In Supported Independent Living (SIL), providers must bill in line with the support ratio agreed in each participant's Service Agreement and Roster of Care. In Imploy, the Split Count setting ensures shared roster costs are divided according to that agreed arrangement, not temporary vacancies.
When a participant's SIL support is agreed at a 1:3 ratio, they are only entitled to be charged for their 1/3 share of shared staff costs. You cannot bill that participant for the full shift (as if it were a 1:1 support) simply because other rooms in the house are vacant.
Doing so would:
Claim more SIL support against the participant's plan than they are funded for,
Be inconsistent with their agreed roster of care and service agreement, and
Risk non-compliance with NDIS billing and claiming rules, including audit findings and rejected claims.
Any unrecovered portion of shared roster cost should be treated as vacancy loss for internal tracking, rather than passed on to the remaining participant through higher billing.
This article explains how to use the Split Count feature in Imploy to automate compliant roster splitting and isolate vacancy loss.
Understanding the Core Metrics in Imploy
When viewing a SIL site dashboard in Imploy, the system tracks three distinct metrics under Contact & Site Information:
Metric | What it means |
Capacity | The physical limit or total number of bedrooms available in the home (e.g., a 6-bedroom house). |
Occupancy | The number of active participants currently assigned to and living in the house. |
Split Count | The fixed billing divisor assigned to the house. This number dictates how rostered staff shift costs are divided, regardless of temporary vacancies. |
Split Count represents the intended shared-support arrangement for the home, such as 3 for a 1:3 shared support model, not the current occupancy level.
How Split Count Protects Compliance
The Split Count field in Imploy acts as a billing control to ensure costs are split according to the agreed support arrangement, not day-to-day occupancy. This helps keep billing aligned with each participant's Service Agreement and reduces the risk of over-claiming against their SIL funding.
The Scenario: Handling Vacancies
Imagine a 3-bedroom SIL home with a fixed Split Count of 3 in Imploy. A support worker delivers a 2-hour shift totaling $140 in staff costs.
Situation | What happens in Imploy |
House is full (Occupancy = 3) | The billing engine divides the $140 cost equally among the 3 active participants. Each person is billed $46.67. Your business recovers 100% of the staff costs. |
Rooms become vacant (Occupancy = 1) | If two participants move out, Imploy does not push 100% of the $140 cost onto the remaining participant. Because Split Count is locked at 3, the single remaining resident is still only billed their compliant 1/3 share ($46.67). |
Where does the remaining cost go?
Imploy automatically flags the unbilled 2/3 of the shift cost ($93.33) as Vacancy Loss. This allows your finance team to track exactly how much overhead the business is absorbing due to empty rooms, without exposing participants to non-compliant billing.
How to Set or Edit Split Count in Imploy
To ensure a house splits roster costs correctly based on its intended setup rather than its live occupancy:
Navigate to Clients from the sidebar and click Sites list from the Clients menu.
Select the specific SIL home you want to configure.
On the Overview tab, look at the right-hand Details panel under Contact & Site Information.
Locate the Split Count row.
Click the Edit button on the right side of the row.
Enter the standard number of participants the funding ratio is built upon (e.g., 3 for a 1:3 arrangement).
Best Practice in Imploy
Always update the Split Count field to match the baseline shared-support arrangement agreed in your active Service Agreements for that site. This ensures it aligns with your maximum expected occupancy rather than day-to-day fluctuations, keeping billing compliant and protecting participants from being over-charged during vacancies.
Why This Matters for NDIS Providers Using Imploy
Compliance: Billing aligns with each participant's agreed support ratio and Service Agreement.
Audit readiness: Clear separation between participant billing and provider vacancy loss.
Financial visibility: You can track exactly how much margin is being lost to vacancies and manage it as a business cost.
Participant protection: Residents are never billed for support they are not funded to receive.