Exploration and Design in Individualised Living Options
Thinking about independent living? Here’s everything you need to know about choosing the best Individualised Living Option (ILO) for you.
ILO is a new NDIS-funded service which provides NDIS participants with more choice and control to live independently. In order to design the most suitable ILO arrangement, you can take part in what the NDIA calls “Exploration and Design”, or Stage 1 ILO.
Exploration and Design involves working with an ILO provider to identify your home and living aspirations and the support you might require to live in your home. You’ll work together with a provider to design a living arrangement based on your preferences and needs. To assist with the design of your ILO arrangement, it’s important to identify your goals, including goals listed in your plan on independent living, social and community networks, existing supports, and future life aspirations and outcomes. It’s also important to work with informal supports such as family and friends to assist with choosing the most suitable ILO arrangement. ILO is most suited to people with disability who need at least six hours of support per day.
In the Exploration and Design stage, ILO providers seek to understand your vision for the future and develop support arrangements to meet this vision. Providers will assist you to decide where you want to live, and with whom, and how your supports can help achieve this. As part of this process, providers will work with you to understand:
- Your strengths and capabilities.
- The role of paid supports and informal supports (e.g. family and friends, but also housemates or hosts).
- Any risks that influence your preferred living arrangement.
- Whether other living options may be more appropriate.
According to the latest NDIS price guide and our own experience, Exploration and Design is priced at $100.14 per hour from your core funding. It is a stated support item and is often agency-managed.
At the conclusion of the Exploration and Design stage, you and your ILO provider will need to confirm your preferred ILO arrangement, the supports you need and the costs of these supports. You and your provider will then complete an ILO service proposal. The ILO service proposal identifies:
- Background information about you.
- Your level of involvement in choosing the ILO arrangement and developing the service proposal.
- Your primary supports (your main supports that help you at home) and supplementary supports (any extra supports you need).
- The number of hours of support needed.
- The people delivering these supports.
- The costs of the ILO supports and how they fit in with your other support needs.
- The level of ILO funding you request which is broken down into:
Level 1: Up to $3,000 if you already know the ILO supports you need and if you want to live near your location.
Level 2: Up to $5,000 if you aren’t sure about the ILO supports you need and if you want to move to live in a different location.
Level 3: Up to $10,000 if you need help with identifying supports in all areas of your life and if you want to live in a different area, for example: moving from the town to the city.
Following the Exploration and Design stage, you will work with your provider to implement your ILO supports, this is known as “ILO stage 2”. You can choose to use a different provider for this stage if you wish.
At Hireup we believe that people with disability should have the choice and control and to live a good life that is meaningful to them. We make a positive impact on the lives of people with disability by giving you the choice and control to choose the supports that best meet your needs and preferences. 86% of our clients say that Hireup has had a positive impact on their lives, and we want to continue to bring this positive impact to life through supporting you to live independently. In an opinion piece written on the Hireup website last year, Melbourne-based disability advocate, Johnathan Bredin wrote that he wanted to see “more people with disability living the way that they want to live, with the supports they want to have.”
Choosing Hireup as an ILO provider is the perfect opportunity for you to gain the skills, knowledge and control to choose the best living arrangement for them. We recently held a webinar that introduced and explained the ILO process. We will continue to provide more information and guidance in this space to help you live the way you choose with the right supports in place. If you or someone you know would like assistance with choosing an ILO arrangement, get in touch with the Hireup team.
