Written by the Provider360 team. Provider360 is Australia’s leading NDIS registration and compliance solution, supporting 3,000+ providers nationally. We work through registration scope with providers before their application goes in.
Last updated: 6 October 2026
Key takeaways
- You register with the NDIS Commission, not the NDIA, and registration generally lasts three years.
- You must register to serve NDIA-managed participants, or to deliver SDA, specialist behaviour support, plan management, SIL or a digital platform.
- Sole traders and companies can both register, but a registration stays with one ABN and cannot move to another.
What does becoming an NDIS provider actually involve?
An NDIS provider is a person, business or organisation that delivers supports to NDIS participants. Providers can be registered or unregistered, and the NDIS Code of Conduct applies to both. Unregistered does not mean unregulated.
Two agencies are involved, and they do different jobs. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (the NDIS Commission) is the independent regulator. Registration sits with it: it registers providers and manages the applications. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) runs participants’ plans and pays providers, but it does not register anyone. Once you are registered, you connect to the NDIA’s systems so you can be paid.
If you are a sole trader, start with one question: how is each participant’s NDIS funding managed? A plan can be managed by the NDIA, by a plan manager, or by the participant. That answer, plus what you deliver, decides whether registration is required or optional for you today.
What are the NDIS registration requirements?
The NDIS Commission’s application guidance sets out what it checks before it registers you.
- An ABN and evidence you can deliver. You must have an Australian Business Number and be able to show, with evidence, that you can deliver the supports you apply for.
- Screened and suitable key personnel. Each of your key personnel is checked for a valid NDIS worker screening clearance, and for whether they are suitable to hold the role, which looks at things like past convictions or enforcement action. Workers in risk-assessed roles need a clearance too.
- An audit against the Practice Standards that apply to you. The registration groups you apply for decide which standards apply and which type of audit you need. You choose the auditor from the Commission’s list of approved quality auditors, and the Commission recommends getting more than one quote. Our guide to the NDIS audit process walks through the audit itself.
- A decision and a certificate. The Commission considers the auditor’s recommendation and your suitability, then decides. If you succeed, you receive a certificate of registration listing your supports, your period of registration and any conditions. The Commission says providers are generally registered for three years. What the certificate commits you to is covered in NDIS compliance after registration.
Cost and time are usually the next two questions, and each has its own guide. The Commission charges no fee to register, but you pay the auditor; the full picture is in our guide to NDIS registration cost. For timing, see how long it takes to become an NDIS provider. And when you want the step-by-step walk-through, our NDIS registration process page has it.
How do you apply from 12 October 2026?
From 12 October 2026, new registration applications are made in the NDIS Commission’s new portal. The application has two parts. You start with your ABN, registration groups, suitability questions and key personnel, each with a Worker Screening ID. Once the Commission clears that first part, the second asks for your services and a self-assessment against the Practice Standards, and produces the scope of audit you use to get auditor quotes.
Which path to registration is yours?
Five questions decide your path. Each one stands on its own: answer the ones that apply to you.
Do you need to register at all?
If any participant you support has NDIA-managed funding, you must be registered. The same applies if you deliver specialist disability accommodation (SDA), specialist behaviour support, plan management, supported independent living (SIL) or an NDIS digital platform service. It also applies if you use regulated restrictive practices, or if you are a residential aged care provider supporting participants.
If every participant self-manages or plan-manages their funding and none of those apply, registration is optional for now. That is set to change. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing says registration will be required for high-risk supports, which may include personal care, daily living supports and support in closed settings. The rollout starts on 1 July 2027 and is due to be complete by December 2030. Our guide to the mandatory registration expansion covers who is in scope.
Are you a sole trader or a company?
If you are a sole trader or a company, you can register either way; the ABN is the part to get right. A registration is linked to a single ABN and cannot be transferred to a different one, so a new ABN means a new registration application. If you plan to move from sole trader to company, register under the entity that will operate.
Are your supports low-risk or high-risk?
If you deliver only low-risk, low-complexity supports, you need a verification audit: a desktop review of your documents.
