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NDIS Commission apply-by date · 1 October 2026

Delivering SIL unregistered? You have until 1 October to apply.

The deadline is to lodge, not to be approved. Miss it and the Commission’s position is that you stop delivering SIL. We build the application and the evidence behind it — fixed price, agreed upfront.

Book a free 20-minute callAm I even in scope?

Led by an ISO/IEC 17065-credentialed lead auditor

The rule, in plain English

Three dates, and only one of them is yours to manage.

1 July 2026 — the rule commenced
SIL became a registrable support. A new registration group, 0138 — Assistance with supported independent living, was created, along with a supplementary module of the NDIS Practice Standards specific to SIL.
1 October 2026 — the apply-by date (this one)
If you are already delivering SIL without registration, this is the date your valid application has to be in. It is the only one of the three you control, and the work that makes an application worth lodging sits entirely before it. Lodge in time and you keep operating throughout — the Commission’s pathway for unregistered SIL providers says plainly that providers can continue to deliver SIL during the application for registration if they apply by 1 October 2026.
Later — audit and decision
Certification audit (Stage 1 desk, then Stage 2 on-site) by a JAS-ANZ-accredited Approved Quality Auditor, then the Commission’s registration decision. Neither runs to your calendar.

What the Commission says happens if you don’t apply

“If you are currently delivering supported independent living (SIL) and chose not to apply for registration, you will need to stop providing supported independent living supports. Providing supported independent living without registration is a serious offence. If you deliver supported independent living on or after 1 July 2026 without being registered, you may breach the NDIS Act. The maximum penalty is 2 years’ imprisonment, a fine of 120 penalty units, or both.”

NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, Mandatory registration and transition pathways for supported independent living. A Commonwealth penalty unit is $313, so 120 units is $37,560. The exposure is personal, not only corporate — which is why sole traders are named explicitly.

Before anything else

Are you actually a SIL provider?

Plenty of providers delivering in-home supports aren’t sure. The Commission defines SIL by what the support does, not by what you call it or how the participant’s plan is managed. Summarised from the Commission’s published definition:

It is SIL when all of these hold

  • The person you support needs support at all times of the day, or for most of the day.
  • Your support helps them live in their home as autonomously as possible and access the community.
  • You assist with — or supervise — daily life tasks.
  • You manage and deliver the supports, making sure the participant receives home and living support in line with their package.

It is not SIL when

  • The person receives only a few hours of support a day or week.
  • The person chooses and manages their own support workers — directing, planning and rostering them.

This is a summary. The Commission’s definition sits in the Provider Registration Rules, and the Rules govern where this page and they differ. If you are close to the line, that is worth twenty minutes on a call rather than a guess — being wrong in either direction is expensive.

What you’re actually preparing

Lodging takes an afternoon. Being ready to takes longer.

The application form is not the hard part. What sits behind it is — because a certification audit follows, and the evidence you lodge against is the evidence an auditor will open.

And the Commission’s pathway ends on a hard note: if the application is not approved, the provider cannot deliver supported independent living. Lodging by 1 October buys you continuity, not an outcome. Which is the entire argument for lodging something that will stand up.

Scope your registration

Registration group 0138, plus whatever else you deliver. Getting scope wrong at application means re-scoping mid-audit — slow and expensive.

Build the evidence pack

Roughly 40–50 documents for a typical SIL service: policies, procedures, registers and operational records mapped to the Quality Indicators, with state overlays. Populated, not downloaded.

Meet the SIL supplementary module

Certification audits now assess supported decision-making, safeguarding, practice governance, and agreements about tenancy, housing and support — on top of the core module.

The trap worth naming. A pack of generic templates will get an application lodged and will not survive Stage 1. Quality Auditors read for signs the documents are alive — sign-off dates, version history, named owners, review cycles. A template library with no operational fingerprint reads as exactly that, usually within the first hour.

How we help

Fixed price. Scoped on the call. Quoted before any work starts.

Registration Sprint

You’re unregistered and need to lodge by 1 October.

