What counts as a restrictive practice
The definition in the NDIS Act is broad: any practice or intervention that has the effect of restricting the rights or freedom of movement of a person with disability. Locking a door, removing a phone, holding someone's arms or giving medication to calm someone can all be restrictive practices, depending on why and how they are used.
The test is the effect on the person, not the intention of the worker. A practice used with the best of motives is still a restrictive practice if it limits the person's freedom.
The five regulated restrictive practices
The NDIS rules regulate five types. Our page on regulated restrictive practices explains each one in detail:
- Seclusion: keeping a person alone in a room or space they cannot leave
- Chemical restraint: medication used mainly to influence behaviour, not to treat a diagnosed condition
- Mechanical restraint: a device used to restrict movement mainly to influence behaviour
- Physical restraint: using physical force to restrict movement mainly to influence behaviour
- Environmental restraint: restricting free access to parts of the environment, such as locked cupboards or a locked fridge
The rules for using them
- Last resort only, in response to a risk of harm to the person or others
- The least restrictive option, proportionate to the risk, for the shortest time
- Only by a registered NDIS provider. Unregistered providers must not use them
- Set out in a behaviour support plan written by an NDIS behaviour support practitioner, with positive strategies to reduce the need for them
- Authorised under state or territory arrangements where those apply
- Some practices, such as prone or supine restraint and pin downs, are high risk and should never be in a plan
Behaviour support plans and timeframes
When a specialist behaviour support provider is engaged for someone who is subject to restrictive practices, the practitioner must write an interim behaviour support plan within 1 month and a comprehensive plan within 6 months. A plan that includes regulated restrictive practices must be reviewed at least every 12 months, or sooner if the person's situation changes.
The aim of every plan is to reduce and, where possible, eliminate restrictive practices over time, by understanding why behaviours of concern happen and changing what is around the person.
Reporting
- Authorised use: the implementing provider reports each month to the NDIS Commission on any use of a regulated restrictive practice
- Unauthorised use: any use that is not authorised or does not follow the behaviour support plan is a reportable incident
- Unauthorised use must be notified within 5 business days, or within 24 hours if it caused harm
- From 12 October 2026, new and reviewed behaviour support plans are lodged in the new NDIS Commission Portal, with monthly reporting following the plan
Your rights as a participant or family
You have the right to be involved in any behaviour support plan, to know why a practice is proposed, and to know what is being done to reduce it. Ask how the plan will be reviewed and what success looks like.
If you think a restrictive practice is being used without authorisation, or by an unregistered provider, tell the NDIS Commission. If someone is in immediate danger, call 000.
For providers
If your workers may need to use a regulated restrictive practice, you must be registered and work from a current behaviour support plan. Train staff in the positive strategies in the plan, not only the restriction, keep accurate records, report every use on time, and treat each use as a prompt to ask what could have been done differently. Specialist behaviour support providers must be registered under group 0110.