How SIL Funding Actually Works: Rosters of Care, Support, Supported Independent Living Guides for Families

Every day, we meet people who are completely ignorant of supported independent living funding, or individuals with confusing answers. In fact, there are far too many inaccuracies about SIL funding online, which is why we are writing this. Ask your friends and families if they know how NDIS SIL funding is calculated; trust me, the answers will be overwhelmingly incorrect. You will get answers like: “NDIA plan has no formula”, “The Support Provider decides”, and the common “It depends on your funding level”. All of these answers are incorrect and are a pointer to the knowledge gap in the application process, which sadly costs many participants real money and support year in and year out.

In simple terms, SIL funding is built differently, although it is not complex. It is created from a document called a roster of care. This roster of care is a week-by-week calendar that includes every cost-effective support needed, the ratio at which the support is delivered, and the time of support. When you understand how the roster works, then you will understand SIL funding easily. Please note that SIL does not cover home repairs.

When you have an understanding of the roster, SIL won’t be complicated. However, having inaccuracies in your knowledge of the roster, then you are going to be handling your SIL funding blindly. Moreover, we consider SIL funding one of the most important NDIS support, so it is very important for you.

This article walks you through the entire process:

• how a roster is created
• what each ratio and support shift means in cash and daily living
• How the NDIA verifies what claims get to its desk.
• The possible mistakes that impact people’s support negatively

This guide is written for participants in the NDIS, any Australian citizen, families of participants with disability, and support coordinators who want to have a wholesome understanding. The good news is that this guide will make you speak about SIL funding as an expert. Please note, there is a table in the guide, but it is an easy-to-read table.

Why there’s no “standard SIL package”

To begin, the NDIS process of managing participants is different. NDIS does not pay for diagnosis or disability or pay people. Instead, they pay for the support delivered to their participants, whether from a registered or unregistered support worker. Two participants can in fact live in the same community, have the same diagnosis, community access, support categories, yet have different SIL budgets. Why does this happen?

Participant A only needs a support worker assistance who works 80 hours a week. They can move around the house, engage in community activities and eat without supervision.

Participant B needs a support worker who works 168 hours a week, a physiotherapist, and a support worker who works the night shift.

These two people may seem to be dealing with the same diagnosis, but the level of support is different. The budget of their support may differ by six figures in some cases. This fact also reiterates that having a particular diagnosis does not suddenly equate to getting an amount of money.

How does NDIA know what to pay for? The disability organisation manages this by funding assessed needs of participants. These support needs are documented hourly, day by day. Every funding amount, funding periods, funding changes, funding options, funding schedule is evaluated by the NDIA.

What exactly is the roster care for: The evidence-backed report about each support required by a participant every week. The NDIA further tests the claim against ongoing assessments and funds what is within the NDIA guidelines and necessary.

The sector focuses on three broad categories: 

• Lower needs, which entails supervision, prompting for participants and no overnight support
• Standard needs include active round-the-clock support with an overnight shift
• Higher needs include continuous support, oftentimes the support worker doesn’t run the shift or live with the participant. It also includes an awake support staff overnight.

SIL-related payments were estimated to be $11.7 billion in 2025 – this amount is almost half the daily spending in the scheme. At the same time in June 2025, NDIA had a National Cabinet target to reduce the annual scheme cost from 10.8% to 8%.

What does this mean for families? Every roster in the NDIA receives greater scrutiny. Hence, your roster must be evidence-based; that is a reasonable and necessary criteria before getting a SIL funding.

The anatomy of a roster of care

A roster of care is built to answer these four questions every hour of the week:

1. Is SIL support happening around the clock? Some NDIA participants need support coverage spread across 168 hours a week. While others have gaps due to their day programs, employment, or because they are independent enough to do certain things themselves.
2. What is the ratio for support? Many families do not understand the ratio concept. However ratios are used to describe the number of participants in a home environment that receives support from a worker.

• 1:1 – A worker supports only one person. It is usually best when the participant needs attention and personal care. This hour is meant for core support: personal care, community access, occupational and lifestyle support during depressing times.
• 1:2 and 1:3 – one worker provides support simultaneously to two or three participants living in the same Specialist Disability Accommodation. The fee of the worker is split across the participants’ plans. This is why it is important to match compatible people. Moreover, a shared house can enjoy more coverage than a single individual.
• 2:1 –  This is two workers supporting one person. It is usually for high risk situations, or intensive behaviour support. It is usually funded for some periods of the day and not the whole day.

