NDIS glossary

NDIS terms and acronyms, explained

The NDIS has its own language — SIL, SDA, PACE, LAC, stated supports, registration groups. This glossary explains each term in plain English, says who it matters to and links to the official source, so participants, families and providers can check what something means before they act on it.

122 terms so far — more added every week.

Browse by topic

NDIS basics

The scheme, the agencies that run it and the people in it.

Plans & budgets

How an NDIS plan is built, what each budget pays for and how it changes.

Managing & paying

Who holds the funding, how providers are paid and the paperwork in between.

Home & living

SIL, SDA, ILO, respite and the other ways the NDIS funds where and how someone lives.

Supports & services

The day-to-day supports and therapies a plan can fund.

Pricing & claiming

Price limits, item numbers and the rules for claiming them.

Registration & compliance

Registering as a provider, the Practice Standards, audits and worker screening.

Incidents & safeguards

Reportable incidents, restrictive practices and behaviour support.

Workforce & operations

Award, rostering and the records support work runs on.

NDIS glossary A–Z

A

Access request: An NDIS access request is the application a person makes to the NDIA to become an NDIS participant. The NDIA checks that the person is under 65, meets the residence requirements, and meets the disability or early intervention requirements. If approved, the person becomes a participant and moves on to planning.
Active overnight support: Active overnight support is NDIS-funded support where a worker stays awake during normal sleeping hours to support a participant because of their disability. It is generally funded when a person needs more than 2 hours of awake support a night, and it is claimed and paid by the hour, unlike a sleepover.
Active support: Active support is a way of working in which support workers help a person with disability take part in everyday activities, such as cooking, cleaning and making choices, instead of doing things for them. Workers give the least help the person needs to succeed. The NDIS Commission calls it evidence-informed practice.
Administrative Review Tribunal (ART): The Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) is the independent tribunal that reviews NDIA and NDIS Commission decisions after internal review. It replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024. Participants must ask the NDIA for an internal review first, then can apply to the ART.
Approved quality auditor (AQA): An approved quality auditor (AQA) is an independent audit organisation approved by the NDIS Commission to assess providers against the NDIS Practice Standards. Providers choose and pay an AQA for their verification or certification audit; the auditor reports to the Commission, which decides registration.
Assistance with daily life: Assistance with daily life is the NDIS support category that funds help with everyday tasks a participant can't do, or can't do safely, because of their disability, such as personal care, cooking, cleaning and yard maintenance. It is a flexible core supports category, numbered 01 in support item numbers.
Assistive technology (AT): Assistive technology (AT) is equipment, technology or devices that help an NDIS participant do things they otherwise couldn't, or do them more easily or safely. The NDIA groups AT into low, mid and high cost, and the cost and risk of an item decide what evidence is needed before it is funded.

B

Behaviour support plan (BSP): A behaviour support plan (BSP) is a document written by an NDIS behaviour support practitioner setting out evidence-based, person-centred strategies to improve a person's quality of life and reduce behaviours of concern. Any regulated restrictive practice must be written into it, with set deadlines.
Behaviour support practitioner: An NDIS behaviour support practitioner is a person the NDIS Commission considers suitable to carry out behaviour support assessments and write behaviour support plans, including plans with regulated restrictive practices. Suitability is assessed against the Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework.
Broken shift: A broken shift under the SCHADS Award is a shift split into two periods of work by one unpaid break, or three periods by two breaks if the employee agrees. It applies to disability services and home care work, must fit within a 12-hour span, and earns a broken shift allowance.

