What supports can your ILO cover?

This can work in several ways. You can advertise or invite someone to share your home and provide an agreed amount of support, help and/or companionship. It is important that this person has been chosen by you! Your Housemate could receive a reimbursement for support provided. If a significant amount of support is being provided by the Housemate, this may be developed as a salary rather than an hourly rate or rental reduction.

You may have a friend also with a disability and you wish to live together as housemates. As part of this arrangement, you may provide each other with some support and companionship. You may also decide to share some paid support like meal preparation, cleaning, and laundry if your support needs are similar.

You live full-time in the home of an unrelated person or family (Host) of your choice. You will pay the Host an agreed amount to cover rent/board/lodgings, from your personal money. The Host provides disability related support, household assistance, emotional support and a family environment for an agreed level of reimbursement or payment which is funded through your their NDIS ILO funding. This is not usually an hourly wage, but an agreed weekly or daily amount.

A Host arrangement can work really well for someone who wants to ‘test the waters’ of moving out of home for the first time or is transitioning out of a group home or residential aged care, but still wants to live in a family home-like environment. You can include other supplementary supports around your Host Arrangement to provide yourself and your Host a break if needed. This could include regular supported holidays or time spent in an alternative Host’s home.

Some people choose a Host from their existing network of friends, often someone whose adult children have moved out of home, or someone younger who hasn’t got any children. A Host arrangement can work in a household with children too!

Sometimes someone decides to offer a Host arrangement as they have a spare granny flat or similar on their property which provides on-site support but still a level of independence for the person with disability.

This can incorporate both paid and unpaid support. Mentors don’t live with you, they usually provide incidental or drop-in support.

Someone paid or unpaid is available on-call as needed for incidental support or problem solving. This can also include concierge-type services where several people with disability live nearby and share the costs of an onsite on-call arrangement.

Might be incorporated into an ILO package where monitored systems are used to keep someone safe i.e., smartwatch, video security, digital locks, monitored falls pendant.

You may have a relationship with a neighbour who agrees to check in at a specific time daily or weekly.

You may choose to build in regular time spent with family/friends to reduce your reliance on paid supports. For example, you spend Sunday afternoon and dinner with family before returning home most weeks of the year. You stay over at a sibling’s or friend’s house one weekend a month.

Different members of your Circle come over and cook dinner with/for you one night weekly (cycle), take you to the footy or provide other types of support.

A Circle of Supports refers to a group of people that know you well, and come together to support you around to achieve your goals and have ensure your wellbeing.
Additional information can be found here www.cosam.org.au

Building in supported time spent away from home to give you and your housemates a ‘break’ from each other i.e., a planned camping trip every 6 weeks, or a weekend away somewhere new you would like to explore.

This could be a more cost-effective option than having a person in your home cooking for you. It may also offer you more independence as you can choose your own meals and re-heat them yourself. A support worker or informal support may be a better option if your goal is to build your capacity to do this task independently.

You may choose to employ someone to help manage personal and household tasks such as organising regular appointments (dentist, podiatrist, hairdresser), ensuring your windows get cleaned regularly, liaising with your regular lawn mowing company or cleaning provider, checking bills are being paid on time, bed linen is being changed regularly.

You may require someone to come in a regularly mow your lawns or tidy up your garden/outside. It is often cheaper to engage a mowing company for this type of assistance, rather than a support worker from your regular provider. If your NDIS funding is plan or self-managed, you can choose one locally that comes recommended. If your ILO is NDIS managed your ILO provider may be open to subcontracting a cleaning company to save costs. A support worker or informal support may be a better option if your goal is to build your capacity to do this task independently.

It is often cheaper to engage a cleaning company for this type of assistance, rather than a worker from your regular provider of support workers. If you are plan or self-managed, you can choose one locally that comes recommended. If your ILO is NDIS managed your ILO provider may be open to subcontracting a cleaning company to save costs. A support worker or informal support may be a better option if your goal is to build your capacity to do this task independently.

If you are plan managing or self-managing your ILO funding, you may want to consider direct employment of a team of support workers on a salary with a roster. This can be a cheaper way of getting the support you need. For example, you may engage 3 x part-time support workers that cover 7 nights a week and other shifts across the week. In this case, you will also need to add in costs such as a payroll service (unless you are doing it yourself), leave provisions, tax, superannuation and insurance. Often this can still be cheaper than going through a service provider.