If you are connected to Supported Independent Living in any way, as a participant living in a SIL arrangement, a family member, a support coordinator or a provider, you have probably heard that the rules around who can deliver SIL have changed. From 1 July 2026, Supported Independent Living became a mandatory registration category under the NDIS, and unregistered providers now have until 1 October 2026 to lodge their application or stop delivering these supports.

This is one of the most significant changes for the SIL sector since the NDIS began, and it affects everyone with a stake in how SIL is delivered. This guide breaks down what mandatory registration means, why it is happening now, the key dates you need to know, and what it means for participants, support coordinators, and providers.

What is mandatory registration for SIL?

Supported Independent Living, or SIL, refers to the help some NDIS participants need with everyday tasks so they can live as independently as possible, usually in a shared or individual home. Because SIL supports are delivered in someone’s home, often around the clock, they sit firmly in the higher-risk end of the supports the NDIS funds.

Until recently, providers could deliver SIL support regardless of whether or not they were registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Registration was only compulsory for providers working with participants who were NDIA-managed. Plan-managed and self-managed participants could use unregistered SIL providers.

That has now changed. Under the NDIS Provider Registration and Practice Standards Amendment (Mandatory Registration and Other Matters) Rules 2026, which took effect on 1 July 2026, every provider delivering SIL must be registered with the NDIS Commission, regardless of how the participant manages their funding. Providers and participants can check the official mandatory registration and transition pathways for SIL for current registration requirements. This sits alongside the broader NDIS Amendment Act 2026, which passed Parliament in August 2026 and gives government wider powers to reform how providers register, claim and are held accountable across the scheme.

One important exception: if a participant genuinely directs their own support, meaning they personally recruit, roster and manage their own support workers rather than engaging a provider to coordinate that for them, this arrangement generally falls outside the definition of SIL and does not trigger the registration requirement.

Why has mandatory registration for SIL been introduced?

This change follows recommendations from the Disability Royal Commission, the independent NDIS Review, and the NDIS Provider and Worker Registration Taskforce, all of which pointed to gaps in oversight for higher risk supports delivered in participants’ homes.

Announcing the change, Minister for the NDIS Senator Jenny McAllister said mandatory registration means the government is setting “a higher bar for providers of these critical, high-risk disability support services.” NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner Louise Glanville has also been clear that registration is not a one-off tick-box exercise, noting that providers “must continuously meet quality standards or be held accountable.”

In short, the government wants a consistent quality and safety baseline across every organisation delivering SIL, closing a gap that has allowed some providers to operate in people’s homes without the oversight registered providers are subject to.

Key dates for SIL mandatory registration

Here is a simple breakdown of the dates that matter most.

This same amendment package also introduced mandatory registration for NDIS digital platform providers, the online marketplaces that connect participants with support workers and process payments, under a new registration category, 0137.

Understanding registration group 0138

Previously, SIL sat within a broader assistance code that also covered other groups and shared living supports. From 1 July 2026, SIL has its own dedicated registration category, group 0138, Assistance with Supported Independent Living.

Giving SIL its own registration group reflects how the NDIS Commission now classifies it: a higher-risk support that deserves its own set of practice standards and audit pathway, rather than being lumped in with lower-risk daily living assistance.

The new SIL Practice Standards

Registering under group 0138 means meeting a dedicated set of Practice Standards designed specifically for SIL. Broadly, these cover four areas:

• Supported decision-making and participant rights. Providers must actively support participants to make their own decisions, communicate in ways participants can understand, and document how choices are made.
• Safeguarding. This includes trauma-informed practice, staff training in de-escalation, and clear processes for managing conflict between people sharing a home.
• Practice governance and service quality. Providers need documented risk management frameworks, incident management processes, and house-level emergency planning, along with appropriately trained and qualified staff.
• Home environment and tenancy arrangements. Tenancy and service agreements must be kept legally separate, so a participant’s right to stay in their home is not tied to whether they keep using a particular provider’s support services.

Providers already registered for other categories, or already delivering SIL under NDIA managed arrangements, are not exempt from these standards. They apply across the board from 1 July 2026, with full compliance assessed at each provider’s next scheduled audit.

For Providers, who needs to register, and who is exempt?

