SIL support ratios and rosters of care explained

Search for SIL levels and you will find providers describing "SIL 1", "SIL 2" and "SIL 3", or "lower", "standard" and "higher" needs, as if the NDIA still sorts participants into three boxes. It does not. The current SIL guideline (24 September 2026) and the 2026-27 pricing schedule use none of those terms. This guide explains where the labels came from, what people mean by them today, and how the NDIA actually builds SIL funding from hours, ratios, intensity and overnight support.

SIL 1, 2 and 3 are not official categories

Older NDIS quoting material grouped SIL quotes into lower, standard and higher support need bands, and the shorthand SIL 1, 2 and 3 grew up around them. Many provider websites, and some support coordinators, still use it because families find it easier than a roster. Used loosely, SIL 1 means a person who mostly needs supervision and prompting in a shared house, SIL 2 means regular hands-on help shared with housemates, and SIL 3 means a lot of individual or high intensity support.

None of that appears in the current guideline. The NDIA now describes just two intensity levels, standard and high intensity, and says most people need standard. Everything else about your funding comes from the hours and ratio in your plan. The provider guidance also says the NDIA does not approve, endorse or give feedback on a roster of care, and that a roster does not determine your funding.

The honest translation: when someone says a vacancy is "for SIL 2", they usually mean the house runs a shared roster (often 1:2 or 1:3 during the day) with a sleepover at night. Ask to see the actual roster, because two houses described as SIL 2 can have very different staffing.

What a roster of care actually shows

The guideline lists what a roster of care includes: the hours of support you need for day-to-day activities in an ordinary week, the ratio of support, the level (standard or high intensity), the type of overnight support, and the amount of irregular support. The provider fills in the NDIA's roster of care template and spreadsheet tool with you or your nominee. It is only required for your first plan with SIL or when a change in circumstances cannot be met within your existing funding.

The spreadsheet is a seven-day grid. For each block of time it records how many workers are on, how many participants they support, and whether the block falls in weekday daytime, weekday evening, weekday night, Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday. Under the 2026-27 pricing schedule, weekday daytime runs from 6am to 8pm, weekday evening from 8pm to midnight, and night covers the hours after midnight and before 6am. Each band has its own price limit.

The NDIA also notes the times you are out of the house, for example at a day program or work, because SIL covers the time you are at home. It then builds in an average of 12 public holidays a year, so support on public holidays is already inside your funding. You can ask your provider for your roster of care at any time.

Support ratios: 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 2:4

The guideline defines a ratio of support as "how many disability support workers will provide your support, and how many participants you'll share this support with". A 1:3 block means one worker supporting three participants at once; your plan is funded for one third of that worker's hour. A 1:2 block funds half the hour, and a 1:1 block the whole hour. Houses with four or five residents may run 2:4 or 2:5 at busy times, which is 1:2 or 1:2.5 per person.

Most SIL rosters change ratio across the day. Mornings and evenings, when everyone needs showering, meals and medication at once, are often 1:1 or 1:2, while the middle of the day in a house where some residents are out may be 1:3 or a single worker for the house. The NDIA says it considers which ratio meets your needs and its funding criteria, including value for money, across both the busy and quiet times.

Full-time 1:1 SIL is the exception. The guideline says most people do not need 24-hour individual support and instead share, and lists three situations where individual SIL may be funded: life-threatening health needs or needs requiring constant monitoring, frequent and unmanageable behaviours of concern that put you or others at risk, or a rapidly progressing condition where 24-hour support is expected within 6 to 12 months.

Standard versus high intensity

Standard and high intensity are the only two levels the NDIA uses. High intensity is funded when you need continual active support from workers with extra qualifications and experience. The roster of care page gives two triggers: you need help at least once per shift with behaviours that require intensive positive behaviour support, or you need a worker with one or more of the high intensity skills in the NDIS Commission's practice standards (for example complex bowel care, enteral feeding, tracheostomy care, ventilation, subcutaneous injections or complex wound care).

High intensity items have higher hourly price limits than standard items in every time band, which is why providers ask for evidence before putting it on a roster. The NDIA requires reports or OT assessments no more than two years old, from an independent provider, to support a high intensity claim.

Intensity also changes your irregular support allowance. The guideline says the NDIA generally funds an initial maximum of 10 irregular support days a year at standard intensity and 15 at high intensity. Irregular days cover unplanned time at home, such as illness or a cancelled day program, and are funded as a separate line from your regular SIL.

Overnight: sleepover or active overnight

The overnight line is often the biggest single difference between two rosters. If you need up to 2 hours of awake support overnight, the NDIA funds a sleepover: a worker stays in the house for a continuous period of at least 8 hours, may sleep when not needed, and is paid a flat amount per night. If you regularly need more than 2 hours of awake support, the NDIA funds an active overnight, where the worker is awake and paid at the hourly night rate.

Sleepovers have a built-in buffer. If a worker provides more than 2 hours of active support during a sleepover, the pricing schedule lets the provider claim the third and later hours at Saturday rates on weeknights, or at the weekend or public holiday rate on other nights. The guideline says you must agree to this with your provider before they claim it, and if it keeps happening you should ask the NDIA about changing your plan.

In a shared house the overnight worker is usually shared too, so a sleepover might sit on a 1:3 or 1:4 line, spreading one night rate across the residents. An active overnight for one resident with high medical needs can be funded 1:1 even when the daytime roster is shared.

Rosters in regional South Australia

The pricing schedule sets three price columns: national, remote and very remote. Which column applies depends on how the NDIS classifies the place where support is delivered, not on distance from Adelaide, so check your town's classification before assuming a loading applies.

What changes in the regions is staffing, not the rules. A 1:1 active overnight is the same line on a roster in Whyalla as in Prospect, but filling it depends on a local workforce. A roster is easier to keep stable when the provider employs its own staff locally rather than relying on agency workers. ResicareSA runs homes in Kadina, Wallaroo, Whyalla, Port Augusta, Loxton and near Mount Gambier with directly employed workers rather than agency staff.

Travel to appointments and community activities is funded separately from SIL, and the NDIA notes the times you are out of the house when it sets your hours. In towns with fewer day options, that can mean more daytime hours in the SIL roster than an equivalent Adelaide roster.

What to do next

If you are comparing vacancies or trying to understand your own plan, ignore the level labels and ask for the five elements. The NDIA's decision letter states the hours and ratios your funding is based on, and the provider's roster should line up with it. Where they differ, the plan wins, because the provider must deliver within the approved amount.

• Ask the provider for the current roster of care for the house, including the ratio for each block of the day and the overnight type.
• Compare it with the hours, ratio and intensity the NDIA stated when it approved your SIL funding.
• Check whether any 1:1 blocks are in your plan or are assumptions the provider has made.
• Ask how often sleepover workers are woken for more than 2 hours, and whether extra hours have been claimed from your plan.
• Confirm the number of irregular support days in your plan and how the provider records their use.
• If the roster the house needs does not fit your plan, talk to your support coordinator about a plan reassessment rather than accepting a quiet reduction in support.

Questions people ask