The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission regulates NDIS providers and workers and investigates incidents that affect the rights and safety of people with disability.
Our compliance and enforcement approach
Monitoring compliance and investigating non-compliance is important to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission’s work as a regulator.
The NDIS Commission uses a range of compliance and enforcement tools to prevent and address breaches of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (the Act). The Act provides us with a range of compliance and enforcement powers, including banning orders, compliance notices and court-based outcomes. In addition, we educate and work closely with other complaints and regulatory bodies.
The NDIS Commission has a Compliance and Enforcement policy that provides more information about our approach to maximise compliance with the Act, manage risks to NDIS participants and how we may utilise our tools.
The Compliance and enforcement actions register contains information on compliance activities we have undertaken, including banning orders we have issued. It is updated on a regular basis and available at Search for banning orders and other compliance decisions.
The NDIS Commission Regulatory Priorities identify the key quality and safeguarding issues we will focus on in our compliance and enforcement activities.
Our regulatory levers
The NDIS Commission’s compliance and enforcement work is described in 8 actions that are either proactive or reactive:
- proactive actions help providers to deliver supports and services that are safe, good quality and lawful
- reactive actions include monitoring providers, investigating when there is evidence that laws or standards have not been followed, and giving providers penalties or notices.
We ensure providers understand and respond to key risks and comply with the law. We investigate and take action against those who don’t comply with the law.
The laws providers follow are:
We enforce the law by using our powers to sanction offenders, partnering with the NDIA and other regulators and agencies at all levels of government to ensure enforcement activity has the greatest possible effect.
We use:
- Compliance and enforcement tools
- Search for banning orders and other compliance decisions
- Fraud against the NDIS
We respond to all complaints and incident reports in a manner that aligns to the risk, while considering participant impact and views.
We receive and respond to:
We monitor the quality of services and the treatment of people with disability, paying particular attention to monitoring restrictive practices.
We do:
We require providers to meet a certain standard of quality and safety. We control who can and cannot provide certain services and supports.
We use:
- NDIS Code of Conduct
- Provider registration
- NDIS practice standards and quality indicators for providers who are registered with the NDIS Commission
We consult with impacted participants and/or their families when we plan to commence court proceedings against providers, and we keep them informed throughout those proceedings.
We educate providers and workers to understand good practice and their legal obligations and work to build their capabilities. We educate participants to know their rights.
We provide providers and workers with:
We talk to people with disability about:
- NDIS Code of Conduct
- Make it known, make it better
- Fair pricing
- Quality supports for children
- NDIS practice standards and quality indicators for providers who are registered with the NDIS Commission
We influence by example, embedding our compliance and enforcement activities and a culture of quality, innovation, and continuous improvement. We promote best practice and work hard to establish trust with people with disability and their supporters, and within the regulated community.
See the NDIS Commission Compliance and Enforcement policy or more information.
Review of compliance and enforcement decisions
If a provider or worker is not satisfied with a compliance and enforcement decision made by the NDIS Commission, they can ask for a decision to be reviewed.
Priorities for regulating providers and workers
Every year the NDIS Commission identifies regulatory priorities for the next 12 months. These priorities identify and focus on the greatest areas of risk.