What changed
In December 2025, the Minister for the NDIS confirmed the first tranche of mandatory provider registration, and it took effect on 1 July 2026: supported independent living providers and NDIS digital platform providers must now be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. The Commission created two new registration groups for them, 0138, assistance with supported independent living, and 0137, NDIS digital platform service. Mandatory registration for support coordination was flagged in the same reform package but is currently paused. The Commission's mandatory registration page has the official definitions and transition arrangements.
The reforms implement recommendations that had been converging for years: the NDIS Review's "graduated risk" registration model, the Disability Royal Commission's findings on oversight gaps, and the Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce's 2024 advice. All three identified the same problem: tens of thousands of providers delivering supports, some in the highest-risk settings in the scheme, with no Commission visibility.
Who is caught, and who isn't yet
| Provider type | Position under the reforms |
|---|---|
| SIL providers | Registration mandatory since 1 July 2026 (certification pathway, group 0138) |
| Digital platform providers | Registration mandatory since 1 July 2026 (group 0137), with new conditions from 1 January 2027 |
| Support coordination | Flagged for mandatory registration; currently paused |
| Other unregistered providers | No change yet: registration still required only for agency-managed participants and specified supports |
SIL providers
SIL is the heavy lift. Group 0138 replaced group 0115 for SIL and sits on the certification pathway, with Module 2a in scope for most settings. Providers already registered for SIL under 0115 are moved to 0138 by the Commission. Providers delivering SIL without registration had until 1 October 2026 to apply, and new providers can't deliver SIL until they are registered.
SIL providers are also audited against a new SIL supplementary module of the Practice Standards, which has applied since 1 July 2026. Industry sources call it Module 5A. Its four outcomes are supported decision-making; safeguarding; practice governance; and agreements about tenancy, housing and support arrangements. The Commission publishes it on its SIL Practice Standards page. The full SIL picture, including the preparation plan, is in our dedicated SIL guide, and the documentation specifics are on the SIL provider documents page.
Digital platform providers
The Commission defines an NDIS digital platform as an online application, website or system that acts as an intermediary between participants and the people providing their supports, where payments are processed through the platform using NDIS funds from participants' plans. It only counts if connecting participants with NDIS supports is its main purpose. Registered platforms sit in group 0137, and the Commission's platform transition pathway sets out new conditions of registration that apply from 1 January 2027:
- Every worker must hold a valid worker screening clearance before offering to provide NDIS supports through the platform.
- Platforms must check, and display, whether a banning order is in force against a worker.
- Platforms must check and display workers' credentials or qualifications.
Why the direction matters more than the deadline
The graduated registration model recommended by the NDIS Review doesn't stop at SIL and platforms: it proposes that every provider sit somewhere on a registration or enrolment spectrum, scaled to risk. The support coordination pause is a pause, not a reversal. For anyone building an NDIS business with a multi-year horizon, the rational planning assumption is that more provider types will be brought inside the regime, and that providers already running registered-standard systems will absorb each change as paperwork, while everyone else absorbs it as a crisis.
There is also a market effect that arrives before any deadline: plan managers, support coordinators, and participants' families read the reform direction too, and many already prefer registered providers, or providers who can demonstrate registered-standard systems, when they refer.
What changes in 2027
The next wave is already funded. The 2026-27 Budget funded the expansion of mandatory registration from 1 July 2027 to all high-risk supports, and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing names personal care, daily living supports and supports in closed settings as examples. All providers in scope are to be registered by December 2030. The list of supports has not been published. Our guide to mandatory NDIS registration in 2027 has the timeline, what is still unknown and how to prepare.
Related explainers
Four guides cover the changes around registration: NDIA provider enrolment, NDIS Commission enforcement powers, the NDIS Practice Standards review and buying or selling a registered NDIS business.
What providers should do now
If you deliver SIL or operate a platform
Registration is no longer optional for you. If your application is in, keep it moving: map your supports to registration groups, finish the documentation system, and book an auditor immediately, because lead times are the bottleneck and a certification registration commonly takes four to nine months. Platforms should also have worker screening, banning order checks and credential checks ready before the 1 January 2027 conditions apply. If you're new to SIL, registration comes before your first participant.
If you deliver support coordination
Decide whether to register voluntarily now or build to registered standard and wait. Registering now removes reform risk and opens agency-managed referrals; the middle path, running a full policies and procedures system without the audit, keeps the option cheap to exercise. The coordination documents page covers what the audit checks when you do go.
If you're unregistered and not yet caught
Use the time the reform pause buys. The registered vs unregistered trade-off is shifting one notch toward registration with every announcement, and the providers who move before they're forced to choose their own timing, their own auditor, and their own pace. Our 220+ document package exists precisely so that the documentation step, the slowest part of any registration, is never the reason you miss a window.
This page is general information based on NDIS Commission and government sources at the date shown. It is not legal or professional advice, and the rules can change. Check the NDIS Commission's current requirements and read our disclaimer.