C

Capacity building supports: Capacity building supports are one of the four NDIS support budgets. They fund supports that build skills and independence, such as therapy, behaviour support, employment help, support coordination and plan management. The funding is stated, so each category can only be used as the plan describes.
Capital supports: Capital supports are one of the four NDIS support budgets. They fund higher-cost assistive technology, equipment, home and vehicle modifications, and specialist disability accommodation. The funding is stated, so it can only be used for the items the plan describes, often after the NDIA has seen quotes or assessments.
Certification audit: An NDIS certification audit is the two-stage audit (desktop, then onsite) that providers registered for higher risk or more complex supports must pass. An approved quality auditor assesses them against the core module of the NDIS Practice Standards and any supplementary modules, with staff and participant interviews.
Change of circumstances: In the NDIS, a change of circumstances is any event or change that affects, or might affect, a participant's access request, participant status or plan. Under section 51 of the NDIS Act, participants must tell the NDIA as soon as reasonably practicable, in the approved way. It may lead to a plan change.
Chemical restraint: Chemical restraint is the use of medication or a chemical substance mainly to influence a person's behaviour. It is a regulated restrictive practice under the NDIS Rules. Medication prescribed to treat a diagnosed mental disorder, physical illness or condition, or to enable treatment, is excluded.
Complaints management: Complaints management is the system an NDIS provider uses to receive, record, resolve and learn from complaints. Registered providers must let anyone complain, including anonymously, resolve complaints fairly and on time, tell people they can go to the NDIS Commission, protect complainants and keep records for 7 years.
Conflict of interest: A conflict of interest in the NDIS is a situation where a provider's or worker's own financial, business or personal interests could influence, or appear to influence, the advice or supports a participant receives. Registered providers must proactively manage and document actual and perceived conflicts.
Consumables: NDIS consumables are everyday products a participant uses up and replaces because of their disability, such as continence products, plus low-cost assistive technology. They are funded from the Consumables category of the core supports budget and must relate to the disability and be reasonable and necessary.
Core supports: Core supports are one of the four NDIS support budgets. They fund everyday help such as personal care, household tasks and support to take part in community activities, plus consumables like continence products. Most core funding is flexible across core categories in the same funding component.

D

Digital platform provider: An NDIS digital platform provider runs an app, website or online system that connects participants with people providing supports and processes payment from participants' NDIS funding. Since 1 July 2026 these providers must be registered with the NDIS Commission under registration group 0137.
Dignity of risk: Dignity of risk is a person's right to choose to take some risk in engaging in life experiences. In the NDIS, participants are supported to make informed choices, including risky ones, and providers balance that right with their duty of care.
Domestic assistance: NDIS domestic assistance is help with essential household tasks, such as cleaning, laundry, meal preparation and yard maintenance, that a participant can't do themselves because of their disability. It is funded from the core supports budget under Assistance with daily life, where the NDIS calls it household tasks.

E

Early childhood approach: The NDIS early childhood approach is how the NDIS supports children younger than 6 with developmental delay, or younger than 9 with disability, and their families. Early childhood partners give information, connections and short-term early supports, and help families apply. No diagnosis is needed under 6.
Early intervention: Early intervention in the NDIS means funding supports early to reduce the impact of an impairment and a person's future support needs. It is also one of two ways to join: people with a likely permanent impairment, or children under 6 with developmental delay, can meet the early intervention requirements.

F

Functional capacity assessment (FCA): A functional capacity assessment (FCA) is a report, usually by an occupational therapist, on how a person's disability affects everyday activities such as self-care, mobility and communication, and the support they need. It is used as NDIS evidence for access, plan reassessments and home and living requests.
Funding periods: NDIS funding periods are the set blocks of time in which part of a participant's plan funding is released, usually every three months for new and reassessed plans since May 2025. They change when funds become available, not the total. Unspent funds roll into the next period within the same plan.

G

Group home: A disability group home is a shared house where several people with disability live together and receive rostered support from paid workers, often around the clock. Under the NDIS the support is usually funded as Supported Independent Living (SIL), and the building may be SDA, a private rental or social housing.

