The SIL Supplementary Module: What the Four New Practice Standards Ask For

Registration group 0138 comes with its own module — not just the core standards

Registering under group 0138 doesn't only mean meeting the core NDIS Practice Standards that apply to every registered provider. SIL carries its own supplementary Practice Standards module, developed specifically because supported independent living happens inside someone's home, around their daily life, in a way that most other registered supports don't. Four standards make up the module: supported decision-making, safeguarding, practice governance, and agreements about tenancy, housing and support arrangements. Providers preparing for registration or their first audit under 0138 need to be building evidence against all four, not just the standards they already hold evidence for from other registration groups. Here's what each one actually asks of a SIL service.

Standard one: supported decision-making

The supported decision-making standard sets out how a provider supports a participant who needs assistance making decisions — the outcome the Commission is looking for is that decisions are made by the participant, not for them. In a SIL household that plays out constantly and informally: what to eat, when to go out, who visits, how the day is structured. The evidence an auditor is looking for isn't a standalone policy document sitting in a folder — it's whether workers can describe, and participants can confirm, that choices about daily life, routines and relationships are genuinely the participant's, with support to understand options rather than a worker or the provider making the call by default. Workers need the skills to apply this in practice: person-centred, trauma-informed, active-support approaches that translate a policy statement into what actually happens in the home.

Standard two: safeguarding

The safeguarding standard is about participants living in a SIL environment being safe from violence, abuse, neglect and harm, while still being supported to exercise choice and dignity of risk — the standard deliberately holds both of those together rather than trading one off against the other. A household that is safe only because every activity is restricted isn't meeting this standard any more than one where risk goes unmanaged. What an auditor is testing for is whether participants feel secure in their own home, know that a concern they raise will actually be responded to, and can see that safeguarding is built into daily practice — rostering, handovers, incident response — rather than existing only as a policy statement produced for the audit.

Standard three: practice governance

The practice governance standard is where leadership and workforce management get tested directly. The outcome the Commission describes is that each participant is supported by workers who have the training, knowledge and skills to support them, and who have guidance to apply evidence-informed practice tailored to that participant's needs — not generic training completed once and filed away. For a provider, that means demonstrable systems: a training and development plan that's actually delivered and refreshed, supervision that checks whether practice in the home matches policy, and leadership that's genuinely across what's happening in the household day to day rather than only at rostering level. This is the standard most likely to expose the gap between "we have a policy for that" and "our workers can point to how that policy shapes their Tuesday shift."

Standard four: agreements about tenancy, housing and support arrangements

The tenancy and housing standard addresses a confusion that causes real harm when it isn't managed properly: mixing up where someone lives with the SIL support they receive there. The standard requires clear, accessible and transparent agreements that keep tenancy or housing arrangements legally and practically separate from the SIL service agreement — two participants who move into the same home should have two distinct agreements, one for the tenancy and one for support, and neither should be contingent on the other. Practically, that means a participant's housing can't be put at risk over a dispute about their support, and a change to their support shouldn't automatically threaten where they live. Providers also need to give participants accessible information about their actual tenancy rights — house-sharing arrangements, notice periods, exit processes — and access to advocacy or legal help where a participant needs more than an explanation to understand their position.

Where providers get caught out preparing for this module

The most common gap isn't ignorance of the four standards — most providers preparing for 0138 have read them — it's evidence that exists as a document but not as observable practice. A supported decision-making policy that no worker can describe in their own words. A safeguarding procedure that's never been tested against an actual scenario in a team meeting. A tenancy and service agreement that were drafted together and never actually separated in the participant's paperwork. A Stage 2 on-site audit is built to find exactly this gap, through interviews with workers and, where relevant, participants — which means the module has to be lived in the household, not just written in the office, well before an auditor arrives.

How Compliance Care helps

We help SIL providers turn the four SIL Practice Standards into evidence that actually holds up at Stage 2 — training that workers can speak to, safeguarding practice that's been tested rather than only documented, and tenancy and service agreements that are genuinely separate, not just labelled that way. Audits are conducted by independent approved quality auditors; our role is making sure your practice reflects the standard before that audit happens, not shortcutting the assessment itself.

If you're still confirming your service meets the SIL definition before building evidence against this module, start with applying the Commission's SIL definition to your service. Once you're scoping your application, our guide to what actually has to be lodged by 1 October 2026 covers the application itself, our SIL audit checklist is a practical starting point for mapping your evidence gaps against all four standards, and our audit preparation services can help you close them before Stage 2.

Not sure your evidence for one or more of these standards would hold up under interview? Book a discovery call and we'll help you find out before an auditor does.