Practice Standards self-assessment.

The NDIS Practice Standards are the quality standards registered NDIS providers must meet. They are made under the NDIS (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018 and published by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. They also tell participants what quality support they should expect from a registered provider.

The standards are layered. Each module contains:

• Outcomes: high-level, participant-focused statements, such as “each participant accesses supports free from violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation or discrimination”.
• Quality indicators: what auditors use to assess compliance, and how a provider can show it meets the outcome.

Read the outcome as the goal and the quality indicators as the test. Auditors rate you against both, which is why the self-assessment above asks you to rate each indicator, not just each outcome.

Your audit scope depends on the supports you are registered for, which are your registration groups (classes of support). The NDIS Commission's initial scope of audit tells you the audit type and the modules. In short:

• Lower risk, lower complexity supports only: verification module and verification audit. Many of these providers are already professionally regulated, for example through AHPRA.
• Any higher risk or more complex support: core module and certification audit, plus every supplementary module that matches what you deliver.

Supplementary modules add to the core module. They don't replace it. A SIL provider that also uses restrictive practices is audited against the core module, the SIL module and the implementing behaviour support plans module. That is 185 quality indicators in this tool. Use the restrictive practice checker to confirm whether a practice is regulated.

The core module applies to every registered provider delivering higher risk or more complex supports. It has four divisions: rights and responsibilities, provider governance and operational management, provision of supports, and the support provision environment. Governance carries the most quality indicators, so it is usually where the most evidence is needed.

The outcomes with the most quality indicators

These outcomes carry the most indicators, so plan more time to gather evidence for them:

Several core outcomes have their own registers and deadlines. Incident management covers reportable incidents and their notification timeframes, so check them with the reportable incident checker. Human resource management covers worker screening and training. The worker screening tracker keeps clearance expiry dates in one place. Service agreements with participants are their own outcome under provision of supports, and the service agreement generator drafts one with the items, prices and cancellation terms filled in.

SIL was the biggest change to the Practice Standards in 2026. In December 2025 the Minister for the NDIS announced that SIL providers must register from 1 July 2026 and comply with new Practice Standards for supported independent living. The NDIS Commission developed the standards with Inclusion Australia and people with disability. It tested the supported decision-making standard alongside the core module in real audits in February and March 2026.

The SIL module has 4 standards:

The SIL standards are the first to include expectation statements, which set out the participant, worker and provider view of what good looks like, along with guidance material. They focus on the voice, rights and freedoms of participants in their own home. Expect auditors to test practice at house level: how decisions are supported day to day, how safeguards work when one worker is on shift, and whether tenancy and support arrangements are explained and kept separate.

The Commission's definition excludes arrangements where a person gets only a few hours of support a day or week, or chooses and manages their own workers. If you are pricing a SIL home, the SIL roster of care tool builds the weekly roster at 2026–27 prices.

Audits are carried out by an Approved Quality Auditor, under the oversight of the NDIS Commission. Depending on your supports, an audit can include visits to your head office and service sites, inspection of facilities and equipment, participant and worker interviews, document review and requests for more information. Auditors sample staff files and look for evidence that your systems work, not just that they exist.

The mapping is a guide only. An auditor decides the rating from the evidence they sample, so a “Met” you can't show on the day may be rated as a non-conformity.

A self-assessment helps only if it is honest and based on evidence. Teams often rate an indicator as met because a policy exists. Auditors ask for proof that the policy is followed. Use the steps below and rate each indicator from the evidence in front of you.

How the readiness score works

The tool scores Met as 1, Partly as 0.5 and Not met as 0, over the indicators you have rated. N/A is left out. A module at 80% with ten Not met indicators in incident management is less ready than the number suggests, so read the gap report as well as the score. Your ratings and notes stay in this browser, so you can work through a large scope such as core plus SIL (149 indicators) over several sittings.

The quality indicators set the test. This checklist lists the types of record that usually show you meet them. Use it with the gap report: for every Partly or Not met indicator, decide which of these records would close it.

Shift notes are often the weakest link because they are written in a hurry. The progress note writer structures a note around the participant's goals and what was observed, which is what auditors look for when they check that supports were delivered.

Outcome

A participant-focused statement of what each standard should achieve.

Quality indicator

What an auditor assesses to decide whether an outcome is met, and how a provider can show compliance.

Core module

The standards for all registered providers of higher risk or more complex supports.

Supplementary module

Extra standards for particular supports, such as SIL, high intensity daily personal activities or early childhood supports.

Verification module

A shorter set of standards for providers that only deliver lower risk, lower complexity supports.

Approved Quality Auditor

An audit body approved by the NDIS Commission to assess providers against the Practice Standards.

Initial scope of audit

The Commission's statement of the audit type and modules for your application.

Non-conformity

A finding that a standard or indicator isn't met: major (0) or minor (1).

Expectation statement

A feature of the SIL standards that describes good practice from the participant, worker and provider points of view.

Registration group 0138

Assistance with supported independent living: the class of support SIL providers must be registered for from 1 July 2026.