NDIS compliance
NDIS Compliance for Providers: What the Auditors Actually Check
A practical checklist for registration audits: the standards that apply, worker requirements, participant records and evidence of follow-up.
An NDIS registration audit looks at how your organisation meets the Practice Standards that apply to its services. Prepare both your documented procedures and records of how your team puts them into practice.[1]
Who conducts an NDIS registration audit?
An independent approved quality auditor conducts the audit. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission receives the report and makes the registration decision. Your registration groups and the risk and complexity of your supports determine the audit you need.[2]
- Verification: a desktop review of documentary evidence for lower-risk, lower-complexity supports.
- Certification: a two-stage process for higher-risk or more complex supports, with a desktop review and an on-site stage.
Confirm the applicable modules, audit scope and schedule with your approved auditor. Use those requirements to organise the evidence your team needs to maintain.
A practical registration-audit checklist
Start with the standards that apply to your registration groups. The following record areas help you connect your procedures to day-to-day work; your audit scope determines the evidence required.[1]
- Participant rights and agreed support. Locate the relevant consent, service arrangements and support plans. Check that records reflect the participant’s choices, goals and current support needs, and that staff can follow the agreed process.
- Worker requirements. Identify the screening, qualifications and training required for each role. Keep the evidence with the worker record, assign someone to review it and follow up renewals before they affect a shift.
- Service delivery. Trace a sample support from the roster to attendance, notes and the relevant invoice. Check that participant identifiers, support dates, quantities and amounts agree. The NDIA’s record-keeping guidance lists invoices, support logs, rosters, case notes and service agreements.[5]
- Incidents and follow-up. Check that your team knows how to record, escalate and respond to incidents. For a reportable incident, follow the Commission’s current notification requirements and deadlines. Keep the actions and follow-up with the record.[3]
- Governance and improvement. Assign responsibility for policies, complaints, risks and corrective actions. Keep the review record and evidence of completed follow-up, alongside the procedure describing what should happen.[1]
Apply worker screening to the roles that require it
Registered providers must ensure workers in risk-assessed roles, including key personnel, meet the applicable NDIS worker-screening requirements. For other arrangements, check whether the provider or self-managing participant requires screening. The requirement depends on the role and circumstances.[4]
Keep role requirements separate from the evidence used to satisfy them. A worker’s uploaded document still needs to be checked through your organisation’s process. Include any other qualifications and training your services require in that review.
Keep useful shift notes close to the support
Give workers a short template and time during the shift to complete it. Record the support provided, the participant’s response, relevant observations and follow-up. Where a note relates to a goal, describe the actual actions and outcome rather than copying a generic goal statement.
The worker should check the final record against what happened, including any assisted summary. Follow your organisation’s process for corrections, incident reporting and office review. See a fictional shift-note example.
Prepare separately for an NDIA manual payment review
A manual payment review checks a claim before payment. The NDIA may ask for evidence about the support delivered, the plan, duplicate claims and the amount claimed. Follow the request and its deadline.[6]
Our payment-review evidence checklist covers the agreement, delivery records, invoice and response. Keep that claims process separate from your registration audit preparation.
Make the record easy for an authorised reviewer to follow
TakeCareOS keeps worker qualifications and expiry information together. Your team configures participant requirements, and publication checks the active requirements for the proposed shift. Notes stay with the participant and shift; authorised staff can review the records and export qualification summaries and available linked evidence files.
Your organisation maintains its requirements, checks evidence and follows up gaps. Bring a fictional worker record and one requirement to a demo, and trace the document, publication check and review process.