From $2,900 + GST

fixed price, scoped on your call

  • Registration application support
  • Core policies & procedures
  • Evidence pack built to your service mix
  • A clear, fixed timeline to lodgement

Audit-Readiness Sprint

You’ve lodged, or you’re registered and certification is coming.

From $4,500 + GST

fixed price, scoped on your call

  • Gap assessment vs the Practice Standards
  • Evidence organised for the auditor
  • Policy & process remediation
  • Mock-audit walkthrough
Book a free 20-minute call

No obligation. You’ll leave knowing whether you’re in scope, what your pathway is, and what it costs.

ISO/IEC 17065-credentialed lead auditor

Deep, hands-on competence in the conformity-assessment standard certification bodies are themselves accredited against — so your evidence is built to what an audit actually tests. We do not refer specific auditors and accept no auditor referral fees. Impartiality Statement.

Questions

Before you book.

What exactly has to happen by 1 October 2026?
You have to have applied. The Commission's date is an apply-by date, not a be-approved-by date — the audit and the registration decision come afterwards. What you cannot do is still be sitting on an unlodged application on 2 October.
Can I keep delivering SIL while my application is assessed?
Yes — that is the point of the deadline. The Commission's transition pathway for an unregistered provider already delivering SIL states: "Providers can continue to deliver supported independent living (SIL) during the application for registration if they apply by 1 October 2026." You keep operating through the audit and the application review. Note the pathway also says the application must be a valid one, and that pathways differ by registration status — check the one matching your situation.
So what happens if my application is refused?
The same pathway is blunt about it: if the application for registration is not approved, the provider cannot deliver supported independent living. Lodging by 1 October buys you continuity, not a result. That is the whole argument for lodging something that will actually stand up — a weak application doesn't just risk a slow audit, it risks the service.
What happens if I don't apply?
The Commission's wording is direct: if you are currently delivering SIL and choose not to apply, you will need to stop providing supported independent living supports. Delivering SIL without registration may breach the NDIS Act, with a maximum penalty of 2 years' imprisonment, a fine of 120 penalty units, or both.
I'm a sole trader. Does this apply to me?
Yes, if what you deliver meets the SIL definition. The Commission addresses sole traders explicitly: if you are delivering, managing and coordinating a participant's supports that meet the definition, you are a supported independent living provider, and you follow the transition pathway matching your registration status.
What kind of audit is involved?
Certification, not verification. Registered SIL providers need certification audits, must comply with the core module of the NDIS Practice Standards, and must comply with the new supplementary module for SIL Practice Standards. Certification runs as a Stage 1 desk audit followed by a Stage 2 on-site audit, each conducted by a JAS-ANZ-accredited Approved Quality Auditor you select yourself.
I've never registered before. Is there enough time?
To lodge, yes — lodging is achievable inside the remaining window for most providers. The evidence pack behind it is the real work: roughly 40–50 documents for a typical SIL service, and it isn't a template download. The providers who struggle are the ones who treat 1 October as the finish line rather than the starting gun.
Do you guarantee we'll be registered?
No, and be wary of anyone who does. The audit is conducted independently by an auditor you choose from the JAS-ANZ list, and the registration decision is the Commission's. We make sure what you lodge and what you present at audit is genuinely ready. We don't refer specific auditors and don't accept auditor referral fees — see our Impartiality Statement.

Not ready for a call?

Take the audit-readiness checklist instead — every item an auditor can ask for, in a printable list. We'll email it once you confirm.

Or read the unregistered SIL provider guide and the 2026 registration checklist.

The date doesn’t move. Your readiness can.

Twenty minutes tells you whether you’re in scope, which transition pathway is yours, and what lodging by 1 October realistically takes for a service your size.

Book a free 20-minute call

Peace of mind, by design.

General information, not regulatory or legal advice. Dates, definitions and obligations should be confirmed against current NDIS Commission guidance — the Commission’s mandatory-registration page is the source of truth, and its transition pathways differ by provider situation. Reviewed against Commission material published to 29 July 2026.