Unregistered NDIS Providers: What You Can Do Now, and What Changes in 2027

The short version: an unregistered NDIS provider can deliver most supports, but only to participants who self-manage or plan-manage their funding, and never the supports that require registration (SIL, SDA, specialist behaviour support, plan management, NDIS digital platforms, NDIA-managed participants, or regulated restrictive practices). Unregistered providers are still bound by the NDIS Code of Conduct and are within the NDIS Commission's reach. From 1 July 2027 the rules tighten: mandatory registration expands to higher-risk supports, and most providers will need to enrol with the NDIA to be paid.

What an unregistered provider can do

The Commission's About registration page is the source for this. It says unregistered providers "can deliver supports and services to participants", with two limits:

• Who you can support: "Only participants who self-manage or plan-manage their NDIS funding can choose to get supports and services from unregistered providers." A participant whose funding is NDIA-managed can only use registered providers.
• What you can deliver: anything except the supports that require registration, listed next.

What needs registration

You must be registered with the NDIS Commission to provide:

• specialist disability accommodation (SDA)
• specialist behaviour support services
• supports or services to participants with NDIA-managed funding
• plan management services
• supported independent living (SIL), since 1 July 2026
• NDIS digital platform services, since 1 July 2026

You must also register if you plan to use regulated restrictive practices. If SIL is the question for you, our guide for unregistered SIL providers covers the SIL rules and transition in detail.

Working under another provider's registration

Some unregistered providers deliver supports through a "facilitation" or "brokerage" arrangement with a registered provider. The Commission allows this, but it puts the responsibility on the registered provider, which:

• must be the one that claims payment
• is responsible for all supports delivered under its registration, including by the contracted provider
• must make sure anyone delivering under its registration complies with the conditions of registration, including the Code of Conduct
• must make the arrangement transparent to participants, so they know who is responsible for their supports

For an unregistered provider, that means the registered partner will (and should) hold you to its policies, screening and incident systems.

What applies to you anyway

• The NDIS Code of Conduct. It applies to all NDIS providers and workers, registered or not. See the Commission's Code of Conduct page.
• The Commission's compliance and enforcement powers. Complaints can be made about unregistered providers, and the Commission can act on them. Our guide to Commission enforcement for unregistered providers sets out what that can mean.

Worker screening: not required, but recommended

The Commission's worker screening guidance for unregistered providers says unregistered providers "aren't legally required" to have staff hold an NDIS Worker Screening clearance, but it recommends that all workers do, and self-managed and plan-managed participants can decide that the workers who support them must have one. Unregistered providers can apply for access to the NDIS Worker Screening Database through the Unregistered providers portal, link their workers, and get notified when a clearance is about to expire. A clearance is valid for 5 years.

Registered providers, by contrast, must make sure workers in risk-assessed roles and all key personnel hold a clearance.

What changes from 1 July 2027

The government's July 2026 provider FAQs set out several changes that land on unregistered providers:

• 1 December 2026: the time to claim for supports under a participant's plan drops from 2 years to 90 days.
• 1 July 2027: mandatory registration begins to expand to all providers delivering higher-risk supports. The government has named personal care, daily living supports and supports in closed settings as examples, and will publish a list. All providers in scope must be registered by December 2030.
• 1 July 2027: most providers will need to enrol with the NDIA, with a validated bank account, to be paid directly. Enrolment is separate from registration: an unregistered provider will still need to enrol.
• Records: providers will need to keep records of payment and receipt of NDIS funds for 7 years, with a civil penalty for failing to.

If you deliver personal care or daily living supports unregistered, the expansion is aimed at you. Our 2027 mandatory registration guide tracks what is confirmed.

Should you register now?

Registering is worth weighing if any of these apply:

• you want to support participants whose funding is NDIA-managed
• you deliver, or plan to deliver, a support that requires registration
• your supports are likely to be on the high-risk list from 2027
• you work under a registered provider's brokerage and want your own standing

Registration means an audit against the NDIS Practice Standards, and the evidence an audit samples takes months to build. Our guide to how to become a registered NDIS provider walks through the process, and the registration cost page sets out what it costs.

How Compliance Care helps

We help unregistered providers work out whether and when registration makes sense, then build the evidence for it around how the service actually runs. Book a discovery call if you are weighing it up.