H

High intensity supports: High intensity supports are NDIS daily living supports involving complex health-related tasks, such as enteral feeding, tracheostomy or catheter care, done by specifically trained workers. They use separate support items with a higher price limit, and registered providers must meet an extra Practice Standards module.
Home and living supports request: A home and living supports request is how an NDIS participant asks the NDIA to fund supports for where and how they live, such as SIL, ILO or SDA. The participant describes their home and living goals and sends evidence of their support needs, and the NDIA decides whether to change the plan.
Home modifications: NDIS home modifications are changes to the structure, layout or fittings of a participant's home that help them use it safely because of their disability, such as grab rails or step-free showers. They are funded from the Capital – Home Modifications budget and are either minor (Category A or B) or complex.

I

Implementing provider: An implementing provider is an NDIS provider whose workers use a regulated restrictive practice, or carry out a behaviour support plan, when supporting a participant. It must be registered, follow the plan and state authorisation, keep records and report use to the NDIS Commission.
Improved daily living skills: Improved Daily Living Skills is NDIS capacity building funding, support category 15, often shown as CB Daily Activity. It pays for assessment, therapy and training that build a participant's skills and independence, such as occupational therapy, speech pathology, psychology, therapy assistants and travel training.
Improved health and wellbeing: Improved Health and Wellbeing is NDIS capacity building funding, support category 12, for exercise and diet supports that help a participant manage the impact of their disability. It covers exercise physiology, dietetics and personal training for disability-related needs, not general health care or gym memberships.
Incident management system: An incident management system is the documented policies, procedures and records a registered NDIS provider uses to identify, respond to, record, investigate and learn from incidents connected with its supports. Every registered provider must have one under the NDIS Act and Rules.
Increased social and community participation: Increased social and community participation is an NDIS capacity building support category, numbered 09, that funds supports to build a participant's skills and confidence to join community activities, make friends and be more independent. The funding is stated, so it can only be used as the plan describes.
Individualised Living Options (ILO): Individualised Living Options (ILO) is NDIS funding to design and set up a home support arrangement around one person, such as living with a host or housemate, often mixing paid and informal support. It funds the support, not the home, and is usually an alternative to shared SIL.
Informal supports: Informal supports are the unpaid help a person with disability gets from family, friends, neighbours and community groups. The NDIS takes them into account when deciding funding: it considers what it is reasonable to expect these networks to provide, and how that care can be sustained.
Irregular SIL supports: Irregular SIL supports are extra Supported Independent Living hours funded for unplanned days at home, such as when a participant is sick or a day program is cancelled. The NDIA generally funds an initial maximum of 10 days a year for standard needs and 15 for high intensity needs.

K

Key worker: A key worker is one early childhood professional, such as an occupational therapist or early childhood teacher, who is a family's main contact and practitioner for the team around a young child with developmental delay or disability. The NDIS funds it within early childhood intervention supports.

L

Local Area Coordinator (LAC): A Local Area Coordinator (LAC) is a worker from an NDIA partner organisation who helps people with disability aged 9 to 64 understand and apply for the NDIS, prepare for planning, use their plan and find community and mainstream services. LACs are funded by the NDIA, not a plan, and can't approve funding.

M

Mainstream supports: Mainstream supports are services people with disability get from government systems other than the NDIS, such as health, mental health, education, transport, housing and justice. The NDIS doesn't fund supports that one of these systems is more appropriately responsible for.
Mandatory registration: Mandatory registration means a provider must be registered with the NDIS Commission before delivering certain supports, however the participant's funding is managed. Since 1 July 2026 it covers supported independent living and NDIS digital platform services, alongside SDA, behaviour support and plan management.
Medication management: Medication management is the system an NDIS provider uses so each participant gets the right medicine and dose at the right time, with medicines stored securely, every dose recorded and effects monitored. It is an NDIS Practice Standards outcome, and dosing decisions stay with the prescriber.
Medium-term accommodation (MTA): Medium-term accommodation (MTA) is NDIS funding for somewhere to live for a limited time, usually up to 90 days, when a participant has a long-term home lined up but can't move in yet because their disability supports aren't ready. It covers accommodation costs only, not support, food or bills.
Modified Monash Model (MMM): The Modified Monash Model (MMM) is the Australian Government's seven-level classification of how remote a location is, from MM 1 (major cities) to MM 7 (very remote). The NDIS uses it to decide whether national, remote or very remote price limits apply to a support and how much provider travel time can be claimed.
my NDIS portal: The my NDIS portal is the NDIA's secure online portal for NDIS plan information. Participants use the my NDIS or older myplace participant portal through myGov, or the my NDIS app; providers use the myplace provider portal for claims and the my NDIS provider portal for reports, signing in with myID.

