Common questions

Yes. From 1 July 2026, supported independent living may only be delivered by a registered NDIS provider. An unregistered provider that was delivering SIL before 1 July 2026 can keep delivering it without registration only if it applied for registration before 1 October 2026, and only until the Commissioner decides that application. A provider that did not apply has needed to be registered since 1 October 2026. SIL sits under registration group 0138, Assistance with supported independent living, which replaced the use of 0115 for SIL. Registered SIL providers are assessed by certification audit against the Core Module and the SIL supplementary module (Module 5A). Templates help you prepare policies and evidence, but they do not guarantee registration; the outcome depends on your actual practice. Read our guide to SIL mandatory registration.

Module 5A is the supported independent living supplementary module of the NDIS Practice Standards. It is Schedule 7A of the NDIS (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018 and commenced on 1 July 2026. It applies to registered providers delivering SIL, who are audited against it alongside the Core Module. Module 5A has four standards: supported decision-making; safeguarding; practice governance; and agreements about tenancy, housing and support. Its quality indicators are in Part 8A of the NDIS (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018. Our Module 5A guide explains each standard and the kind of evidence an auditor looks for.

A verification audit is a document review; a certification audit is a two-stage audit of your documents and your practice. Verification applies to providers registering for lower-risk registration groups, including sole traders delivering lower-risk supports. The auditor checks that you hold the required documents and records. Certification applies to higher-risk registration groups, including SIL. The auditor assesses you against the Core Module (Rights and responsibilities; Governance and operational management; Provision of supports; Provision of supports environment) plus any supplementary modules, and looks at how you actually work, not only what you have written. No template guarantees either outcome. See our verification audit guide.

No, not in most cases. Registration is voluntary for an independent support worker, but it decides who you can work for. Participants with NDIA-managed funding can only use registered providers. Participants who self-manage, or who use a registered plan manager, can choose registered or unregistered providers. Some supports require registration regardless of funding type: from 1 July 2026, supported independent living may only be delivered by a registered provider, and specialist behaviour support, specialist disability accommodation and the use of regulated restrictive practices also require registration. Every provider, registered or not, must comply with the NDIS Code of Conduct. Sole traders who register for lower-risk supports go through a verification audit. Our Independent Support Worker Verification Pack is a starting point for that process, not a guarantee of registration.

A reportable incident is a serious incident, or an allegation of one, connected with NDIS supports that a registered provider must notify to the NDIS Commission. Under the NDIS (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules 2018, death, serious injury, abuse or neglect, unlawful sexual or physical contact or assault, or sexual misconduct must be notified within 24 hours of the provider becoming aware (section 20), with a further written notification within 5 business days. Other reportable incidents, including use of an unauthorised restrictive practice, must be notified in writing within 5 business days (section 21); if the use is also one of the 24 hour categories, such as a serious injury or an assault, the 24 hour timeframe applies. The NDIS Commission's guidance treats the clock as starting when key personnel become aware. These Rules bind registered providers. Our incident management templates cover the process.

Authorisation of a restrictive practice is a state and territory matter, so who authorises it depends on where the participant lives. Each jurisdiction has its own authorisation body and process, and they differ, so check the arrangements in your state or territory. Authorisation is separate from the NDIS Commission's requirements: a regulated restrictive practice must also be in the participant's behaviour support plan, and registered providers report each use to the Commission monthly. Using a practice that is not authorised is an unauthorised restrictive practice and a reportable incident for a registered provider. Our guide to restrictive practice authorisation by state and territory sets out each process.

The five regulated restrictive practices under the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018 are seclusion, chemical restraint, mechanical restraint, physical restraint and environmental restraint. Seclusion is sole confinement in a room or space the person cannot freely leave. Chemical restraint is medication used primarily to influence behaviour rather than to treat a diagnosed condition. Mechanical restraint uses a device, and physical restraint uses physical force, to restrict movement. Environmental restraint restricts free access to the person's environment, including items or activities. Each must be used in line with a behaviour support plan and, where the state or territory has an authorisation process, authorised under it. The Behaviour Support Add-On Module covers this work.

The six rights of medication administration are the right person, the right medication, the right dose, the right time, the right route and the right documentation. Workers check each one before assisting with or administering a medication, then record what was given, when and by whom, or that a dose was refused or missed. The six rights are a widely used practice framework, not a rule set out in NDIS legislation. What a support worker may do with medication depends on the participant's plan, the prescriber's instructions and state or territory medication laws. The medication templates in the NDIS Provider Core Library are built around the six rights.

An NDIS auditor asks for the documents and records that show how you meet each Practice Standard you are registered against. For a certification audit that means evidence across the Core Module (Rights and responsibilities; Governance and operational management; Provision of supports; Provision of supports environment) and any supplementary modules. Expect to be asked for policies and procedures, service agreements and support plans, incident and complaint registers, risk records, worker screening and training records, and evidence of continuous improvement. Auditors also sample participant files, so records must match what actually happens. A verification audit is a narrower document review. Our NDIS Audit Preparation Checklist lists what to have ready.

There is no single review interval mandated by the NDIS Practice Standards. Auditors expect to see that documents are current and have been reviewed, but the Standards do not fix a period. Common practice is a full review at least annually, a review whenever legislation, the Practice Standards, the pricing document or your registration scope changes, and a targeted review after an incident, complaint or audit finding shows a procedure did not work. Record the approval date, review date and next scheduled review in each document's version control table, and keep a register of every document and its review date. Our Master Document Register is built for that purpose.

The NDIS Worker Screening Check is a national background check for people who work with NDIS participants. Registered NDIS providers must ensure every worker in a risk assessed role holds an NDIS worker screening clearance, subject to limited exceptions such as a worker whose application is in progress and who is supervised by a cleared person under the provider's risk management plan, in a state or territory that allows it. Risk assessed roles include key personnel, workers delivering specified supports and other roles whose normal duties are likely to require more than incidental contact with people with disability, whether employees, contractors or volunteers. The worker applies through the worker screening unit in their state or territory and the provider verifies the application. A clearance is valid across Australia for five years unless surrendered or revoked. Unregistered providers and self-managed participants can ask workers to obtain one. The Core Library includes worker screening templates.

A roster of care is the NDIA's name for a document recording the pattern of SIL support in a participant's home each week: what support is delivered, on which days, at what ratio and how overnights are covered. It is not a requirement, it is not submitted to the NDIA, and it does not decide the SIL funding in the plan; the NDIA decides that. It is still used in 2026 as the tool for agreeing with the participant what supports are in the home and how plan funding will be claimed, attached to the SIL service agreement. Our SIL Schedule of Supports and Typical Week does this job.