Moving Out of the Family Home With an ILO
An ILO can help an adult son or daughter move out of the family home, into a host's home or a shared home with a housemate, with support designed around them. Planning can start at 17. The NDIA expects the person to lead the decisions, with family helping, and family can stay part of the arrangement as unpaid support, like regular weekends together.
When Can You Start Planning?
At 17. The NDIA may fund supports to explore an ILO for someone who's 17 with a goal to move out after they turn 18.
Moving out of their parents' home for the first time is the example the NDIA itself uses for a home and living goal. Talk to your support coordinator or my NDIS contact about adding that goal to the plan, and about exploring ILO.
Who Makes the Decisions?
The person the ILO is for, with as much support as they need.
The NDIA says decisions about an ILO should be made by the person, and they should be supported to be involved as much as possible. Family and friends who know them well can play an important part in exploring options and making decisions. The service proposal has to show the person was involved and agrees.
When many people are involved in decisions and see things differently, the NDIA may fund more exploration and design hours, up to 100, to help reach an agreed decision.
Looking for an ILO Provider?
We'll connect you with a registered ILO provider who may be able to help.
How Does Family Stay Involved?
As part of the ILO. Family support is built in, not pushed aside.
- Helping explore options and design the ILO
- Unpaid supplementary support, like regular time at home or one weekend a month
- Drop-in visits when the host or housemate is away
- Taking part in monitoring, as set out in the monitoring plan
The NDIA doesn't pay family for informal support, and it doesn't fund what it's reasonable to expect family to do. It also considers whether family can keep giving the support needed, and whether doing so would put anyone's wellbeing at risk.
What Should Families Think About Early?
Where, who with, how much support, and the money.
- Where your son or daughter would like to live, and how close to family, friends, work and community
- Whether a host arrangement or housemates feels right to them
- How much support they need at home each day, and at night
- How rent and living costs will be paid, because ILO doesn't cover them
- Who else is involved in decisions, such as a guardian or nominee
Get independent financial advice
The NDIA recommends independent financial advice before agreeing to an ILO, for participants and providers alike, because payments received through an ILO may be assessable for tax.
Questions People Ask
Can my child move out with ILO at 18?
They can start exploring at 17 if they have a goal to move out after turning 18. Whether ILO is funded depends on their support needs and the NDIS funding criteria.
Can my child live with us under ILO?
The primary supports in an ILO are a host or housemates who aren't related to the person, so ILO is usually about living away from family. Family can still be part of it as supplementary support.
What if it doesn't work out?
Monitoring is there to pick up problems early, and the arrangement can be changed, including a new host or housemate. The person can raise a concern with the provider at any time.
Keep Reading
- ILO eligibilityWho individualised living options suit, according to the NDIA's ILO guideline: age, 6 hours of daily support, readiness, and when ILO is unlikely to be funded.
- How to ask for ILO fundingHow to ask for individualised living options funding: the home and living goal, the evidence the NDIA wants, how to send it, what happens next and if it's no.
- Host arrangementsHow an NDIS ILO host arrangement works: living full time in a host's home, what a host does, how hosts are paid, the back-up around them and the checks.
- Housemate arrangementsHow an NDIS ILO housemate arrangement works, sometimes called co-residency: sharing your own home or a rental with a housemate who supports you, and the rules.
- Exploration and designILO stage 1, exploration and design: what it's for, how the NDIA decides on 30, 50 or 100 hours, what a provider does in that time, and how it ends.
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