N

NDIA-managed funding: NDIA-managed funding, also called agency-managed funding, is the NDIS funding option where the NDIA pays providers directly from a participant's plan. Only registered NDIS providers can be used, price limits apply, and providers claim through the NDIA's provider portal instead of invoicing the participant.
NDIS Act 2013: The National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act) is the Commonwealth law that creates the NDIS. It sets who can become a participant, how reasonable and necessary supports are funded, what counts as an NDIS support, and how providers are regulated, and it establishes the NDIA and the NDIS Commission.
NDIS Code of Conduct: The NDIS Code of Conduct is a set of eight legally binding rules of behaviour for all NDIS providers, their key personnel and workers, registered or not. It covers respect for rights, privacy, safe and competent support, integrity, raising concerns, preventing abuse and sexual misconduct, and fair pricing for goods.
NDIS Practice Standards: The NDIS Practice Standards are the quality and safety standards that registered NDIS providers must meet and are audited against. Grouped into core, verification and supplementary modules such as SIL, each standard has a participant outcome and quality indicators that auditors use to rate the provider.
NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (PAPL): The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (PAPL) is the NDIA's price guide: the maximum prices for NDIS supports plus the rules for claiming them. From 24 September 2026 the maximums come from the Minister's NDIS pricing schedule 2026–27, while the 2025–26 PAPL remains the latest published claiming rules.
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission: The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission) is the independent national regulator of NDIS providers and workers. It registers providers, enforces the Code of Conduct and Practice Standards, handles complaints and reportable incidents, and oversees restrictive practices. It does not fund supports.
NDIS Worker Screening Check: The NDIS Worker Screening Check is a national background check of whether a person poses an unacceptable risk to people with disability. State and territory screening units decide applications, and a clearance lasts five years across Australia. Registered NDIS providers must use cleared workers in risk-assessed roles.
NDIS compliance: NDIS compliance means meeting the legal obligations on NDIS providers and workers: the NDIS Act and Rules, the Code of Conduct and the NDIA's pricing and claiming rules, plus, for registered providers, conditions of registration such as the Practice Standards, audits and incident reporting.
NDIS goals: NDIS goals are the outcomes a participant wants to achieve, recorded in their NDIS plan as the participant's statement of goals and aspirations. The participant prepares the statement, and the NDIA must be satisfied that each funded support will help the participant pursue those goals. Goals can be changed at any time.
NDIS hourly rate: The NDIS hourly rate usually means the maximum price per hour a provider can charge for a support, called the price limit. It is set in the NDIS pricing schedule and varies by support item, time of day and day of week, worker skill level, location and group size. It is not the same as a support worker's pay rate.
NDIS invoice: An NDIS invoice is a bill for disability supports delivered to one NDIS participant, listing their name and NDIS number, dates, support item numbers, claim types, quantities, prices, GST and the provider's ABN. It goes to a plan manager or self-managed participant; NDIA-managed supports use a payment request.
NDIS number: An NDIS number is the unique 9-digit number the NDIA gives each NDIS participant, and it always starts with 43. It identifies the participant on plans, letters, the my NDIS app, service agreements, invoices and payment requests, and it stays the same when a new plan is made.
NDIS participant: An NDIS participant is a person with disability who has been accepted into the National Disability Insurance Scheme because they meet the age, residence and disability or early intervention requirements. Participants receive an NDIS plan, choose how their funding is managed and choose their own providers.
NDIS plan: An NDIS plan is the document the NDIA approves with a participant that sets out their goals and the funding the NDIS will provide for disability supports. It splits the funding into support budgets, says how it is managed and released in funding periods, and says when the plan will be reassessed.
NDIS registration: NDIS registration is the process by which the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission approves a provider to deliver specific NDIS supports. It involves an online application, an audit against the NDIS Practice Standards and a suitability check, ending in a certificate of registration, usually for three years.
NDIS supports: NDIS supports are the supports NDIS funding can legally pay for, as defined by section 10 of the NDIS Act and its lists. Since 3 October 2024, funding can only be spent on items on the 'NDIS supports' list and not on the 'not NDIS supports' list, unless the NDIA approves a replacement support.
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA): The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is the Australian Government agency that runs the National Disability Insurance Scheme. It decides who can join, approves participants' plans, sets price limits and pays for supports. It is separate from the NDIS Commission, which regulates providers.
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS): The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is Australia's national scheme that funds reasonable and necessary supports for people with permanent and significant disability. Eligible people get an individual plan and choose their providers. The NDIA runs the scheme and the NDIS Commission regulates providers.
New framework plan: A new framework plan is the type of NDIS plan introduced by the 2024 NDIS Act amendments. The NDIA works out a reasonable and necessary budget from a standard support needs assessment and budget method rules, made up mostly of flexible funding plus stated supports. The transition is due to start on 1 April 2027.
Nominee: An NDIS nominee is a person the NDIA appoints, as a last resort, to act on behalf of an adult participant or to receive their NDIS correspondence. A plan nominee can make plan and funding decisions; a correspondence nominee only receives notices. Nominees are unpaid and must follow the participant's wishes.
Non-face-to-face supports: Non-face-to-face supports are work a provider does for a specific NDIS participant while they are not present, such as writing progress reports or preparing a home program. It is claimable only when the item allows it, the work is part of that participant's support and they agreed in advance.

