28 Feb 2023
Guides for Participants
Providers play a huge part in the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) and its continued success. A provider is a person or business (big or small) that delivers NDIS funded supports to participants. You will notice that providers are placed into two categories, registered NDIS providers and non-registered providers.
A provider that is registered with the NDIS is regulated by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. They must meet strict quality and standard requirements put in place by the commission and are required to undergo a business-wide audit every 24 months. Registered providers must have procedures and policies for incident management, complaints management, worker screening, and behavior support. Non-registered providers are not regulated by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission so have not gone through the same standard requirement assessments. They do, however, still need to comply with the NDIS code of conduct, as do registered providers.
Not all providers are in the position to be registered. It costs a lot to go through the process of registration, to keep up your registration, and can take a very long time. For small businesses and sole traders, this just might not be an option for them. When the NDIA was developing the NDIS they wanted everyone to be able to access providers no matter where they were located in Australia, whether that be in a capital city or in a remote country town. They knew that remote towns would struggle to provide services and supports to participants if they had to be NDIS registered so the decision was made to allow unregistered providers to also contribute to supporting participants.
Most supports and services delivered can be done by either registered or non-registered providers, however, there are some services that can only be done by providers that are registered. All Plan Management providers must be NDIS registered.
Your funding management style will dictate your ability to access and use non-registered providers. When you are Self- Managed and Plan Managed you can use both non-registered and registered providers. If you are NDIA managed, you cannot use non-registered providers.
It is important to remember NDIS registered providers are not necessarily better providers. There are plenty of incredible non-registered providers out there. It is a good question to ask your providers, however, if they are registered. This allows you to choose providers that suit your needs and situation best.
If you ever have any questions about your providers and their requirements, don't hesitate to reach out to the Plan Management team for help. Our contact details are here.