Whether you can use an unregistered NDIS provider depends on how your funding is managed. If your plan is self-managed or plan-managed, you can usually choose a registered or an unregistered provider. If your funding is NDIA-managed, you must use registered providers. A few supports always need a registered provider, whoever manages the money. Both kinds of provider must follow the NDIS Code of Conduct. The difference is that a registered provider has been audited against the NDIS Practice Standards and is listed on a public register you can check.
Here's what that means in practice, and how to work out which fits you.
Registered vs unregistered NDIS provider: who can use which?
It comes down to who manages your funding.
| How your plan is managed | Registered provider | Unregistered provider |
|---|---|---|
| NDIA-managed | Yes | No |
| Plan-managed | Yes | Yes, for most supports |
| Self-managed | Yes | Yes, for most supports |
Some supports need a registered provider no matter how your plan is managed. According to the NDIS Commission, you must be registered to provide:
- specialist disability accommodation (SDA)
- specialist behaviour support
- supports to participants with NDIA-managed funding
- plan management
- supported independent living (SIL)
- NDIS digital platform services
A provider must also be registered to use regulated restrictive practices.
So a plan-managed participant can use an unregistered support worker for help around the house, but their plan manager has to be registered.
What is a registered NDIS provider?
Registration is done through the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, not the NDIA. A registered NDIS provider has:
- applied to the Commission
- been audited against the NDIS Practice Standards that apply to its supports, and found to meet them
- passed a suitability assessment of the business and its key personnel
- been issued a certificate of registration
Registration generally runs for three years, and registered providers are listed on the NDIS Provider Register.
What the audit involves
The type of audit depends on the supports. Lower risk supports need a verification audit, which is a desktop review of documents. Higher risk supports need a certification audit in two stages: a desktop review, then an on-site audit where the auditor can look at records, interview staff and participants, and watch how supports are delivered. Most providers that went through certification also have a mid-term audit during their registration.
What registration adds
Once registered, a provider has to meet conditions of registration. These include following the Practice Standards and the Code of Conduct, having systems for managing complaints and incidents, making sure workers in certain roles hold NDIS Worker Screening clearances, and telling the Commission about certain changes and events.
What applies to every NDIS provider
Being unregistered doesn't put a provider outside the rules.
The NDIS Code of Conduct
The Code applies to registered and unregistered providers, their key personnel and their workers. It requires them to respect your rights to make your own decisions, respect your privacy, deliver supports safely and competently, act with integrity and honesty, raise and act on concerns about quality and safety, prevent and respond to violence, exploitation, neglect and abuse, prevent and respond to sexual misconduct, and not charge NDIS participants higher prices without a reasonable justification.
Complaints
The NDIS Commission takes concerns about NDIS providers and workers. Because the Code of Conduct covers unregistered providers too, a concern about the quality or safety of your supports can go to the Commission on 1800 035 544. Our complaints and feedback page has the details.
Price limits
The NDIS pricing schedule 2026-27, in effect since 24 September 2026, sets maximum prices for supports. The NDIA says those maximum prices apply to NDIA-managed and plan-managed participants, and that providers can't charge more than them.
Worker screening: who has to screen?
This is the difference families most often ask about, and the rules are specific.
- Registered providers must make sure key personnel and workers in risk-assessed roles hold an NDIS Worker Screening clearance. A risk-assessed role is one that involves delivering supports directly and more than incidental contact with people with disability.
- Unregistered providers aren't legally required to ask their workers to have a clearance. The NDIS Commission recommends that they do.
- If you self-manage or use a plan manager, you can decide whether the workers who support you must hold a clearance.
A clearance is valid for five years. If screening matters to you, and it's reasonable that it would, ask any provider straight out whether every worker who'd support you holds a current clearance. Every one of our support workers does.
What's changing
Only the dates confirmed by the NDIA and the NDIS Commission:
- Since 1 July 2026, providers of supported independent living and NDIS digital platforms must be registered. Providers that applied before 1 October 2026 can keep delivering those supports while their application is decided.
- From July 2027, the NDIA says it will expand mandatory registration for some providers who deliver personal care and daily living supports, and supports in closed settings. The details are still to come, so ask your provider what it means for them.
- Support coordination was considered for mandatory registration. The Commission paused that work in December 2025.
How to check a provider's registration
The NDIS Commission publishes the NDIS Provider Register. You can search it by business name, legal name or ABN. Choose the status "Approved" to see providers that are currently registered, or "Revoked" to see providers whose registration has been revoked. A registered provider should be happy to give you its registration details. If it can't, ask why.
Is an unregistered NDIS provider a bad choice?
No. Plenty of unregistered providers do good work. A sole trader support worker you've known for years, a local cleaner who's great with your routine, a therapist whose professional body already oversees them: these can all be the right choice for a self-managed or plan-managed participant.
The question is fit. A registered NDIS provider brings an external audit, a public register entry, and set rules on screening and complaints. An unregistered provider must still follow the Code, and can screen its workers and handle complaints well; you just have to ask, because nobody has audited it. Ask the same questions of both: who will turn up, are they screened, what does the service agreement say, and what happens if something goes wrong.
Where Glenrock fits
We're a registered provider, so NDIA-managed, plan-managed and self-managed participants can all use us for help with daily life at home and getting out in the community. If you're weighing up providers, our post on what to look for in an NDIS service agreement is a good next read, and our getting started page shows what happens from first call to first shift.
Sources: NDIS Commission: About registration, NDIS Commission: Types of audits, NDIS Commission: NDIS Code of Conduct, NDIS Commission: Worker screening for unregistered providers, NDIS Commission: Worker screening for registered providers, NDIS Commission: Mandatory registration, NDIS Commission: Support coordination and plan management, NDIS Commission: Find a registered provider, NDIS Commission: Report an issue, NDIA: How to find and choose a provider, NDIA: Securing the NDIS for future generations, NDIA: Pricing arrangements. All checked 24 October 2026.