The NDIS registration roadmap
Every step from your PRODA account to the certificate of registration, in plain English, plus the 51 records auditors actually ask to see. Written for carers and small providers doing this without a compliance department.
- 1
Set up a PRODA account
PRODA is the Australian Government's digital identity service and it is where your registration application actually lives. Create it yourself: it needs 100 points of identity documents and your own security questions, so it should never be set up by a consultant on your behalf.
Use an email address you will still control in five years.
- 2
Register or confirm your ABN
You need an active ABN before you apply. If you plan to employ staff, take on subcontractors or grow past one or two participants, get advice on whether a company structure suits you better than a sole trader ABN before you register, because changing entity later means a new application.
- 3
Choose your registration groups
The NDIS groups support items into registration groups with similar quality and safety requirements. Which groups you can register for depends on your qualifications, your team's qualifications and the supports you actually intend to deliver. Some groups also carry profession specific requirements, for example current AHPRA registration.
Only apply for groups you can staff and evidence today. Extra groups mean extra audit scope.
- 4
Work out whether you are verification or certification
Lower risk, lower complexity supports are assessed through verification: a desktop review against 4 standards with 12 indicators. Higher risk supports, and anything involving personal care, accommodation or behaviour support, go through certification: a two stage audit including an on site interview.
- 5
Complete your application and self assessment
You submit your business details and a self assessment against the practice standards. This part is yours to write. Answer in your own words and give one real example per indicator, drawn from something you have actually done, because auditors probe the examples in the interview. Generic or copied answers are the fastest way to a non conformity.
Your own shift notes, incident records and registers are where the real examples come from.
- 6
Submit within the window
Once an application is started in PRODA it does not sit there forever. Review it, make your changes, and submit. If it lapses you start again from scratch.
- 7
Get your initial audit scope
After submission the NDIS Commission issues an initial scope of audit document. This is what you give to approved quality auditors to quote. Read it: it lists exactly which standards and modules apply to you.
- 8
Engage an approved quality auditor
You choose and pay an approved quality auditor. They send a service agreement, then a planner books your audit dates. Do not book the audit until your documents are genuinely in place. An audit run against empty templates produces major non conformities.
- 9
Prepare your evidence, stage 1
Stage 1 is a document review. Your policies must be customised to your business, not generic, and the registers must show real activity. Expect the auditor to sample participant files, worker files and business registers: our checklist covers 51 items across 4 areas.
- 10
Prepare your workplace and your answers, stage 2
Stage 2 is usually held at the address on your ABN and includes interviews. The auditor looks at how records are stored and secured, at safety equipment and the displayed emergency plan, and asks you to explain how each policy works in your day to day practice.
If you cannot describe how a policy is used, it does not count as implemented.
- 11
Worker screening for every risk assessed role
Anyone in a risk assessed role needs an NDIS Worker Screening clearance, including directors who work with participants. Workers apply through their state or territory screening unit and link the application to your organisation, and you keep a register of which roles are risk assessed and why.
- 12
Technical review and recommendation
Your auditor submits the report for technical review, then recommends you to the NDIS Commission. If you have not heard back within about a month, chase your planner.
- 13
Registration decision and certificate
The NDIS Commission assesses your suitability and issues the certificate of registration. There is no published turnaround, and it commonly takes months, so keep delivering and keep your records clean while you wait.
What the auditor asks to see
People talk about needing dozens of mandatory templates. There is no official list of a set number. What auditors do sample is evidence, grouped roughly like this.
Participant records
15For every participant you support, the auditor expects a complete file: what was agreed, what was consented to, what the risks are, and how the supports are going.
- Participant handbook, including an Easy Read version, given to each participant.
- Signed service agreement covering supports, hours, cancellation terms and pricing.
- Intake record capturing the participant's details, plan dates, funding and supports requested.
- Consent record for collecting, using and sharing the participant's information.
- Goal plan written with the participant, linked to their NDIS plan goals.
+ 10 more in the app checklist
Worker records
15Every person delivering supports, including directors who work with participants, needs a complete personnel file.
- Worker details record and signed employment or subcontractor agreement.
- Position description and induction checklist completed and signed.
- Signed privacy and confidentiality agreement and acknowledgement of the NDIS Code of Conduct.
- Identity and right to work evidence to 100 points.
- NDIS Worker Screening clearance for every risk assessed role, directors included.
+ 10 more in the app checklist
Business records and registers
16The business-wide systems an auditor reviews once, and expects to see actually in use rather than blank templates.
- Policies and procedures customised to your business, showing your name, logo and current version dates.
- Risk register listing your real work activities, with controls and review dates.
- Business plan including company details, executive summary, organisation chart and goals.
- Training matrix showing required training per role and each worker's status.
- Risk assessed role register identifying which roles need worker screening.
+ 11 more in the app checklist
Workplace and interview readiness
5Stage 2 is usually held at your business address and includes an interview. The auditor looks at the workplace itself and at whether you can explain how your own systems work.
- Records are stored securely: lockable filing for paper, password protected devices for digital.
- Work area set up for the audit at the address on your ABN, with your ABN details available.
- Safety equipment on site: first aid kit, fire blanket and extinguisher, with the emergency plan displayed.
- Workplace inspection checklist completed for the premises.
- Interview preparation: each director and key worker can explain how your policies are used in practice, with real examples.
This is CareLogging's own plain-English compilation of records commonly sampled at audit. It is general information, not legal or compliance advice, and the scope document your approved quality auditor issues always takes precedence.
Bring your evidence, leave with a pack
Upload your policies, worker files, insurances and registers in one go. CareLogging suggests which checklist item each file covers, you confirm it, and you download an indexed pack with a gap register and a tamper-evident fingerprint on every document.
Start your audit pack