SIL service agreement template: what it must include in 2026
The service agreement is the document auditors read first — it tells them whether your participants actually know what they've agreed to. The final SIL Practice Standards (in force 1 July 2026) also changed the structure fundamentally: housing and support must now live in two separate agreements. Here's what a compliant agreement contains, clause by clause, and the mistakes that trip providers up.
What must a SIL service agreement include in 2026?
Under the final SIL standards, a service agreement is evidence for several outcome areas at once. At minimum, a compliant SIL service agreement:
- describes the supports actually delivered — what a normal day and night look like in the participant's home, not a generic list of support categories;
- states the staffing basis: ratios, and how overnight support works (sleepover vs active night) — consistent with the roster of care;
- sets out pricing and claiming consistent with the NDIS pricing arrangements;
- records the participant's rights — privacy and dignity in their own home, supported decision-making, and a complaints pathway that includes the NDIS Commission;
- explains how the agreement changes or ends, with fair notice — and without touching the participant's housing;
- was explained in a way the participant understands, with evidence of that (an easy-read version, an interpreter, a supporter present — whatever fits the person); and
- contains nothing that links housing to support — the defining change of 2026, covered next.
If you're still assembling the wider document set (policies, registers, participant documents), start with the full list of SIL documents or take the 2-minute quiz to get it personalised.
Why must tenancy and support now be separate agreements?
This is the key 2026 change. The final SIL Practice Standards include a dedicated outcome on tenancy/housing and support agreements, and its core rule is separation: the participant's right to live in their home must not depend on keeping you as their support provider — and vice versa. One combined document that covers both rent and rosters is exactly what the standard was written to end.
The reason is bluntly practical. Under combined agreements, a participant who wanted to change providers risked losing their home, and a provider ending support could effectively evict someone. That double dependency is a safeguarding problem: it silences complaints, blocks provider choice, and gives the provider leverage no landlord-plus-carer should hold. Separating the agreements means each relationship can end on its own terms — support under the service agreement's notice provisions, housing under the tenancy law that applies in your state (which differs — see our state guides for NSW, VIC, QLD and WA).
Practically: audit your existing agreements for cross-default clauses ("this agreement ends if the occupancy agreement ends"), fees contingent on the housing arrangement, or exit clauses that mention the dwelling. All of those now belong in neither document or in the occupancy agreement alone.
What goes in the support agreement vs the occupancy agreement?
| SIL service agreement (support) | Tenancy / occupancy agreement (housing) |
|---|---|
| Supports delivered, day & overnight arrangements | Right to occupy the room/dwelling, and for how long |
| Support ratios and roster basis | Rent/board amount, what it covers, how it's paid |
| NDIS pricing, claiming and plan changes | House rules that relate to the dwelling (not to support) |
| Participant rights in receiving support; complaints | Repairs, maintenance, entry to the participant's room |
| Changing or ending support, with notice | Ending the occupancy, under the applicable state tenancy law |
| Signed by participant + provider (support entity) | Signed by participant + landlord/housing provider (may be a different entity) |
Two tests to apply to any clause: "Would this clause still make sense if the participant kept the home but changed support provider?" — if not, it's a housing clause and belongs in the occupancy agreement. And neither document should make its own survival conditional on the other.
Do you need an easy-read version?
The standards require agreements to be explained in a way each participant understands — for many SIL participants, that means an easy-read version: short sentences, one idea per line, images supporting the text, and a clear statement of the big items (what support they get, what they pay, how to complain, how to leave). An easy-read version is not a legal substitute for the full agreement; it sits alongside it as evidence the explanation actually happened. Whatever format you use, record how the agreement was explained and who helped — auditors interview participants at Stage 2, and "I don't know what I signed" is a finding no paperwork can patch.
Clause-by-clause: a compliant SIL service agreement outline
| Clause | What it covers | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Parties & interpreters | Provider legal entity + participant (and any supporter/nominee assisting them), how the agreement was explained | Name the registered legal entity, not the trading name only |
| 2. Supports provided | The SIL supports in plain language — what happens on an ordinary day and night, linked to the participant’s plan goals | Vague “supports as agreed” wording fails the test that the participant knows what they’re getting |
| 3. Roster & staffing basis | Support ratios, day/overnight arrangements (sleepover vs active night), how changes to the roster are agreed | Must match the actual roster of care — auditors cross-check |
| 4. Price & payment | How supports are priced (NDIS pricing arrangements), claiming method, what happens when the plan changes | No fees contingent on the housing arrangement |
| 5. Participant rights | Dignity, privacy in their own home, supported decision-making, the right to make complaints without consequence | Must reflect the SIL standards’ rights language, not boilerplate |
| 6. Provider responsibilities | Worker screening, incident management, quality of support, records, notice of changes | Keep consistent with your actual policies |
| 7. Changes, pauses & exits | How either party changes or ends the support arrangement, notice periods, what happens to supports during disputes | Ending support must not automatically end housing — see the two-agreements rule |
| 8. Complaints & disputes | Your complaints process plus external routes (NDIS Commission), in plain language | Include the Commission’s contact details, not just your own |
| 9. Signatures & review date | Signatures (or documented alternative consent), agreement date, scheduled review | Undated or unreviewed agreements are a classic Stage 1 finding |
What are the most common mistakes auditors find?
- One combined agreement. Housing and support in the same document — the headline non-conformity under the 2026 standards.
- Cross-default clauses. Separate documents, but one terminates the other. Separation on paper only.
- Agreement doesn't match practice. The agreement says 1:3 daytime support; the roster shows 1:2. Auditors cross-check against the roster of care and shift records.
- No evidence of explanation. A signature but nothing showing the participant understood — no easy-read, no record of a supporter or interpreter.
- Stale agreements. Signed years ago, never reviewed, participants and prices long changed.
- Generic templates left generic. Another provider's name in clause 7, wrong state's tenancy law, supports described for a service you don't deliver.
The full audit picture — what Stage 1 and Stage 2 look at, document by document — is in our NDIS audit checklist.
Both agreements, personalised to your service
The SILReady pack generates your SIL service agreement AND the separate tenancy/occupancy agreement — plus the easy-read version — personalised to your homes, ratios and state. Take the quiz to see everything your service needs.
Take the free quizWritten by the Clarova regulatory team · Reviewed 2 July 2026 · Sources: NDIS Commission, legislation.gov.au (F2026L00802)
SILReady is built by Clarova, an Australian company. This page is general information, not legal or registration advice — the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is the authoritative source for registration requirements.