O

Occupational therapy (OT): Occupational therapy (OT) in the NDIS is therapy from an AHPRA-registered occupational therapist that helps a participant build or maintain skills for everyday activities, such as self-care, household tasks, work and community access. It is usually funded from the capacity building budget.

P

PACE: PACE is the computer system the National Disability Insurance Agency uses to hold NDIS participants' information, plans and budgets and to pay providers. Rolled out from 30 October 2023, it replaced service bookings with "my providers" and requires bulk payment requests for claims against PACE plans.
Participant risk assessment: A participant risk assessment is a documented review, done with an NDIS participant, of risks to their health, safety and wellbeing in the supports a provider delivers, and the strategies agreed to manage them. It forms part of the support plan and, under the NDIS Practice Standards, is reviewed regularly.
Payment request: An NDIS payment request is a claim for payment lodged with the NDIA for a support delivered to a participant. Registered providers lodge them for NDIA-managed supports and plan managers for plan-managed supports, through the myplace provider portal, often as a bulk upload file.
Person-centred practice: Person-centred practice is a way of planning and delivering disability support around what matters to the person: their rights, choices, goals and preferences, rather than the provider's routines. The person directs their support as far as they can. It underpins the NDIS Practice Standards and the NDIS Code of Conduct.
Plan management: Plan management is one of three ways to manage NDIS funding. A registered plan manager pays providers from the participant's plan, checks invoices against price limits and keeps the records, while the participant chooses their supports. It is funded separately and allows unregistered providers.
Plan manager: An NDIS plan manager is a registered NDIS provider that pays a participant's providers from their plan-managed funding, checks invoices against the price limits and claiming rules, and keeps the financial records. Plan managers are funded separately in the plan and do not find or coordinate supports.
Plan reassessment: A plan reassessment is the NDIA's review of a participant's whole NDIS plan to decide whether it still meets their disability support needs, ending in a varied plan or a new one. It happens before the plan's reassessment date, or earlier if needs change significantly and for good. It was once called a plan review.
Plan variation: A plan variation is a change the NDIA makes to part of a participant's current NDIS plan without creating a new plan, for reasons the NDIS Act lists: fixing errors, changing plan management, funding periods or the reassessment date, or adding crisis or emergency funding.
Positive behaviour support (PBS): Positive behaviour support (PBS) is an evidence-based, person-centred approach to supporting people whose behaviour may put themselves or others at risk. It aims first to improve quality of life, and it underpins NDIS behaviour support plans and the work of behaviour support practitioners.
Price limit: An NDIS price limit is the maximum amount, including GST, that a provider can charge per unit for a support funded through NDIA-managed or plan-managed funding. Each support item has national, remote and very remote limits, set from 24 September 2026 by the Minister's NDIS pricing schedule 2026–27.
Progress notes: Progress notes are the written record of an NDIS support: what was delivered, when and by whom, what the participant did and said, how they are progressing towards their goals and what happens next. Workers write them each shift, and providers rely on them as evidence of delivery.
Provider travel: NDIS provider travel is the travel time and running costs a provider can claim from a participant's plan for a worker getting to a face-to-face support. Time is capped at 30 minutes (MMM 1–3) or 60 minutes (MMM 4–5), therapy travel is half the hourly limit, and it must be agreed in advance.
