The NDIS Practice Standards in plain English for new providers

What the Standards are for

The NDIS Practice Standards specify the quality standards that registered providers must meet when delivering supports and services to NDIS participants. They also tell participants what quality they can expect, which makes them useful for you to read from the participant’s side too.

They are organised into modules. Each module has outcomes, which are high level and focused on the participant, and quality indicators, which auditors use to assess compliance and which indicate how providers may show that they comply.

The core module

The core module applies to registered providers delivering higher-risk supports and services. It covers four areas: rights and responsibilities for participants, provider governance and operational management, provision of supports, and the environment in which supports are provided.

In everyday terms that is how you respect a person’s choices and privacy, how your organisation is run and how risks are managed, how you plan and deliver and review support, and whether the places and equipment are safe and suitable.

The verification module

The verification module applies to providers delivering lower-risk, lower-complexity supports. It covers human resource management, risk management, complaints management and resolution, and incident management. It is shorter, but those four areas still need to be real systems rather than documents that live in a folder.

Supplementary modules

On top of the core module, supplementary modules apply depending on what you deliver: high intensity daily personal activities, specialist behaviour support, implementing behaviour support plans, early childhood supports, specialised support coordination, specialist disability accommodation and supported independent living. The initial scope of audit you receive when you apply lists the standards that apply to your registration groups.

Using the Standards as a checklist

The Commission suggests reviewing your policies and procedures against the Standards, making an action plan where there are gaps, and training staff before the audit. Try this: read the modules that apply to you, write one line per quality indicator on how you meet it and where the evidence lives, and note the gaps. That document is also the start of your self-assessment in the application.

Keep it alive after registration. Standards are part of how you run the service day to day, and the Commission’s later audits are checking that. General information only; use the Commission’s current text.

Frequently asked questions

What are the NDIS Practice Standards?

They specify the quality standards that registered providers must meet when delivering supports and services to NDIS participants, and they tell participants what quality they can expect. They are organised into modules, each with outcomes and quality indicators that auditors use to assess compliance.

What is the difference between the core module and the verification module?

The core module applies to registered providers delivering higher-risk supports and covers rights and responsibilities for participants, provider governance and operational management, provision of supports, and the environment in which supports are provided. The verification module applies to providers delivering lower-risk, lower-complexity supports and covers human resource management, risk management, complaints management and resolution, and incident management.

How can I use the Standards as a checklist?

Read the modules that apply to you, write one line per quality indicator on how you meet it and where the evidence lives, and note the gaps. That document is also the start of your self-assessment in the application.

Keep learning

• How to become a registered NDIS provider: the steps and what to prepare: Registration is an application, an independent quality audit and a suitability assessment. Here is the sequence, what to have ready, and where the costs and delays usually sit.
• Responding to enquiries: a practical checklist for NDIS and aged care providers: An enquiry is a person asking for information, not a booking. How to reply quickly and respectfully, what to put in a first message, and how to decline well when you cannot help.
• Writing a provider profile that helps people choose you: People comparing providers want specific, checkable answers. What to put in a profile, what to keep current, and what to leave out so that your listing is honest and useful.
• Handling complaints well: a guide for NDIS providers: A complaint handled well can strengthen a relationship. What the Commission expects, the “four As” approach to resolution, and why procedural fairness matters to everyone involved.

More in our NDIS updates and insights, our step-by-step guides, or the NDIS and aged care provider directory.

Official sources

• NDIS Commission: NDIS Practice Standards
• NDIS Commission: Apply for registration
• NDIS Commission: The quality audit process

Source checked 13 October 2026. Rules and guidance can change; verify current details with the responsible agency. How we write and check our guides.