Another Round of SIL Consultations

Yesterday hot on the heels of the Supported Independent Living (SIL) Price Review, the NDIA announced a new consultation paper, with a request for feedback from the SIL market. This one focuses on improving outcomes for people receiving SIL services. They are reaching out to providers and the community, including people who live in SIL settings. 

The paper titled “Improving outcomes for participants who require Supported Independent Living (SIL): provider and sector consultation paper” can be found here.

Responses are due on Monday 19th October, so in a little over 3 weeks. 

The paper provides an interesting context for the review, including data on the steady increase of the average SIL package size over the past two years. In March 2017, the average package size was $200,000. It is currently $340,000, which represents a growth of 17% a year. This is tied in with concerns about overall NDIS sustainability. 

The first 3 questions have significant overlap with the price review. It focuses on the SIL cost increase, what is causing it and how it can be addressed. The remaining 11 questions (yes, that’s 14 in total), are slightly more reflective. They cover subjects such as: 

• What advice do you have for the NDIA working more closely with participants regarding their SIL supports? 
• How are providers currently informing participants and their families about the supports that they should be receiving? 
• What has been more effective in your experience?

Other questions focus on the conflict of interest that can arise when SIL providers also provide other supports to residents, including Support Coordination, community access or therapy. 

What we can take from all of this is that further changes to SIL are definitely on the horizon. Providers still reeling from the pricing changes should not get comfortable just yet. 

As with the Price Review, it is vital that as many people as possible respond to the consultation. The more opinions and evidence presented, the better hope we have of positively influencing the future SIL market.