You need to register under group 0138 if your organisation:

• Delivers or arranges SIL supports in shared or individual homes
• Coordinates and rosters support workers on a participant’s behalf for daily living assistance delivered mostly or entirely throughout the day
• Operates a digital platform that connects participants with support workers and processes SIL-related payments (this falls under the separate 0137 category)

You are unlikely to need SIL-specific registration if:

• The participant personally recruits, manages and rosters their own workers, rather than a provider doing this for them
• You deliver only a small number of hours of individual support that does not meet the definition of SIL as ongoing, coordinated, home-based assistance

If you are unsure which category applies to your service model, the safest step is to check directly with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

Transition pathways for providers

Not every provider is starting from the same position, so the NDIS Commission has set out different pathways depending on where a provider currently sits.

Registration under group 0138 requires a certification audit, the most comprehensive audit type the NDIS Commission uses. It typically involves a documentation and systems review followed by an on-site assessment, including staff interviews and conversations with participants. Providers report the process taking anywhere from around three months to closer to twelve, so this is not something to leave until the last minute.

What happens if a SIL provider doesn’t register?

If a provider has not registered and has not even submitted an application by 1 October 2026, the consequences are real:

• They are legally required to stop delivering SIL supports
• Plan managers are required to reject their invoices for supports delivered after 30 September 2026
• Delivering SIL without the required registration can attract penalties of up to 2 years imprisonment, 120 penalty units, or both, under the NDIS Act

For participants, this does not mean a support gap has to happen. The NDIA and NDIS Commission have both indicated that support will be available to help participants transition to a registered provider if their current provider does not register in time.

What this means for NDIS participants and families

If you receive SIL supports, here is what actually changes for you.

1. Your plan and funding are not affected simply because this rule has come in

Mandatory registration is about provider oversight, not about how much funding you receive or what your plan looks like.

2. If your provider is already registered, or registers in time, you should not notice any disruption.

Life in your home continues as normal.

3. If your provider does not register, you will need to move to a registered provider.

Your Local Area Coordinator, NDIA planner, or support coordinator can help you find alternatives, and the NDIA has said it will support participants through this process.

4. You can check whether your provider is registered right now.

The NDIS Commission’s public provider register lets you search by an organisation’s name or ABN to confirm their registration status and which categories they are registered for.

If you are unsure where your provider stands, it is entirely reasonable to ask them directly. A provider genuinely working toward registration should be able to tell you where they are up to and roughly when they expect to be registered.

What this means for support coordinators

Support coordinators are often the first people participants turn to when a change like this creates uncertainty, so it is worth being across a few things.

• Build conversations about provider registration status into your regular check-ins with clients who use SIL, particularly if their current provider has not confirmed registration
• Keep a working list of registered SIL providers in your area so you can offer real alternatives quickly if a client’s provider does not register in time
• Remember that while you can support a participant to understand their options and gather information, decisions about switching providers ultimately sit with the participant, their nominee or their child representative

Flag early with plan managers if a client’s current provider’s registration status is uncertain, since NDIS plan management and support coordination need to work together when upcoming SIL claims may be affected.

What this means for providers

If your organisation delivers SIL, or is thinking about entering this space, use this as a starting checklist.

• Confirm exactly where you stand. Check whether you are already registered for SIL, registered for something else, or not registered at all, and work out which transition pathway applies.
• Do not wait to start your application if you are unregistered. With a certification audit potentially taking several months, leaving this until September leaves you very little time to act before 1 October.
• Review your policies and procedures against the new Practice Standards. Pay particular attention to supported decision-making documentation, incident management processes, and keeping tenancy agreements separate from service agreements.
• Check that your staff meet current requirements. This includes NDIS Worker Screening clearances and completion of the NDIS Worker Orientation Module.
• Update your claiming systems for code 0138. Make sure your billing team understands that services from 1 July 2026 need to be claimed under the new code, not the previous one.
• Communicate proactively with participants. Let the people you support know your registration status well before the deadline, so they are not left guessing.

How this affects claiming and plan management

For plan managers, this change has an immediate practical impact. Support delivered before 1 July 2026 is claimed under the old code, 0115, while support delivered from 1 July 2026 onward is claimed under the new SIL-specific code, 0138. You can also read our NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026–27 guide for broader pricing and support item changes.

From 1 October 2026, plan managers are required to check that a SIL provider is either registered under 0138 or has a genuine registration application on foot before processing their invoices, which makes careful NDIS claims processing especially important. A provider with neither cannot be paid for supports delivered after 30 September 2026.

This is exactly the kind of detail a good NDIS plan manager takes care of on your behalf, which is why understanding what plan management is and how it works can help participants and families feel more confident during SIL changes. At All Plan Management, we check every SIL invoice against current registration requirements before it is paid, so you are not left trying to work out whether a claim is valid while also managing everything else that comes with a home and living arrangement.