Helensvale · Gold Coast
Registration
You’ll see “registered NDIS provider” on almost every provider’s website, including ours. This page explains what registration actually involves, what it does and doesn’t tell you, and how to check any provider for yourself.
The short answer
A registered NDIS provider is one that has applied to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, been audited against the NDIS Practice Standards, passed a suitability assessment covering both the organisation and the people running it, and been issued a certificate of registration.
Registration generally runs for three years. It means a provider has been checked and is being watched. It does not mean the Commission recommends them, and it is not a promise that the support will suit you.
Whether you have to use a registered provider at all depends on how your plan is managed. The rest of this page covers what registration gives you, what it doesn’t, and how to look any provider up yourself.
Getting registered
Registration isn’t a form you fill in and forget. The NDIS Commission sets out four things a provider has to get through before a certificate is issued.
What you get
Registration comes with conditions a provider has to keep meeting, not just meet once. Three of them matter most to you.
We're held to the NDIS Practice Standards and the NDIS Code of Conduct, and audited against them by an independent auditor.
Workers in certain roles, including key staff, must hold NDIS Worker Screening clearances. In Queensland, no clearance means no start.
We must have systems for handling complaints and incidents, and you can go straight to the NDIS Commission instead if you'd rather.
The honest bit
Here’s the part most provider websites skip. Registration is a check on systems, policies and people. It isn’t a rating, a ranking or a recommendation, and the Commission doesn’t endorse anyone. A registered provider can still be a poor fit for you, turn up late, or communicate badly. Plenty of unregistered providers deliver excellent support, and they’re bound by the NDIS Code of Conduct too. So registration is worth something real, and it’s worth less than how you’re treated on a Tuesday afternoon when nobody is auditing anyone. Use it as a filter rather than an answer. If a provider turns out not to suit you, registered or not, you can change providers at any time.
The difference
Both can deliver good support. The real differences are oversight, and who is allowed to use them.
Audited against the NDIS Practice Standards, screened workers, bound by the Code of Conduct, and listed on a public register anyone can search.
Still bound by the NDIS Code of Conduct, but not audited and not on the register. Only an option if your plan is plan managed or self managed.
| Registered providers | Unregistered providers | |
|---|---|---|
| Audited against the NDIS Practice Standards | Yes | No |
| Bound by the NDIS Code of Conduct | Yes | Yes |
| Listed on the public register | Yes | No |
| Who can use them | Anyone, however your plan is managed | Plan managed or self managed only |
Do you have to?
It depends on how your plan is managed. If your funding is NDIA managed, then yes, your providers have to be registered. If your plan is plan managed or self managed, you can choose either, and plenty of people use a mix. There are also some supports that need a registered provider no matter how your plan is managed. Specialist Disability Accommodation is one. Specialist behaviour support is another, along with plan management itself and any support involving regulated restrictive practices. If you’re not sure which applies to you, your plan states how it’s managed, and your plan manager or my NDIS contact can confirm it.
Check for yourself
You don’t have to take anyone’s word for it, ours included. The NDIS Commission keeps a public Provider Register, and looking someone up takes about two minutes.
Our registration
We hold 12 registration groups, covering daily personal activities, household tasks, life skills, community participation, group and centre based activities, life stage transitions, shared living, transport, employment support and Specialist Disability Accommodation.
Our registration runs until 27 March 2029. We are not registered for support coordination or plan management, so we don’t provide either, and if you need one we’ll point you somewhere useful. There’s also a condition worth knowing about. Because we deliver personal supports, extra requirements apply to us where a participant lives alone and receives that support from one worker only.
In that situation we’re required to assess the risks and to keep checking both the quality of the support and how satisfied you are with it.
Beyond the badge
Registration sets the floor. These are the things that actually decide whether support works, and none of them are audited. There’s more about how we work in our NDIS FAQs.
We match on personality and communication style, then work to keep the same face with you week to week.
Tell us and we'll change it. Asking for a different worker isn't a complaint and shouldn't feel like one.
If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you early and help you find someone who is.
Why families trust us
Our registration is in force until 27 March 2029 and listed on the public register.
Our registration groups put us on the certification pathway, which means a two stage audit including a site visit.
Every support worker holds the NDIS Worker Screening clearance that registered providers are required to have.
The Commission assesses the people running the organisation, not just the organisation's paperwork.
Your culture, faith, language and preferences shape how your support is delivered.
If we're not the right fit for you, we'll say so, and help you find someone who is.
FAQs
Not automatically. Registration means a provider has been audited and has conditions attached, which is genuinely useful. It doesn’t rate quality, and plenty of unregistered providers deliver excellent support. Treat it as one thing to check rather than the whole decision.
No. The Commission registers providers, regulates them and can take action against them, but it doesn’t endorse or rank anyone. If a provider implies the NDIS has approved or recommended them specifically, that’s a claim worth questioning.
Search the public Provider Register on the NDIS Commission website and look for a registration status of Approved. You can also see which registration groups they hold, which tells you what they’re actually allowed to deliver.
Registered providers must have a complaints system and you’re welcome to use it. You can also contact the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission directly at any time, whether or not you’ve raised it with the provider first.
No. NDIA managed funding can only pay registered providers. If you want the option of using unregistered providers, that would mean changing to plan managed or self managed, which you can raise at a plan reassessment.
No, and we won’t pretend otherwise. Those are separate registration groups that we don’t hold, so we don’t provide either. If you need a support coordinator or a plan manager, we’re happy to point you in a useful direction.
Registered providers are generally registered for three years, then audited again. Ours runs until 27 March 2029. Registration can also be suspended or revoked, and if that happens it shows on the public register too.
Here to help
If you’re weighing up providers and want to talk it through, we’re happy to help, including telling you honestly if we’re not the right fit. Checking us on the register first is completely fine by us.
Support coordinator? Send a referral and we’ll be in touch.
This guide is general information, not advice about your individual plan. For anything specific to your situation, speak to the NDIA, your plan manager or your support coordinator.
