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What is ILO?

Also known as: Individualised Living Options

ILO, or individualised living options, is an NDIS home and living support that lets a participant design how they live and are supported, such as living with a host or with a housemate who provides support. It is funded in two stages: exploration and design, then the ILO supports themselves. ILO does not pay rent or everyday living costs.

ILO may suit participants aged 18 or over, or 17 and planning ahead, who need at least 6 hours of support at home each day, formal or informal, and who are ready to put time into designing their future home.

An ILO arrangement has three parts: primary supports from people who live with the participant and are not related to them, supplementary supports, and regular monitoring and adjustment.

Stage 1: exploration and design

The participant works with an ILO provider to decide where and how they want to live, which disability-related supports suit them and who will provide them. This stage usually takes between 30 and 100 hours, depending on how much support the participant needs.

It ends with a service proposal that describes the participant's ideal arrangement within the approved budget. The participant must be involved in writing it, and the NDIA uses it to decide which ILO supports go into the plan.

Stage 2: setting up ILO supports

Once the service proposal is approved, the participant sets up their arrangement. ILO supports have three parts:

  1. Primary supports: a host arrangement, where the participant lives in someone else's home, or a housemate arrangement, where they share a home with another person.
  2. Supplementary supports: paid support, such as a support worker staying over, or unpaid support, such as staying with family.
  3. Monitoring and adjustment: regular checks, with a plan for how often, how, who helps and how issues are resolved.

What ILO does not fund

  • activities outside the home, such as work, study, sport or going out
  • home modifications
  • the home itself, including rent or mortgage repayments
  • everyday living costs such as food or power bills
  • anything that is not an NDIS support.

ILO compared with SIL

SIL is for participants who need significant help throughout the day, 7 days a week, managed and delivered by a registered SIL provider. ILO is built around an individual arrangement with a host or housemate. The NDIA advises both participants and ILO providers to get independent financial advice before agreeing to an arrangement, because ILO payments may be assessable for tax.

Questions people ask

Who is ILO for?

Participants aged 18 or over, or 17 and planning ahead, who need at least 6 hours of support at home each day and are ready to explore and design their own living arrangement.

How long does ILO exploration and design take?

Usually between 30 and 100 hours. The hours funded depend on how much NDIS support the participant needs.

Does ILO pay rent?

No. ILO does not fund the home, rent, mortgage repayments or everyday living costs such as food and power bills.

Are ILO payments taxable?

They may be assessable for tax purposes. The NDIA recommends participants and ILO providers get independent financial advice before agreeing to an arrangement.

Checked against the official sources on 2 October 2026. Rules change: confirm the current position with the agency before you rely on it.

Related terms

SILSIL (supported independent living) is NDIS funding for help with daily tasks and personal care for a participant living in a shared or individual home, often including overnight support. It pays for the support, not the housing. The NDIA works out each participant’s SIL funding from evidence of their support needs and the NDIS pricing schedule.SDASDA is NDIS funding for the physical dwelling a participant with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs lives in. It pays the housing provider for accessible, purpose-built housing. SDA covers the building; SIL covers the support workers inside it, and the two are funded and claimed separately.STASTA, or short-term accommodation, is NDIS funding that gives a participant time apart from their usual informal supports, such as family, while those carers take a short break. It covers support and standard accommodation for stays of up to 14 days at a time, usually up to 28 days a year. Food and meals are not funded.Roster of careA roster of care is a weekly schedule of the supports a participant receives in supported independent living, showing who provides support, when, and at what ratio. Providers use it to plan and explain staffing in a home. Under current NDIA guidelines it does not decide the amount or type of supports funded in a plan.Reasonable and necessary“Reasonable and necessary” is the statutory test the NDIA applies when deciding whether to fund a support. The support must relate to the participant’s disability, represent value for money, be likely to be effective and beneficial, take account of informal supports, and not be the responsibility of another service system such as health or education.Capacity BuildingCapacity Building is the NDIS budget category funding supports that build a participant’s skills and independence rather than assisting with daily tasks. It covers therapy, employment supports, improved living arrangements, and support coordination. Unlike Core, funding is allocated to specific sub-categories and cannot be moved between them.

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