3. What are the types of overnights that exist? There is a sleepover and an active night.
4. • Active night: The support worker provides active support all night. Payment is for the whole night. It is required for participants in need of medical care, safety monitoring, or high-frequency repositioning in case of immobility.
   • Sleepover: The worker sleeps instead of staying awake all night. The support worker is, however, expected to wake to meet the needs of participants. It is ideal for suits residents who shouldn’t be left alone, but are independent and do not need help between 10pm and 6am.

The difference between the cost of these two are enormous, and that is why overnight classification needs evidence, and substantial reports in your roster.

4. Do support workers provide support on weekends and public holidays? Support worker rates increase during the weekend and public holidays. Support costs more on Sunday than any day of the week, even if it is the same hour. Ensure that your roster and budgets reflect these peculiarities.

A simplified sample week

Here is a simple table for “Amir” who lives with two other NDIA participants and is employed, but goes to work two days every week. Please note that this roster does not give the actual price, it is an illustration.

• Three things are worth noticing in the above table. Amir’s plan is not billed when he is at work. A good roster gives you an idea of the participant’s real life. Those are details the NDIA wants to see.
• His 30 minutes of 1:1 on the roster exist because of staff support with personal care. Personal care is person-to-person support. They are supporting documentation in his report.
• His sleepover has accurate data. His overnight support showed only occasional waking.

Please note that any change in Amir’s life and schedule will become effective in the roster.

How the NDIA reads what you submit

When a home and living request gets to the desk of the NDIA, functional assessments are done. The NDIA delegate looks beyond the numbers and ensures that every proposed support funding is justifiable by the participants’ needs. They ask questions like:

• Does the provided evidence support each line? If the roster claims the ratio 1:1 for meal preparation, but the occupational therapist says the person can cook their own meal with prompting and supervision. That line is exposed. Every submission must be coherent, across two layers: first at the diagnosis or the clinical professional, and second, on the timetable.
• Can I share my support cost if it is possible? Yes! NDIA expects that you share ratios wherever they are appropriate. You have to ensure that all sharings are reasonable. Any request (1:1 hours with heavy support) is justified accordingly.
• Does the NDIA accept any overnight classification? The truth is that active nights are considered expensive because it includes multiple sleepovers over the year. So, delegates examined the claims by ensuring that providers have provided genuine overnight support.
• What informal and mainstream exist in the system? Supports like employment, day programs, family involvement, support items are informal supports and the NDIA needs to know about them. Not disclosing these will create inaccuracies in your claims and may get your plan flagged.

This process makes your claims precise, and evidence-based. You must also note that rosters written in the most descriptive ways still get questions, but rosters written with logs, timestamps and reports get approved and funded.

Where funding quietly leaks

Here are five major leaks we have experienced in roster care management:

1. The padded roster: A provider tries to play safe by inflating support hours. Sadly, the NDIA notices, the end result is that the roster loses its credibility and gets benchmarked. Padding is not a protection to the participant, evidence is.
2. The stale roster: Participants need funding changes, yet the roster doesn’t change. For example, a resident who has improved with assistive technology to handle household tasks themselves, and also gained travel skills, may need fewer hours of support. (That means the life skills development worked). In contrast, a resident whose health has deteriorated will need more support and perhaps a higher level of support. A roster should be reviewed anytime there is a significant change in the resident’s health or life.
3. The invisible informal supports: Many times, family members provide support; however, it must be mentioned and not hidden. State it, “My husband currently assists 3 evenings a week and can no longer sustain it”. That is both honest and persuasive, showing that your partner is suffering from carer burnout.
4. The wrong overnight call: This happens in different ways. Sometimes, families sleepover when a participant requires an active night. In some cases SIL providers request for payment for active nights, whereas, there is no record to justify the service rendered. The best approach is to document everything that happens at night.
5. Nobody reads the final plan: Funding gets paid, and everyone is happy, yet there are a few discrepancies between what was requested on the roster and what was approved by the NDIA. Unfortunately, the gap may be left unnoticed because the plan was not read. Ensure that you read your plan, do not leave only your provider to read your plan. Review your pathways too.

