Restrictive practice

What is a restrictive practice in the NDIS?

A restrictive practice is any practice or intervention that has the effect of restricting the rights or freedom of movement of a person with disability. In the NDIS, five kinds are "regulated": seclusion, chemical restraint, mechanical restraint, physical restraint and environmental restraint. A registered provider may use one only when it is in the person's behaviour support plan, authorised under the state or territory process where required, recorded, and reported to the NDIS Commission every month.

The definition comes from section 9 of the NDIS Act 2013; the five regulated types are defined in section 6 of the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018. The aim of the whole framework is to reduce and eliminate restrictive practices, not to manage them indefinitely. A practice is meant to be a last resort, used in response to a risk of harm, in proportion to that risk, for the shortest time possible and as the least restrictive option.

You'll hear the term from behaviour support practitioners, house managers, auditors and families. "Restrictive practices disability" searches usually come from people trying to work out whether something happening in a home, such as a locked fridge or a sedative given when someone is upset, is allowed.

The five regulated restrictive practices

The Rules regulate only these five. Other restrictions, such as a court order or a guardian's decision about where someone lives, are handled under different laws.

The test is purpose. The same device or medication can be a restraint for one person and not for another. A wheelchair lap belt used for posture isn't mechanical restraint; the same belt used to stop someone getting up when agitated is. The Commission's Regulated Restrictive Practices Guide also lists practices it considers should never be used, including prone and supine restraint, pin-downs, basket holds, take-downs and restraints that restrict breathing. Several states and territories publish their own prohibited lists. You can test a scenario with the free restrictive practice checker.

How restrictive practices are regulated

Three parties share the obligations, and each one is a condition of registration for the providers involved:

• The implementing provider: the registered provider whose workers actually use the practice, such as a SIL or community access provider. It uses the practice only as the plan and authorisation allow, seeks authorisation, records every use, reports monthly, and tells the practitioner when the plan needs review.
• The specialist behaviour support provider: its NDIS behaviour support practitioner assesses the person and writes the behaviour support plan, then lodges it with the Commission.
• The state or territory: runs the authorisation process, or decides that a practice is prohibited.

The NDIS Commission does not authorise restrictive practices. It sets the conditions, receives plans, authorisation evidence and monthly reports, and treats unauthorised use as a reportable incident. Providers who use regulated restrictive practices must be registered and are audited against the supplementary Practice Standard for implementing behaviour support plans (Module 2A).

The deadlines when a practice starts

If a regulated restrictive practice is used and is likely to continue, the implementing provider must take all reasonable steps to have an interim plan in place within 1 month of first use and a comprehensive plan within 6 months (Rules ss 11–13). The Commission's rules for implementing providers set out the full list.

Monthly reports cover every practice in each lodged plan, including months when it wasn't used, and the Commission's portal guidance asks for them within 5 business days of month end. While a state short-term approval is in force, reporting is every 2 weeks instead. Every use must be recorded: what was used and why, the behaviour that led to it, start and end times and place, people involved and witnesses, impact and injury, less restrictive options tried, and actions before and after. Records are kept for 7 years (Rules s 15).

Authorisation: how it differs by state and territory

Authorisation happens under state and territory law or policy, not NDIS law, so the process depends on where the practice is used. The common pattern is the same everywhere: a behaviour support plan proposes the practice, an independent person or body checks that it is necessary, proportionate and the least restrictive option, and the approval is time-limited and has to be renewed. What differs is who decides:

This summary follows the Western Australian Department of Communities' 2025 matrix of state and territory authorisation frameworks. Frameworks change, so confirm the current process with your state or territory before relying on it. Section 9 of the Rules allows a single emergency use without authorisation, but that use is still a reportable incident if it isn't in a plan.

Restrictive practice vs related terms

• Restrictive practice vs unauthorised restrictive practice: the second is a regulated practice used without required authorisation, outside a plan, or not as the plan says. It is a reportable incident: 5 business days, or 24 hours if the person was harmed.
• Restrictive practice vs positive behaviour support: PBS is the evidence-based approach behaviour support plans must follow. Restrictive practices sit inside a PBS plan only as a last resort, with a strategy to fade them out.
• Restrictive practice vs dignity of risk: dignity of risk is a person's right to make choices that involve some risk. Restricting a choice "for safety" can be a restrictive practice, which is why the least restrictive option matters.

What providers need to do

Train workers to recognise practices that don't look like "restraint": a removed remote control, restricted internet, or a locked kitchen that also affects housemates. Every worker who may use a practice should be trained in the current plan and hold a current worker screening check. The Practice Standards self-assessment covers the behaviour support modules.

Reducing and eliminating restrictive practices

Reduction is a legal duty, not an aspiration: every plan containing a regulated practice must include strategies to reduce and eliminate it, and Module 2A expects implementing providers to show they are working towards that. Implementing providers hold most of the data that makes reduction possible. A workable monthly routine:

1. Count uses per practice per person and compare with previous months.
2. Check that proactive and de-escalation strategies were tried first; a restraint with no earlier steps recorded points to a training gap.
3. Look for patterns by time, place, roster line or worker.
4. Send the summary to the behaviour support practitioner and, for chemical restraint, the prescriber, with the person's consent.
5. Record what you changed, so the next plan review has evidence.

Recent changes (2025–2026)

• The Rules haven't changed. The Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support Rules were last amended with effect from 1 December 2020, with no later amendments as at October 2026.
• Higher penalties. Since 9 April 2026 the Integrity and Safeguarding Act 2026 sets the civil penalty for breaching a condition of registration at up to 250 penalty units, or up to 10,000 for a serious contravention.
• New Commission guidance. The Commission published policy guidance on monitoring and reviewing behaviour support plans in May 2026, expecting fade-out plans to be actively implemented.
• State frameworks keep moving. Tasmania now authorises under its Disability Rights, Inclusion and Safeguarding Act 2024.
• More providers covered. Mandatory registration for SIL from 1 July 2026 brings more shared-living providers under these conditions.

What participants and families should know

A restrictive practice should never be a routine part of support. You can ask the provider which practices are in the plan, whether they are authorised and when they will be reviewed. You or your representative should be consulted when the plan is written. If you think a practice is being used without authorisation, or is causing harm, raise it with the provider, the behaviour support practitioner or the NDIS Commission. A guardian or the state's senior practitioner office can also help.

Common mistakes

• Not recognising environmental restraint. Locked cupboards and restricted phone access are restraints when the purpose is behavioural.
• Assuming authorisation is enough. Authorised use outside the plan is still a reportable incident.
• Skipping nil months. Monthly reports are due even when the practice wasn't used.
• Engaging the practitioner late. The 1-month deadline starts at first use, not when the practitioner is engaged.
• Losing track of expiry. Time-limited authorisations lapse quietly, and continued use becomes unauthorised.
• Treating PRN as routine. As-needed medication given for behaviour is chemical restraint, whatever the label says.