If you deliver one or more high-risk or complex supports, you need a certification audit, which adds an on-site stage. Your registration groups decide which applies, and your scope of audit confirms it. Our guides compare verification and certification audits and explain NDIS registration groups.
Will you deliver SIL or run a digital platform?
If you plan to deliver SIL or run an NDIS digital platform, registration is mandatory. The NDIS Commission states that SIL and digital platform providers must be registered from 1 July 2026. Both sit under new registration groups, 0138 for SIL and 0137 for digital platforms, and both need a certification audit. And if you are a new entrant, you cannot deliver SIL at all until the Commission has decided your application. Our guide to SIL registration pathways covers the detail.
Are you already delivering, or starting from nothing?
If you already support self-managed or plan-managed participants as an unregistered provider, you can keep doing so while you apply, except for the supports that require registration. NDIA-managed participants have to wait for your certificate. The new application asks whether you already deliver as an unregistered provider, and how many participants and workers you have.
If you are starting from nothing, eligibility comes first: an ABN and evidence you can deliver the supports you plan to offer.
Registered or unregistered: what can each provider do?
The difference is who you can serve and what you are checked against, not whether rules apply.
| Registered provider | Unregistered provider | |
|---|---|---|
| Participants you can serve | NDIA-managed, plan-managed and self-managed | Self-managed and plan-managed only |
| Supports that require registration (SDA, specialist behaviour support, plan management, SIL, digital platforms, regulated restrictive practices) | Can deliver them, within your registration groups | Cannot deliver them |
| Audit against the NDIS Practice Standards | Yes: verification or certification | No |
| Commission suitability assessment of the provider and key personnel | Yes | No |
| NDIS Code of Conduct | Applies | Applies |
| Listed on the NDIS Provider Register | Yes | No |
Who can help you get registered as an NDIS provider?
You can apply to the NDIS Commission yourself, or a registration solution can prepare your documentation and application with you. Provider360 is one: we are a registration and compliance solution, not a consultancy, and we have supported 3,000+ NDIS providers across Australia. Whichever route you take, the audit itself is done by an approved quality auditor you engage.
What do we see when a provider first talks to us about scope?
In our experience at Provider360, the scope of audit is the step to get right, because everything after it depends on it. Your scope should reflect the services you actually deliver, or genuinely plan to deliver soon. Register for groups you will not use and you overspend on services you do not deliver; leave out one you need and you come up short later, sometimes during the audit itself.
The wrong path we see most often in that first scope conversation runs in two directions. Some providers arrive over-scoped, with registration groups they do not deliver and do not plan to. Others, often very new to the NDIS, trim their scope to reduce cost, and that can mean a higher cost later than they planned, when the services they left out have to be added.
Find out which path applies to you
The free NDIS Registration Roadmap turns your answers into a personalised report: the services you are eligible for, whether you need verification or certification, the Practice Standards that apply, and an estimated timeline and cost. It starts with a 60-second quiz, and you will not be asked for a credit card.
Get your free NDIS Registration Roadmap →Common questions about how to become an NDIS provider
Can I work with participants before I’m registered?
Yes, with self-managed and plan-managed participants, for supports that do not require registration. NDIA-managed participants can only use registered providers, so they wait until you hold your certificate of registration. SIL is the exception to watch: new entrants cannot deliver it at all before the Commission decides their application.
What qualifications do I need to become an NDIS provider?
Qualifications attach to the supports you register for, not to you as the business owner: whoever delivers a support must hold what it requires. The Commission asks you to show, with evidence, that you can deliver each support you apply for, and for verification-only registration groups it lists the qualifications and documents it expects, profession by profession. Your key personnel, and workers in risk-assessed roles, also need an NDIS worker screening clearance.
Who can be an NDIS provider?
A person, business or organisation can be an NDIS provider. Sole traders, partnerships and companies can all register, and the Commission sets out its verification evidence separately for bodies corporate (incorporated or Pty Ltd) and for individuals and partnerships. Whatever the structure, your registration stays with the ABN you apply under.