Psychosocial disability: Psychosocial disability is the term for disability that may arise from a mental health condition: the impact on a person's ability to do everyday things, take part in the community and work. The NDIS can fund support if it results from an impairment that is, or is likely to be, permanent.
Psychosocial recovery coach: A psychosocial recovery coach is an NDIS-funded worker with mental health knowledge who helps a participant with psychosocial disability plan their recovery, build skills and coordinate supports. Coaching is paid from the Support Coordination budget, and participants can choose a coach with lived or learned experience.

Q

Quotable supports: Quotable supports are NDIS support items with no set price limit. The provider gives the NDIA a quote, and the support is funded as a specific stated item in the participant's plan. Examples include a live-in carer, host family arrangements and specialised transport. They can only be claimed when stated in the plan.

R

Reasonable and necessary: Reasonable and necessary is the legal test in section 34 of the NDIS Act that the NDIA uses to decide which supports to fund in a participant's plan. A support must meet every criterion, including helping with goals, value for money, being effective and beneficial, and being most appropriately funded by the NDIS.
Registered NDIS provider: A registered NDIS provider is a person or organisation approved by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, after a Practice Standards audit, to deliver specific NDIS supports. Registration lets them serve NDIA-managed participants and deliver supports such as SIL and SDA, subject to ongoing conditions.
Registration group: An NDIS registration group, also called a class of support, is a category of supports that a registered NDIS provider is approved to deliver, numbered 0101 to 0138. Each group sets the audit type, appears on the provider's certificate, and forms the four-digit middle segment of every support item number.
Replacement supports: A replacement support is an item that is not normally an NDIS support, such as a tablet or standard dishwasher, which the NDIA approves a participant to buy instead of a support already in their plan. It must replace that support, cost the same or less, give the same or better outcome, and be approved before purchase.
Reportable incident: A reportable incident is a serious incident, or allegation, connected with NDIS supports that a registered provider must notify to the NDIS Commission: a death, serious injury, abuse or neglect, unlawful contact or assault, sexual misconduct, or an unauthorised restrictive practice. Most are due within 24 hours.
Respite: NDIS respite is a short break for a participant and the family or friends who care for them, funded through the participant's plan. It isn't a single support: respite can be an overnight stay funded as short-term accommodation (STA), a support worker at home, or community activities that give carers time off.
Restrictive practice: A restrictive practice is any practice or intervention that restricts the rights or freedom of movement of a person with disability. The NDIS regulates five: seclusion, chemical, mechanical, physical and environmental restraint, which may only be used under a behaviour support plan and state or territory authorisation.
Roster of care: A roster of care (RoC) is a breakdown of a typical week of Supported Independent Living (SIL) support in one home, in half-hour blocks, showing staff, ratios, shared and 1:1 time and overnight support. Under current NDIA guidance it is optional and used as evidence for SIL funding, not an agreement with the NDIA.
Rostering: NDIS rostering is scheduling support workers to shifts so each participant gets the supports agreed in their service agreement, at the right times, from screened and suitably trained workers. A compliant roster also follows SCHADS Award shift and break rules and stays within the participant's NDIS funding.

