Do you need to register?
Many providers choose whether to register. You must be registered to deliver:
- Supports to participants whose funding is NDIA managed (agency managed)
- Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA)
- Specialist behaviour support, or any support that uses regulated restrictive practices
- Plan management
- Assistance with supported independent living (SIL), since 1 July 2026
- NDIS digital platform services, since 1 July 2026
Before you apply
- Have an ABN and be able to show, with evidence, that you can deliver the supports you are applying for
- Make sure your key personnel, such as directors, managers and board members, and workers in risk assessed roles hold an NDIS worker screening clearance
- Set up myID, the Australian Government Digital ID app, and link your business in Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM)
- Read the NDIS Practice Standards for your registration groups and compare them with how you actually work
- Gather your organisation details, governance arrangements, locations and key personnel details
The application steps
From 12 October 2026 the NDIS Commission runs two portals. New applications start in the new NDIS Commission Portal, and applications submitted earlier are finished in the existing portal.
- Apply online: complete Part 1, wait for the initial assessment, then complete Part 2. It includes your registration groups, a self assessment against the Practice Standards with evidence, and suitability questions. You must finish within 60 days of starting
- Get your Initial scope of audit: it tells you whether you need a verification audit or a certification audit and which standards apply
- Engage an approved quality auditor: get quotes, then select your auditor. They audit you and send a recommendation to the Commission
- Suitability assessment: the Commission considers the audit and checks you and your key personnel, for example for past convictions, bankruptcy or enforcement action
- Decision: if approved you get a certificate of registration listing your registration groups, registration period and any conditions, and your details appear on the NDIS Provider Register
How much registration costs
There is no fee to register with the NDIS Commission. The cost is the audit, which you pay to the auditor. The Commission does not set audit prices. A verification audit, which is a desktop review for lower risk supports, usually costs less than a certification audit, which has an onsite stage. Get more than one quote.
Budget for the hidden costs too: time spent writing policies that fit your business, worker screening for staff, insurance, training, and the mid term audit if you are certified for higher risk supports.
How long it takes
The Commission says processing time depends on the size of your organisation and the range and complexity of the supports you apply for. Audit timing adds to this: for a certification audit, the onsite stage should happen within 3 months of the desktop stage. Applying with complete information and screened key personnel avoids common delays.
After you are registered
Registration comes with ongoing conditions: meeting the Practice Standards and the NDIS Code of Conduct, managing complaints and incidents, reporting reportable incidents, keeping worker screening current, notifying the Commission of changes, and completing audits on time. Registration is generally for three years. You can start renewal in the 6 months before it expires, and your registration stays valid while the Commission decides, as long as you apply before the expiry date.
If your application is refused you can ask the Commission for a review within three months of the decision, and then go to the Administrative Review Tribunal.
Using consultants and template policies
You can get help, but the Commission expects your application to describe your own organisation and that you can explain everything in it. Copied policies that do not match how you work are a warning sign, can lead to a refused application or an extra audit condition, and giving false or misleading information is an offence.