The shared-house wrinkle nobody warns you about

Living arrangements in a shared house can be complicated, but it shouldn’t be. Shared apartment categorised under individualised living options. First thing you must understand is that your funding is entangled with your housemate’s lifestyle in a shared house. SIL funding works with ratios, and in a shared house house a support worker’s hours are split across 3 participants’ plans. Imagine that one of your housemates moves out, probably travels for a vacation, visits their kids, or goes to the hospital for 2 months. The ratio moves from 1:3 to 1:2, and those numbers change a lot. The support worker still needs to come, however the cost will increase, because the ratio has changed. Different SIL providers navigate challenges like this differently. Depending on how skilled the provider is, the management gap may be enormous.

What is the best approach? 

The provider manages the transition cost, while actively finding a new resident without disrupting the support of the participants. An unskilled provider often reduces the support of the current residents, or pressures the NDIA for top-ups or worse still finding an incompatible person. An incompatible person worsens the situation. The problem moves from ratio problem, to funding and sometimes may get the NDIA plan revoked. Every plan provider should have a housing goal that serves residents.

Here are some conversations you need to have before signing a service agreement with any provider:

• How long do you get a house filled, and what is your process of getting the right housemate? You are checking if they can handle financial pressures when a housemate transitions.
• What happens to my plan and funds if a housemate moves out? The right answer should be: “Your plan will remain as it is, and we have a policy that backs that up”
• Has this house had resident issues, or a housemate mismatch and why? A house where 3-5 residents have moved out in two years has a story. Ask questions if anything looks fishy.

Beyond a shared apartment, you might also want to experience independent living in any community or explore a new support. Ask these questions, so you can weigh your options and hire the best provider. Also ask if they can provide you house options or accommodation services? An experienced provider manages your exit without allowing it to impact the people you are leaving behind. We often say that how a provider treats a resident leaving is a preview of how they will manage your situation on your hardest day.

Questions to bring to any roster conversation

Ready to explore SIL funding and you don’t know where to start? Do you have an established SIL plan, but you want to change your provider? Here are questions you must ask before embarking on this plan.

• Take me through every process of SIL funding: Why is it important? Where’s the evidence behind the plan?
• Which support hours get shared? What is the ratio of support delivered and
• What does my SIL funding cover? Ask questions about what is included in the funding and what you may need to cover separately.
• Who will be my service provider, and how is a roster care created? Find out more information about how support workers are selected. Who chooses how many hours a support worker works, and if your family can have a say in the roster.
• What evidence supports overnight shifts? Can anyone get an overnight support worker, or it has to be need-based.
• What happens if my diagnoses change, or I need more support workers? Questions like this should focus on your funding if you need more or less support in the near future.
• Who initiates reviews?
• What will happen to my plan if my rostered support worker doesn’t show up?

A support provider is experienced in having all these answers. If you notice any form of hesitation before answering the questions, then you shouldn’t ignore. Statements like “don’t worry,, we handle all that” is also an indicator that they treat your roster as their work document. Your roster is yours, and every provider needs to prioritise your needs when handling it.

The takeaway

SIL funding is not as difficult as it seems; neither is it a mystery. Rather, it is a document about a participant’s week, the evidence, funding periods, and a system that ensures that the funds align with the service received. Before your plan manager sends that provider invoice,  you must understand how the roster of care works is often more than just bystanders; they become full-time participants in ensuring that the process is well utilised and seamless. A scheme like the NDIA plan spends more than eleven billion dollars every year on supporting individuals and families. Understanding how huge and impactful this plan was intended to be should encourage you to explore SIL funding.

If you’d like an expert opinion about your existing roster, or you intend to start a new Home and Living journey, call us 1300 271 824. We create the best personalised rosters for NDIS participants across South West and Western Sydney. Our services are easy, tankless and take you through every line before your papers are signed. We are more than happy to explain roster care to anyone.

Place a call with our team of plan managers and have a thorough discussion on your NDIS SIL eligibility. We are experts in supporting NDIS participants in SIL homes across Sydney, whether Western, South West, or beyond.

Call 1300 271 824 we are the best NDIS provider in Sydney.