S

SCHADS Award (SCHADS): The SCHADS Award is the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (MA000100). It sets minimum pay and conditions for most employees of disability, community and home care providers, including NDIS support workers: levels, penalty rates, overtime, allowances and rostering rules.
SIL Practice Standards: The SIL Practice Standards are a supplementary module of the NDIS Practice Standards that registered supported independent living providers must meet from 1 July 2026. They add four standards to the Core module: supported decision-making, safeguarding, practice governance, and tenancy and support agreements.
SIL vacancy: A SIL vacancy is an empty room in a shared Supported Independent Living home, usually because a resident has moved out or stopped sharing support for a long time. The NDIA does not fund vacancies, and providers should not increase SIL costs or claim extra from the remaining residents' plans to cover them.
School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES): School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES) is time-limited NDIS funding helping young people with disability move from school into work by building work skills, trying jobs and connecting with employers. Since 1 July 2024 it has been claimed as Employment Assistance, with a transitional SLES rate until 30 June 2027.
Seclusion: Seclusion is the sole confinement of a person with disability in a room or space where voluntary exit is prevented, not facilitated, or implied not to be permitted. It is a regulated restrictive practice under the NDIS Rules, and some states prohibit or tightly limit it.
Self-management: Self-management is the NDIS funding option where the participant or their nominee manages plan funding directly: they choose and pay providers, claim from the plan through the my NDIS portal or app, and keep records. Self-managers can use unregistered providers and aren't bound by price limits.
Service agreement: An NDIS service agreement is an agreement between a participant and a provider that sets out the supports to be delivered, how and when, what they cost and each party's responsibilities. Written agreements are mandatory for SDA, expected of registered providers and needed for GST-free supplies.
Service booking: An NDIS service booking was a record in the NDIA's older computer system that set aside part of a participant's NDIA-managed funding for a specific registered provider, support category and period. Providers needed one to claim. PACE plans don't use them; providers are recorded as my providers instead.
Shift handover: A shift handover is the structured passing of information from support workers finishing a shift to those starting the next, so a participant's support continues safely. It covers health changes, medication given or due, incidents, risks, appointments and follow-up actions, ideally written down and then talked through.
Shift notes: Shift notes are the record a support worker completes for each shift: actual start and finish times, supports and tasks delivered, care such as meals and medication, observations, incidents and handover actions. They log what happened on the shift, while progress notes focus on progress towards the participant's goals.
Short notice cancellation: A short notice cancellation is when an NDIS participant cancels a support with less than the required notice, or doesn't show, and the provider claims up to 100% of the agreed fee. Notice is 7 days for support worker supports and 2 clear business days for most others, and three conditions must be met.
Short-term accommodation (STA): Short-term accommodation (STA) is NDIS funding for a participant to stay away from home overnight with support, giving them time apart from the family or friends who usually support them. It is generally funded for up to 14 days at a time and 28 days a year, and it is not for holidays.
Sleepover support: Sleepover support is NDIS overnight support where a worker sleeps at the participant's home for a continuous 8-hour period and is woken only if needed. NDIS pricing allows up to 2 hours of active support within a sleepover, which is claimed per night. Workers get a flat SCHADS allowance plus overtime when woken.
Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA): Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) is NDIS funding for housing built to a specialist design standard for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. SDA pays for the dwelling, not the support inside it: residents pay rent and living costs, and support is funded separately.
Specialist support coordination: Specialist support coordination is the third and highest level of NDIS support coordination. It funds a suitably qualified, experienced coordinator for participants in highly complex or risky situations, such as several service systems involved at once, and is usually time-limited to reduce that complexity.
Stated supports: Stated supports are supports in an NDIS plan whose funding can only be spent on the specific support described, not moved to other supports. Examples include assistive technology, home modifications and SDA. In new framework plans, NDIS rules declare which supports are stated.
Support categories: NDIS support categories are the groups the funding in each NDIS budget is divided into, such as assistance with daily life, consumables, assistive technology and improved daily living skills. The NDIA lists 21 categories across the four budgets, while item numbers still start with the older numbers 01 to 15.
Support coordination: Support coordination is NDIS capacity building funding for a coordinator who helps a participant understand and use their plan, connect with providers and community services, and build skills to manage supports. It has three levels: support connection, coordination of supports and specialist support coordination.
Support item number: A support item number, often called an NDIS line item, is the unique code for a specific NDIS support, such as 01_011_0107_1_1. Its parts show the support category, item sequence, registration group, outcome domain and support purpose, and every NDIS claim and invoice line must use one.
Support ratio: A support ratio is the number of support workers compared with the number of participants sharing that support, such as 1:1, 1:3 or 2:1. In the NDIS, ratios decide each participant's share of worker time, and they are central to how Supported Independent Living and group supports are funded and claimed.
Support worker: An NDIS support worker, or disability support worker, is a person paid to help an NDIS participant with daily life, such as personal care, household tasks, community participation and building skills. They must follow the NDIS Code of Conduct and, at registered providers, usually need a worker screening clearance.
Supported Independent Living (SIL): Supported Independent Living (SIL) is NDIS funding for support workers who help with or supervise daily tasks in a participant's home, usually around the clock and often shared with housemates. SIL pays for the support, not the house: rent, food and bills are paid by the participant.
Supported decision-making: Supported decision-making is the process of giving a person with disability the help they need to make their own decisions, so they stay in control of their life. Supporters provide information and help communicate will and preferences, but the decision stays with the person.

