What Is ILO in the NDIS?
ILO stands for individualised living options. It's NDIS funding for a package of support at home, designed around one person: where they live, who they live with and how they're supported. Many people share their home with a housemate or live in a host's home. ILO pays for the support, not the house, and it's funded in two stages.
What Does Individualised Living Options Mean?
It means the support is designed for one person, rather than the person fitting into an existing service. The NDIA describes ILO as an NDIS support that helps you live in your chosen home in a way that best suits you.
An ILO package mixes paid NDIS supports with the help a person already gets from family, friends, neighbours and their community. The NDIA says ILO is meant to give a sense of home and belonging and to build independence, and that the person decides who they live with and how they're supported.
ILO is not the home itself. The person still owns or rents their home, or lives in a host's home, and pays their own rent and living costs.
What Can an ILO Look Like?
There's no set model. The two arrangements the NDIA names are a host arrangement and a housemate arrangement, each backed by extra supports.
| Arrangement | Where the person lives | Who they live with |
|---|---|---|
| Host arrangement | In the host's home, full time | A host who isn't related to them |
| Housemates | In their own home, or a shared rental, full time | One or more people who aren't related to them |
Around the main arrangement sit supplementary supports, such as on-call help, drop-in visits, a mentor, a neighbour who checks in, or regular weekends with family. The NDIA's service proposal form also mentions live-in paid support and rostered shifts as possible primary supports.
Looking for an ILO Provider?
We'll connect you with a registered ILO provider who may be able to help.
What Can ILO Funding Pay For?
Support in and around the home that relates to the person's disability.
- Help to decide where to live and what support is needed to make it happen
- Setting up and managing a home
- Personal care
- Building skills and independence
- Household tasks like cooking, cleaning and washing
- Keeping up connections with other people
- Help with day-to-day decisions, and with managing emotions or behaviour
- People to call when help is needed (on-call), and training for the people who support you
What Doesn't ILO Cover?
The home, everyday living costs, and supports funded somewhere else in the plan.
- Rent or mortgage repayments, food, electricity and internet bills
- Payments to family and friends for informal support
- Activities outside the home, like work, study, sport or going out (these can be funded elsewhere in the plan)
- Home modifications, supported independent living (SIL) and specialist disability accommodation (SDA)
- Funding to write a behaviour support plan
How Is ILO Funded?
In two stages. Stage 1, exploration and design, pays for time with a provider to work out the arrangement. Stage 2 pays for the ILO supports themselves.
In stage 1 the NDIA funds between 30 and 100 hours, depending on how much help the person needs to design their ILO, and the person and their provider fill in a service proposal. The NDIA uses the proposal to decide what to fund in stage 2. Stage 2 covers the primary supports, the supplementary supports, and monitoring and adjusting the arrangement over time.
Get independent financial advice
The NDIA says both participants and ILO providers should get independent financial advice before agreeing to an ILO, because payments received through an ILO may be assessable for tax.
Who Is ILO For?
Adults who need support at home for at least 6 hours a day, formal or informal, and who are ready to put time into designing their future home.
The NDIA says ILO might not suit someone who needs 24-hour rostered support, frequent support overnight, or whose behaviour support plan includes restrictive practices. People 17 and planning to move out after they turn 18 can be funded to explore an ILO. Our page on ILO eligibility goes through each point.
Questions People Ask
What does ILO stand for in the NDIS?
Individualised living options. It's a package of NDIS support at home, designed around one person and how they want to live.
Is ILO a type of housing?
No. ILO pays for support, not the home. The person owns or rents their own place, shares a rental, or lives in a host's home, and pays their own rent and bills.
Can you live alone with ILO?
The NDIA's main examples involve living with someone: a host or a housemate. Its service proposal form also lists other primary supports, like a mentor or rostered shifts, so talk to an ILO provider about what could work in your own home.
Can I live with my partner or family under ILO?
The NDIA's primary supports are a host or housemates who aren't related to the person. Family can still be part of the arrangement as unpaid supplementary support, such as regular weekends together.
Is ILO the same as SIL?
No. SIL funds support workers in the home 24 hours a day. ILO suits people who need less than that and want a flexible arrangement built around them. See our page on ILO vs SIL.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- ILO vs SILILO vs SIL in the NDIS: who each one suits, how much support each gives, who you live with, how they're funded, and how to tell which might fit you better.
- How it worksHow we connect you with an ILO provider, and what happens to your details.
We share your details with one provider at a time, never a list. Privacy policy