign the living arrangement in response to changes in your life or capacity, including finding alternative living and support arrangements if an arrangement ends
ensure your ongoing monitoring and safeguarding and others in the living arrangement and ensure compliance with NDIS Practice Standards (if registered) and Code of Conduct.