T

Therapy supports: NDIS therapy supports are allied health services, such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech pathology and psychology, funded to help a participant build or maintain skills for daily life. They are mostly funded from the Improved Daily Living Skills budget and must relate to the disability and goals.
Thriving Kids: Thriving Kids is a government program, outside the NDIS, for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism who have low to moderate support needs, and their families. It began rolling out on 1 October 2026 and NDIS access for children does not change before 1 January 2028.
Transport funding: NDIS transport funding is money in a participant's recurring supports budget for travel, such as taxis or rideshare, when their disability means they can't travel or use public transport independently. It is paid at one of three levels and is separate from transport a provider claims.

U

Unauthorised restrictive practice: An unauthorised restrictive practice is a regulated restrictive practice used without a behaviour support plan, without state or territory authorisation, or not as the plan says. Registered NDIS providers must notify it to the NDIS Commission as a reportable incident within 5 business days.
Unregistered NDIS provider: An unregistered NDIS provider delivers NDIS supports without registration with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Self-managed and plan-managed participants can use them, not NDIA-managed participants, and they cannot deliver supports that require registration. They must still follow the NDIS Code of Conduct.

V

Verification audit: A verification audit is the desktop NDIS registration audit for providers delivering only lower risk, lower complexity supports. An approved quality auditor reviews documents against four standards: human resource, incident, complaints and risk management. There is no onsite stage or mid-term audit.

W

Worker Orientation Module: The NDIS Worker Orientation Module, called "Quality, Safety and You", is free online training from the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission that introduces workers to their obligations under the NDIS Code of Conduct. Registered providers must ensure workers complete it, and workers get a certificate on completion.

General information, not legal, clinical or financial advice. NDIS rules change — each entry links the official source it relies on; check it before you act.

Missing a term?

Tell us what to explain next

If there's an NDIS term your team or participants keep asking about, send it through and we'll add it to the glossary.

Suggest a term Free NDIS tools