Most families hear the phrase "Supported Independent Living" and assume that's the full picture. It isn't. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funds a broader category of supports called Core Supports, and Supported Independent Living (SIL) sits within it. Understanding how these relate is one of the most useful things you can do before your next planning meeting.

This guide explains NDIS Core Supports, where SIL fits within them, and how to think about building the right combination of supports for your family member.

What Are NDIS Core Supports? The Four Categories

NDIS plans are divided into three support budgets: Core Supports, Capital Supports (which fund housing and equipment), and Capacity Building Supports. Core Supports is the one most participants use day to day, and it's also the most flexible.

The NDIS Core Supports budget has four categories:

• Assistance with Daily Life: Help with personal care, household tasks, and daily activities. This is the largest Core Supports category and the one that covers SIL.
• Consumables: Everyday items such as continence aids and low-cost assistive technology.
• Assistance with Social, Economic and Community Participation: Support for activities outside the home, including attending community events, social groups, or structured programmes.
• Transport: Funding to help participants travel to work, education, appointments, or community activities when they can't use public transport independently.

Here's the important part about flexibility: funds within most Core Supports categories can generally be moved between categories without a formal plan review. If you have money sitting in your Transport budget but need more Assistance with Daily Life hours that week, you can usually redirect it. That flexibility is real, and it's something many families don't realise they have.

For the official breakdown, the NDIS official guidance on home and living supports is the best starting point.

Where SIL Fits Within Core Supports

SIL is funded under Assistance with Daily Life. So in that sense, yes, SIL is a Core Support. But it behaves differently from the rest of your Core funding, and this is where families often get confused.

SIL is what the NDIS calls a "stated support." That means it's locked into your plan as a specific, named item. Unlike the flexible portions of your Core budget, SIL funding cannot be redirected to other categories. It's tied to your SIL provider agreement and the Roster of Care that documents exactly what support hours are needed and when.

In practice, SIL covers daily assistance in a residential setting: personal care, meal support, medication prompting, overnight supervision, and help with household tasks. It's ongoing, high-intensity support, typically in a shared or individual living arrangement.

The reason this matters to your family: if SIL is in your plan but circumstances change, adjusting it requires a more involved process than simply reallocating flexible Core funds. It's not impossible, but it's not as simple as shifting budget between categories.

For more detail on what SIL actually involves before comparing it to other options, the NDIS's official guide to Supported Independent Living is worth reading, along with our own Supported Independent Living complete introduction.

SIL or Flexible Core Supports: Which Do You Need?

This is the question families are usually really asking. And the honest answer is: it depends on the level of support your family member needs.

Flexible Core Supports may be enough when your family member:

• Needs part-time or drop-in support (a few hours per day or a few times per week)
• Is building independence and working toward needing less assistance over time
• Manages well independently for large parts of the day and night
• Lives in their own home, with family, or in a standard rental

SIL is more likely appropriate when your family member:

• Requires significant daily support, typically eight or more hours of active assistance each day
• Needs overnight supervision or on-site support through the night
• Lives in a shared or supported living environment where staffing is coordinated across multiple residents
• Has support needs that are ongoing and unlikely to decrease substantially

Neither option is better than the other. They serve different situations. What we've seen is that families sometimes feel pressure to seek SIL because it sounds more comprehensive, when actually a well-structured flexible Core plan might serve their family member just as well and give them more flexibility.

Getting this decision right matters. If SIL goes into your plan when flexible Core would have been sufficient, correcting it requires a plan review. A support coordinator or occupational therapist (OT) assessment is the best way to determine the right level. Eligibility and funding decisions are made by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), so speak with your support coordinator or planner for advice specific to your situation.

If you've determined SIL is the right fit and want to understand the application process, our guide on how to access SIL funding in your NDIS plan covers the steps in detail.

Building Your Independence Package: Combining Supports That Work Together

Most participants don't rely on a single support type. A well-built plan layers different supports to match the full picture of someone's life.

Two examples of how this works in practice:

For someone building toward greater independence: Flexible Core Supports (Assistance with Daily Life, for drop-in personal care a few hours each morning) combined with Capacity Building Supports (for skill-building programmes, funded separately from Core) can provide meaningful daily support while actively working toward less reliance over time.

For someone with high and consistent daily support needs: SIL covers the daily in-home assistance and overnight support. Flexible Core funds community participation activities during the day. Transport funding covers travel to appointments and social commitments.

The key principle is that your combination should reflect your family member's goals, not a template. Someone who loves being out in the community needs that participation funding protected. Someone whose primary need is personal care may not need Transport funded at the same level.

This is also where a SIL provider selection decision becomes important. Once you know SIL is part of the picture, choosing the right provider is its own significant step, with questions about staffing ratios, compatibility, and how they document and manage the Roster of Care.

We want to be clear: Paramount provides SDA housing only. We don't provide SIL or Core Support services. This section is here to help you ask better questions of the people who do.

What This Means for Your Housing Choice

Housing and supports are related decisions, but they're funded separately and chosen independently.

Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) is Capital Support funding, entirely separate from Core Supports. It pays for the purpose-built, accessible dwelling itself. SIL funding pays for the support staff who work in that dwelling. They come from different parts of your plan and are provided by different organisations.

In SDA, your SIL provider and your SDA housing provider are separate entities. Paramount provides the housing. You choose your own SIL provider. You're not locked into bundled services, and you're not required to use anyone we refer you to. That separation is by design, and from what we've seen, families value having genuine choice on both sides.

If you're thinking about what SDA housing looks like as part of your family member's future, you're welcome to browse our available SDA homes to get a sense of what's available.

Conclusion

NDIS Core Supports is a broad funding category with real flexibility, but SIL sits within it differently. It's a stated support, not a flexible one, and it's designed for participants with significant daily support needs. Most people will use a combination of supports rather than relying on any single type, and the right combination depends entirely on your family member's goals and needs.

There's no universally correct answer here. We hope this guide has given you a clearer picture of how the categories relate and what questions to bring to your next conversation with your support coordinator.

Got questions about what SDA housing looks like alongside your support plan? Call us on (03) 9999 7418 or email admin@paramounthomes.com.au. We're happy to talk through what we provide and help you think through what questions to ask your support coordinator.