Short version: Decide first whether to register with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Unregistered providers can support plan-managed and self-managed participants. Registered providers can support everyone, including agency-managed participants, but must pass an audit against the NDIS Practice Standards. Either way you need a business structure, insurance, trained and screened workers, and a way to pay and invoice correctly.
What does it mean to be an NDIS provider?
An NDIS provider is any person or business that delivers supports funded by a participant's NDIS plan. That includes sole traders supporting one or two participants and large organisations running group homes. There is no single "NDIS licence". What you need depends on the supports you deliver and how your participants' plans are managed.
Step 1: Decide whether to register
This is the biggest early decision. In broad terms:
- Unregistered providers can deliver supports to participants whose plans are plan-managed or self-managed. They skip the registration audit, but the NDIS Code of Conduct still applies to them and their workers.
- Registered providers are approved by the NDIS Commission for specific registration groups, can support agency-managed participants, and take on ongoing obligations such as the Practice Standards and Commission oversight.
Some supports are being moved to mandatory registration, so check the NDIS Commission website for the current list before you assume that you can stay unregistered for the supports you plan to deliver. Many providers start unregistered to build a client base, then register once demand justifies the audit effort.
Step 2: Set up the business basics
Before you apply for anything, get the foundations in place:
- an ABN and a business structure (sole trader, company or trust), ideally with advice from an accountant,
- public liability and professional indemnity insurance suited to the supports you deliver,
- a bank account, accounting software and a plan for GST and superannuation,
- privacy, complaints and incident management policies, and
- a decision on how you will find, roster and pay workers.
Step 3: If you're registering, what does the application involve?
The NDIS Commission runs registration. Based on its published guidance, the process broadly looks like this:
- Check you're eligible. You need an ABN and must be able to show, with evidence, that you can deliver the supports you apply for.
- Choose your registration groups carefully. Applying for groups outside the services you actually provide tends to mean extra work, delays and a more complex audit.
- Get worker screening sorted. Key personnel need a valid NDIS worker screening clearance, as do workers in risk-assessed roles. Your workers are linked to your organisation through the NDIS Worker Screening Database.
- Apply online. You'll use a myID account and provide your organisation's structure, governance, locations, key personnel and the supports you plan to offer.
- Engage an approved quality auditor. Finding and paying an independent approved auditor is your responsibility. Higher-risk registration groups are assessed against the core module of the Practice Standards, while lower-risk groups go through a verification module.
Audit fees and timeframes vary and change, so we haven't listed figures. The NDIS Commission website is the place to confirm current steps, fees and requirements.
Step 4: Prepare the documents an auditor expects
Auditors review your policies and procedures against the Practice Standards. Typical documents include incident and complaints management, risk management, safeguarding, privacy, worker screening and training, and service delivery procedures. Even if you're staying unregistered, writing these down early makes you easier to trust with participants and easier to register later.
Step 5: Plan how you'll get clients
Participants usually find providers through support coordinators, plan managers, allied health professionals, local community networks and word of mouth. A clear service description, a plain-language service agreement and a reliable first few weeks matter more than any single marketing channel. Be upfront with referrers about whether you're registered and which plan types you can accept.
Step 6: Get rostering, pay and invoicing right from day one
Most new providers underestimate the admin of the first ten workers. Three things catch people out:
- Award pay. If the SCHADS Award (MA000100) covers your employees, weekend, public holiday, overtime, broken shift and sleepover rules apply from the first shift. Cost shifts before you agree a price with a participant using our free SCHADS Pay Calculator.
- Margins. Compare what a shift costs against what you can claim. The Shift Profit Calculator helps with that thinking, and our guide to NDIS payroll compliance covers what to check each pay run.
- Invoicing. Plan-managed, self-managed and agency-managed participants are invoiced differently, so record the plan management type for each participant when you onboard them.
When you're ready to move off spreadsheets, read what to look for in NDIS rostering software.
How RaddeCare+ helps a new provider
RaddeCare+ covers rostering, SCHADS (MA000100), Aged Care (MA000018) and Nurses (MA000034) award engines for sleepovers, broken shifts, public holidays and overtime, per-shift margin visibility once a shift is on the roster, NDIS and general invoicing, a worker mobile app with geolocation sign in/out, timesheets, leave and offline use, a form builder for compliance documents, leave management, and Xero or MYOB integration. Registration, audits and worker screening remain yours to manage with the NDIS Commission.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to be registered to be an NDIS provider?
No. You can deliver NDIS-funded supports as an unregistered provider to participants whose plans are plan-managed or self-managed. Registration with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is needed to support agency-managed participants, and the Commission also requires registration for some supports. Check its website for the current list.
How long does NDIS registration take?
It varies with the registration groups you apply for, how ready your documents are, and how quickly your audit and the Commission's assessment are completed. We don't state a timeframe here because it changes. The NDIS Commission website has current guidance.
Do my support workers need NDIS worker screening?
Workers in risk-assessed roles need an NDIS worker screening clearance, and registered providers must link their workers to the organisation in the NDIS Worker Screening Database. Which roles are risk-assessed is set out by the NDIS Commission, so confirm it for each role you hire.
Do I still pay SCHADS rates if I'm a new or unregistered provider?
Registration status doesn't change your employment obligations. If SCHADS (MA000100) covers your employees, you pay under it whether you are registered or not, unless an enterprise agreement applies instead.