The new(ish) SIL Guidelines - and what they mean for participants

SIL is about Supported Independent Living, it's the funding people who live in group homes  need to have in their NDIS Plan.

Not the best choice of names because, let’s just get really clear, meeting individual needs, exercising choice and control in a group home are at best limited and most likely to be completely wrapped up in the needs and choices of the other people in the home (and the needs of service who provides the support). 

Until recently the group home provider submitted a Roster of Care (RoC) and SIL funding documents to the NDIS and between themselves they worked out how much funding a person got. Although people with disability, their families and us as Coordinators of Support tried to insert ourselves into that conversation,  mostly it felt like a secret deal between the NDIS and the provider. We were lucky we got to see the RoC after it was signed off.

So, now things are changing, and they are changing fast. Now we have new guidelines, and it seems, under the guise of choice and control, the NDIA is giving ‘control’ to participants while exiting from the previous arrangements they had with the providers.

Going forward, with SIL funding, like funding for most other support services, the NDIA will determine what kind and levels of support and funding a person needs based on the evidence they have (might be a previous RoC or might be a new OT assessment, etc).  

To think about this in the context of a group home:
For example, if by the determination of the NDIA a person needs 1:4 supports (meaning the individual’s support needs can be met by the attention and support from one-quarter of a staff member (yes, we know how ridiculous that sounds) and there are only two other people living in a house who are also funded for 1:4 supports, then the house is one quarter of a staff member short ( yes we know- ridiculous).
What does that mean in the long term because the funding coming in will fall short of what is needed?
Will a person have to move? Will they have to convert the garage into a granny flat?  
What if the person’s need increase to 3:1?
Now we are short of support, will that mean a person needs to move out, or should we reconvert the granny flat back into a garage?

Now the NDIA determines what is needed and then provides the funding to the participant, who in turn (and together with their Coordinator of Support) negotiates the agreements with the SIL provider … mmh??
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Unlike most negotiations, in most situations and locations, it seems to us that there really isn’t much to negotiate, as there isn’t much choice and control a person has who is dependent on the provider for accommodation and day to day support. 
And it also important l to remember, that the people who live together in the house rarely, if ever, get to choose a new housemate when there is a vacancy (and get to talk about  whether the potential new housemate’s funding is compatible with and contributes positively to the funding) and there really isn't an open market of  vacancies in group homes.

Looking at these changes, it’s hard to see how this is anything other than an exercise by the NDIA to withdraw from some of the mess they have left to fester since when the NDIS first started. To be fair, it’s not just a mess for participants. SIL providers are also struggling with those changes and must manage less funding coming in while keeping people and their staff safe.

​For now, we see some SIL funding become plan managed. We are a bit excited about this opportunity for a bit more transparency and accountability, but we are seriously thinking this might not make a difference in how people living in group homes have better lives. In fact, it might just make it even worse.