Reading a SIL Service Agreement

Reading a SIL Service Agreement Before You Sign It

A service agreement arrives as a PDF with a signature block at the end and an unspoken suggestion that reading it closely would be slightly rude. It is eleven pages, most of it unremarkable, and somewhere in it are the three or four clauses that will matter if things go wrong.

They are findable. This is a guide to where they are and what they should say.

What the agreement is for

A service agreement is the contract between the participant and the support provider — the organisation delivering supported independent living, as distinct from whoever owns the dwelling. It is required practice under the NDIS framework for the provider to have one, it should be written in language the person can understand, and it should be explained rather than handed over.

It is not the document that governs where somebody lives. That is a separate tenancy, occupancy or SDA residency agreement, and conflating the two is the most common and most consequential mistake in this area — see changing your SIL provider without losing your home for why the distinction decides whether somebody can ever safely complain.

The ten things it should actually specify

1. The supports, in enough detail to be checkable

Not “assistance with daily living”. The agreement or an attached support schedule should name what is delivered, when, and at what staffing ratio — morning personal care at 1:1, daytime household support at 1:3, evening support at 1:2, overnight as a sleepover or as active support.

If the agreement describes the support only in general terms, you have no basis on which to say it is not being delivered. Ask for the detail as an annexure if it is not in the body.

2. The ratio, stated as a number

The single most consequential figure in a shared arrangement and the one most often absent. It determines responsiveness, privacy, whose routine prevails when two conflict, and cost. It should also have a stated review point rather than being set when the house opened and never revisited.

3. Which items the support is claimed under

This sounds technical and is genuinely useful. The 2026–27 price limits for supported independent living run at $73.58 an hour for standard weekday daytime support and $79.60 for high intensity, through to $163.46 and $176.84 on a public holiday, with a night-time sleepover at a flat $311.79. The items are 01_801 to 01_806 for standard and 01_811 to 01_816 for high intensity, under registration group 0115 or the newer 0138.

A provider that states which items it claims is a provider whose roster matches its billing. If you are still comparing houses rather than signing for one, the same discipline applies at the enquiry stage — see how SIL vacancies really work in Sydney. One that will not is asking you to trust an invoice you cannot read.

4. The registration class

Since 1 July 2026, SIL providers must be registered with the NDIS Commission for class 0138 – Assistance with supported independent living, which brings a certification audit and compliance with the core module of the NDIS Practice Standards plus a new supplementary SIL module. Delivering SIL without it is a serious offence carrying a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment, 120 penalty units, or both.

The agreement should identify the provider’s registration. If it does not, ask for the certificate separately and check the class appears on it.

5. What is excluded

A good agreement says plainly what is not covered: rent, food, utilities, transport, activities, therapy, nursing, and the person’s own consumables. A vague agreement leaves this to be discovered, and the discovering is where relationships break down. Our guide to what you actually pay to live in a supported house in Sydney works through the full list.

6. The household contribution, with its review mechanism

Ideally referenced in or attached to the agreement: the current amount, what it covers, how it is split, how often it is reviewed, how much notice you get of a change, and what happens when a resident moves out and the split changes.

7. Notice periods, both directions

Usually between two and eight weeks. Check three things: that the notice the participant must give is not longer than the notice the provider must give; that there is a mechanism for immediate termination where there is a safety concern; and the form notice must take.

An agreement requiring the participant to give three months’ notice while the provider may give two weeks is not balanced, and it is negotiable.

8. What happens at the end

The clause worth reading twice. On termination: what happens to the housing if the provider is also the housing provider or head-lessee; what records are handed over and to whom; whether there is a cooperation obligation on a transition to a new provider; and whether any fee is payable on exit.

Exit fees in SIL agreements are unusual and worth questioning.

9. Complaints, incidents and the external routes

The agreement should set out the internal complaints process and state that the person can go directly to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, with the contact details. It should also describe the incident management arrangements.

Across the sector the Commission recorded 9,753 reportable incidents in the fourth quarter of 2025–26, including 3,309 involving serious injury, 2,624 neglect and 1,734 abuse, and has issued 111 banning orders, 225 registration revocations and 396 compliance notices through its enforcement activity. An agreement that treats the external route as a last resort, or that asks you to exhaust internal processes first, is understating a right that exists independently of the contract.

10. Who signs, and on what authority

If the participant is signing, the agreement should have been explained in a form they can understand. If somebody is signing on their behalf, the basis matters: a nominee appointment, a guardianship order, or an informal arrangement that may carry no authority at all. This is dealt with in guardianship, consent and supported decision-making in NSW, and getting it wrong can make the agreement itself questionable.

The clauses worth arguing about

Most of an agreement is standard. These are the ones where providers differ and where asking for a change is reasonable.

Unilateral variation. A clause letting the provider change the supports, the ratio or the fees at its discretion, with notice but without agreement. Push for mutual agreement on anything material, and for a defined notice period on cost changes.

Housing tied to support. Any clause making the right to live in the dwelling conditional on receiving support from this provider. This is the clause that removes somebody’s ability to complain and it is worth getting advice on before signing.

Broad consent to information sharing. Reasonable for the treating and support team; less reasonable as blanket permission. Ask for it to be limited to what is necessary.

Media and photography consent. Frequently bundled in. It should be separate, specific and revocable, and declining should have no consequence.

Consent to restrictive practices in advance. A service agreement is not the place for this. Regulated restrictive practices require state or territory authorisation, a behaviour support plan developed by a registered behaviour support practitioner, and monthly reporting to the Commission. A general advance consent clause in a contract does not substitute for any of that.

Indemnities and liability limits. Worth having somebody look at, particularly where the provider is also the housing provider.

How to actually do the reading

1. Ask for the agreement before the decision, not after. A provider who will only produce it at signing has told you something. Take it away and read it somewhere else.
2. Read the last three pages first. Termination, variation and dispute resolution are where the consequences live, and they are always at the back.
3. Find every number. Ratios, notice periods, fees, review intervals. Anything material stated without a number is not yet agreed.
4. Mark everything you do not understand and make the provider explain each one in plain words. If an explanation differs from the text, trust the text and ask for the text to change.
5. Get the attachments. Support schedule, household cost estimate, draft roster of care. An agreement referring to documents you have not seen is incomplete.
6. Ask for the two or three changes you want in writing. Providers amend agreements more often than people expect, and a refusal to amend anything at all is informative.
7. Get advice where it is warranted. A disability advocacy organisation or community legal centre, particularly where housing and support sit with the same organisation.
8. Keep the signed copy somewhere findable, with the date and any annexures. Two years later, when something is in dispute, this is the whole of your position.

A note on reading the room

A provider’s willingness to be read closely is one of the better available signals about how it will behave later. A service that explains its agreement patiently, hands over the attachments, and amends an unbalanced notice clause without fuss is a service that expects to be held to things. One that treats the request as a lack of trust is telling you how it handles being questioned, which is exactly what you want to know before rather than after.

That is also why it is worth asking the harder operational questions at the same sitting: how many named workers are rostered to this house, how many hold the specific competencies the household needs, and how the overnight arrangement is structured. Sector turnover runs around 26% a year among casual support workers and 16% among permanent staff, so nobody has a perfect answer — but a provider that has an answer at all is one that has thought about the problem.

If you want someone to read an agreement through with you, including one from another provider, we are happy to do it. Supported independent living in Sydney sets out what we are registered for, and what we put in front of people before anybody signs anything.