Occupational Therapy • Home & Living
Finding the right support starts with understanding home.
From support needs to housing options - one assessment, fully evidenced.
A Home and Living FCA establishes what support a person requires, which support model may fit - drop-in supports, an Individualised Living Option or Supported Independent Living - where that support can realistically be delivered, and whether Specialist Disability Accommodation should form part of the assessment. Every recommendation is written directly to the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria.
Built on a standard FCA
Every Home & Living FCA starts with a full Standard FCA.
Every Home and Living FCA starts with a full Standard FCA - the same assessment across every functional domain, with holistic recommendations, that the NDIS uses to understand how a person manages everyday life. Read about our Standard FCA. A Home and Living FCA then adds the layers below, as required.
Support needs & support model
Hours, ratios and intensity across the week, and which of drop-in supports, ILO or SIL is suitable and reasonable.
Where supports can be delivered
The accessibility of the current home, and the mainstream and disability-specific housing options realistically available.
SDA eligibility
Evidence of extreme functional impairment or very high support needs, and the design category if indicated. Add-on where commissioned.
Support needs assessment & visual roster
A week-at-a-glance schedule of current versus proposed supports, by funding stream.
The reasonable & necessary case
Written to the NDIS criteria for the specific support model recommended - not a generic template.
Standard Functional Capacity Assessment
Everyday functional capacity - assessed across every domain
What we're trying to answer
The questions we're trying to answer.
Rather than describing assessment components, here are the real questions a Home and Living FCA is built to answer.
Support models
Support is not one size fits all.
The assessment starts with functional need. The evidence informs which support model may fit.
Drop-in supports
Scheduled support visits that fit around an otherwise independent life. The person lives in their own home; support comes to them.
Individualised Living Option (ILO)
A flexible, person-designed support arrangement -living with a host, co-residency, or a combination - built around the individual's goals and relationships.
Supported Independent Living (SIL)
Funded support in a shared or individual living arrangement, where support is present across the day and overnight as required.
Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA)
Purpose-built or modified housing for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. SDA funding covers the dwelling; SIL or other supports cover the people.
Visual roster
Understanding support across a real week.
Home and Living assessment considers when support is required across everyday life - not simply a total number of hours. The visual roster maps support needs across morning, daytime, evening and overnight periods, and across different activities and environments.
Illustrative example only. Not a real participant schedule.
Which assessment?
Which Home & Living assessment?
Assessment hours start at the figures below and increase with complexity; time is billed as required.
From 25 hours
Home & Living FCA
Support needs analysis, support model recommendation, housing exploration, visual roster and the reasonable and necessary case. Written to NDIS SIL or ILO criteria as applicable.
- Full Standard FCA across all functional domains
- Support hours, ratios and intensity analysis
- Support model recommendation (drop-in / ILO / SIL)
- Housing options exploration
- Week-at-a-glance visual roster
- Reasonable and necessary case written to NDIS criteria
From 30 hours
Home & Living FCA + SDA
Everything in the Home & Living FCA, plus assessment and evidence relating to SDA eligibility, functional impairment or very high support needs, housing accessibility and feature requirements, and recommended SDA design category where indicated.
- Everything in the Home & Living FCA
- SDA eligibility evidence (extreme functional impairment or very high support needs)
- Housing accessibility and feature needs assessment
- Recommended SDA design category where indicated
The process
Your Home & Living assessment journey.
Understand
Referral and document review - NDIS plan and goals, existing reports, current living arrangement and supports.
See everyday life
Assessment in the home and consultation with the participant, family, support workers and Support Coordinator.
Model the support
Analyse support hours, ratios, model fit and where support can realistically be delivered.
Build the evidence
Develop the full FCA findings, visual roster, recommended support model and reasonable and necessary case, including SDA where commissioned.
Follow through
Respond to relevant NDIA queries and requests for further information.
Who this is for
Home & Living assessments often start when…
We are able to start this service for participants as early as 15+ years so we can build rapport and an evidence base before the 16-17 year window that shapes post-18 outcomes.
Commonly supported presentations
Adults whose family or informal supports are no longer sustainable, or whose current living arrangement no longer meets their needs.
Families who want their family member to remain in the family home, but need to work for a living - and need a support model that lets everyone stay together for as long as they choose, without being pushed into a transition they are not ready for.
Young people approaching 18 in out-of-home care, where the Department of Communities / Child Protection and the NDIS each hold part of the picture.
People with psychosocial disability living in Mental Health Commission-funded accommodation that no longer meets their needs.
People in hospital or health system settings who need a suitable arrangement before discharge is possible.
Where is this delivered?
For this assessment, home isn't just the location. It's part of the assessment.
The participant's home is the primary assessment environment because understanding how the living environment works with the person's functional and support needs is central to Home and Living assessment.
Client's home
Primary assessment location. An assessment of the actual home is generally essential.
Hospital, temporary accommodation or community setting
When relevant to discharge planning or comparison of environments.
Telehealth
Suitable for intake, plan review, design-team consultation and follow-up — but not a substitute when an assessment of the existing site is required.
Other
SDA/SIL homes, properties being considered for purchase, display homes, builder showrooms and building sites — where relevant and with permission.
Clinic
Not usually - an assessment of the actual home is generally essential.
Why Intracare
Complex decisions need evidence that holds up.
Senior clinical oversight
Home and Living assessments are completed by senior OTs, or by developing clinicians under direct senior guidance. Every report is quality assured by our senior clinical leadership team - who have personally achieved the outcomes we describe.
Evidence-led recommendations
We assess on functional need first. Our job is to establish what support a person actually requires and let the evidence carry the argument. We stress-test our own clinical reasoning before a report leaves the building.
Multi-agency experience
Where the NDIS, the Department of Communities, the Mental Health Commission and health systems each hold part of the responsibility, we are experienced in establishing clearly which body is responsible for what.
NDIS Home & Living expertise
Our team has experience across SIL, ILO, SDA and cases involving multiple systems and agencies - including recommendations upheld at the Administrative Review Tribunal.
AHPRA-registered Occupational Therapists • SIL • ILO • SDA • Multi-agency cases • FIM-trained clinicians available
Questions, answered
Home & Living FCA FAQs
What would the right support at home look like?
A Home & Living FCA can help build the evidence to answer it.
Make a referralAttach the participant's current NDIS plan and any existing reports.