Tips on ILO for support coordinators

Before you start

Our first and biggest piece of advice is to read the ILO Operational Guidelines. They cover everything you’ll need, including the right language to use. 

1. ILO Home and Living Supports request form

Firstly, you and the participant need to fill out an ILO Home and Living Supports Request form. This form tells the NDIA that you need home and living supports - in this case, ILO Exploration and Design funding - and that paying for it meets the NDIS’s reasonable and necessary criteria. 

In the ILO Home and Living Supports Request form, you and the participant will need to provide the following information:

1. Participant’s name, date of birth and NDIS number
2. Reason for the request
3. Current living arrangement (the type of home or accommodation)
4. The stated housing and living goal in the participant’s NDIS plan, or a new one if there isn’t one already there
5. Housing and living supports required
6. Current housing and living situation, including who the participant currently lives with, how they are currently managing at home
   and what their future living and housing aspirations are
7. How the participant manages everyday tasks
8. Carer and paid supports
9. Health care needs
10. What assessments and reports the participant has

The form goes to a Home and Living panel rather than just an LAC or planner who you might already have worked with. That means it’s important to fill out the form as if the person reading the form has no idea of who the participant is, what their particular functional requirements are, and what's important to them. Use the "real estate" on the form to give that background. 

2. Exploration and design

In the Exploration and Design stage of ILO, the participant and the ILO provider will complete an ILO Service Proposal (DOCX) to confirm the preferred ILO arrangement, the supports they need and the costs of these supports. 

The ILO Service Proposal identifies: 

• Background information about the participant.
• The participant’s level of involvement in choosing the ILO arrangement and developing the service proposal.
• Primary supports (the main supports that help at home) and supplementary supports (any extra supports that are needed).
• The number of hours of support needed.
• The people delivering these supports.
• The costs of the ILO supports and how they fit in with other support needs. 
• The level of ILO funding requested. This can be:

Level 1: Up to $105,000 per year, if the participant is sharing a home with someone who provides companionship, a role model and some direct support, as well as if the participant needs physical assistance with personal care, prompting with household tasks and support with managing emotions and behaviours.

Level 2: Up to $150,000 if the participant requires more direct support, prompting with household tasks and support to manage episodic behaviours of concern.

Level 3: Up to $230,000 if the participant requires sustained and ongoing support, direct supervision with household tasks and support with managing significant behaviours of concern, a significant physical disability, or disability-related health supports.

3. Reasonable and necessary

Just like any other NDIS service request, the participant needs to demonstrate that what they're asking for is reasonable and necessary in their Home and Living Requests form and their ILO Service Proposal. So start by using the text boxes on these forms to demonstrate:

• How Exploration and Design (E&D)/ILO is related to the participant's disability.
• How E&D/ILO helps the participant achieve their goals.
• How E&D/ILO is likely to be effective and beneficial for the participant.
• How E&D/ILO is legal and safe for the participant and any co-residents and supporters.
• How E&D/ILO is value for money.
• How E&D/ILO is not something we expect informal, mainstream or community supports to provide - and additionally, how these other supports. are appropriately included in the ILO proposal.
• Why E&D/ILO is not more appropriately funded or provided by someone else.

We encourage you to think about each text box as "real estate" - a  bit of land to plant seeds of evidence to show the NDIA how and why your participant is an excellent candidate for ILO.

4. How to present evidence

Our next tip is that because ILO is so new, there are plenty of people in the NDIA (planners and LACs included) who don't know what it is, so use concise and easy-to-read language. Being very clear about what you're asking for can help others understand your request.

To make sure your participant is eligible for ILO, refer back to the Operational Guidelines document and make sure you demonstrate the participant's eligibility. For example, they need 6-24 hours of support per day, which doesn’t necessarily mean paid support, but also support from their parents who may prompt the participant to remember to do self-care activities.

Finally provide all the evidence you can in the form as well as in attachments. That might include Occupational Therapy or other allied health reports, letters from informal carers or health providers.