What Happens to SIL Funding at Reassessment?

It is re-decided, not renewed

SIL funding does not roll over. At a plan reassessment the NDIA looks again at what support you need in your home, your provider quotes a roster of care for the coming period, and a delegate decides. The usual outcome is continuity, because most people's needs do not change dramatically in a year. The point is that continuity is a decision rather than a default.

This catches families who assumed a reassessment was administrative. It is the same kind of decision that put SIL in the plan in the first place, made on the same basis: what support is reasonable and necessary, given the evidence in front of the delegate.

The roster of care is the document that matters

For SIL, the roster of care does most of the work. It sets out the week: which shifts run, at what ratio, how nights are covered, and what portion of shared support is attributed to you. The quote that goes to the NDIA is built from it.

That means the accuracy of the roster is not a provider administrative matter, it is your funding. A roster that still describes the support you needed two years ago will be quoted at two years ago. A roster that has quietly absorbed extra hours nobody claimed will understate what the house actually does.

Before a reassessment, ask your provider for the current roster of care and read it against your actual week. Our explainer on how SIL support hours are built walks through how to read one.

What can push funding up

Changes in function are the obvious one: reduced mobility, more frequent seizures, a new behaviour support plan, a health condition that has progressed. Nights are a common driver, because overnight needs often increase gradually and are the last thing to be reflected in a roster.

Changes in the household matter too. If a housemate with high overnight needs moves out, the house may lose the awake worker that everyone was benefiting from, and the remaining residents' rosters have to be re-quoted to cover what is left.

Evidence is what carries any of this. Incident records, shift notes, allied health reports written in the last twelve months, and a log of what actually happens. Funding decisions sit with the NDIA and turn on documented need, not on how hard the year has been.

What can push it down

Progress can. If someone has built skills and genuinely needs less prompting, a lower quote is the honest outcome, and it is worth saying clearly that this is what the funding is for.

Less happily, funding can drop because the evidence thinned out rather than because the need did. Reports lapse, a therapist moves on, a provider changes its documentation, and the file that supported the original decision is no longer there. This is the failure mode worth guarding against, and it is entirely preventable.

A drop can also follow a change in how supports are categorised rather than a change in the roster itself. If you cannot follow the reasoning in a decision, ask for it in writing and read it against your roster line by line.

The three months before

• Ask your provider for the current roster of care and the quote they intend to submit.
• Check whether any allied health report central to your support is older than twelve months.
• Start a short log of the parts of the week that have changed, especially nights.
• List anything the house is doing that is not in the roster.
• Write down the goals that have actually moved, and the ones that have not.

Our guide to SIL eligibility and evidence covers what strong documentation contains, and most of it applies just as well at reassessment as at the first decision.

If the plan is late, or the outcome is wrong

Plans do not simply stop at their end date while a reassessment is being worked through. Supports generally continue under the existing arrangements until the new plan is in place, but do not leave this to assumption: ask the NDIA or your plan manager to confirm what applies to you in writing, and tell your provider what you have been told.

If the outcome does not match the evidence, there is an internal review pathway and a further external review pathway after that. Timeframes are real and they are not short, so start the conversation with your provider early rather than after the plan has already been in effect for a month.

If the change means the current home no longer works, that is a separate conversation and a slower one. Our homes and vacancies page is the place to start if it comes to that.

Frequently asked questions

Is SIL funding automatically renewed in a new plan?

No. It is decided again. Your provider quotes a roster of care for the coming period and an NDIA delegate makes a fresh decision on what is reasonable and necessary. Most people see continuity because their needs have not changed much, but that continuity is an outcome rather than an automatic rollover.

What is a roster of care and why does it matter so much?

It is the document that sets out the support week in your home: which shifts run, at what staffing ratio, how nights are covered and what share of shared support is attributed to you. The SIL quote is built from it, so an out-of-date roster produces out-of-date funding.

What happens to my supports if the plan expires before the reassessment finishes?

Supports generally continue under the existing arrangements while the reassessment is worked through, but confirm your own situation with the NDIA or your plan manager in writing rather than assuming. Tell your provider what you have been told, so nobody pauses a shift on the basis of a date on a document.

Can SIL funding go down if I have made progress?

Yes, and that can be the correct outcome. If someone genuinely needs less support because they have built skills, a lower roster reflects reality. The situation worth watching is a reduction caused by evidence going stale rather than by need changing, which is preventable with current reports and good records.