How to Write an NDIS Complaints Management Policy

Registered NDIS providers must implement and maintain a complaints management and resolution system that complies with Part 2 of the NDIS (Complaints Management and Resolution) Rules 2018 (the Complaints Rules). Section 10 of the Complaints Rules requires you to document that system, and your complaints policy and procedure is where you do it.

The same system is assessed under the Feedback and complaints management standard, which appears in both the Core Module and the Verification module of the NDIS Practice Standards. Its first indicator requires the system to be relevant and proportionate to the scope and complexity of your supports and the size and scale of your organisation, to follow principles of procedural fairness and natural justice, and to comply with the Complaints Rules.

The standard covers feedback as well as complaints, so your policy can cover both.

Who can make a complaint, and how

Under section 8(1), your system must:

• enable any person to make a complaint about your supports or services, including anonymously
• provide an easy and accessible process for making and resolving complaints
• make sure appropriate support and assistance is given to anyone who wants to make, or has made, a complaint

Write down the ways people can actually reach you (in person, by phone, by email, through a form) and the support you'll offer, such as help putting a complaint in writing or involving an advocate. Section 8(2) allows the process to vary depending on the nature of the complaint, so a quick verbal concern and a serious allegation don't need to follow identical steps.

Information you need to make available

Section 8(7) requires your system to make two things readily available and accessible to the public: how to make a complaint to you, and how to make a complaint to the NDIS Commission.

Section 10 goes further. You need to give copies of your documented system, in an accessible form, to participants and their families, carers and advocates, and to everyone you employ or engage, and help them understand how it works.

The Practice Standard adds that each participant should be told how to give feedback or make a complaint, including avenues outside your organisation, and about their right to access advocates. Include the Commission's contact details (1800 035 544, or through the Commission's website) in your policy and in the information you give participants. The Commission also publishes guidance on complaints management for providers.

Handling a complaint

Section 8(3) requires your system to make sure that:

• complaints are acknowledged, assessed and resolved in a fair, efficient and timely manner
• appropriate action is taken on the issues raised
• reasonable steps are taken to tell the complainant, and each person with disability affected by the complaint, how the issue can be raised with the Commission
• appropriate support is given to help them contact the Commission

The person making the complaint must be appropriately involved in resolving it and kept informed of its progress, including any action taken, the reasons for decisions and options for review (section 8(5)). A person with disability affected by the complaint must also be kept appropriately informed and involved, even if they didn't make it (section 8(6)).

The Complaints Rules don't set timeframes for acknowledging or resolving a complaint. Set your own in the procedure, so that "timely" means something your team can follow and you can check against.

Your procedure should walk through each stage in the order you'll actually do it: receiving and recording the complaint, acknowledging it, assessing it (including whether it's also an incident), resolving it, telling the people involved the outcome and their review options, and closing it.

Procedural fairness

Section 9 requires your system to afford people procedural fairness when you deal with a complaint. The Commissioner has made the NDIS (Procedural Fairness) Guidelines 2018 under the Complaints Rules, listed on the Commission's legislation, rules and policies page.

When the Commissioner deals with a complaint, the Complaints Rules require it to give a worker a reasonable opportunity to comment on any proposed adverse finding (section 16(5)(b)). Build the same step into your own procedure where a complaint is about a particular worker.

Protecting complainants and confidentiality

Under section 8(4), your system must require reasonable steps to make sure that:

• the person who made the complaint, and any person with disability affected by it, isn't adversely affected because the complaint was made
• information in a complaint is kept confidential, and only disclosed if required by law or otherwise appropriate in the circumstances

The Practice Standard also expects a supportive environment for anyone who gives feedback or makes a complaint. Say in your policy what steps you'll take to make sure a participant's supports aren't affected by their complaint.

Complaints that are also incidents

A complaint may raise something that is also an incident or a reportable incident. A note to section 6 of the Complaints Rules points out that your incident management and reportable incident obligations may then apply as well. Make sure your complaints procedure tells staff to check for this and follow your incident management system, including reportable incident notification where it applies.

Section 12 also requires complaints to be referred or notified to any other body where Commonwealth, state or territory law requires it.

Roles and training

Under section 11, your system must set out the roles and responsibilities of everyone you employ or engage in receiving, managing and resolving complaints, require them to comply with it, and include requirements for training them in how to use it.

Name the roles, not just "management". If you're a sole practitioner, the policy can say that you handle complaints yourself, and set out how a complainant can take the matter to the Commission if they'd rather not raise it with you.

Records and review

Section 10 requires your system to keep appropriate records of complaints, including, where appropriate, information about the complaint, any action taken to resolve it and the outcome. Keep each record for seven years from the day it's made.

Your system also needs to collect statistical and other information so you can review issues raised in complaints, identify and address systemic issues, and report complaints information to the Commission if it asks.

Section 8(8) requires periodic review of the system itself. The Practice Standard describes what that review should include: regular review of your complaints and feedback policies and procedures, seeking participants' views on how accessible the system is, and using feedback across the organisation. State how often you'll review it and who is responsible. If your register has been empty for a long time, see our article on blank complaints registers.

When a complaint goes to the Commission

Anyone can complain to the Commission about an issue connected with supports or services provided by an NDIS provider, orally, in writing or anonymously (section 15).

Amendments to the Complaints Rules that took effect on 28 January 2026 changed how the Commissioner deals with complaints. After assessing a complaint, the Commissioner can decide to close it, give assistance and advice, require the provider to take certain actions (including examining and addressing the complaint), or undertake a resolution process (section 16(3)). A resolution process can include requiring you to examine and attempt to resolve the complaint and report back, or to undertake remedial action and report back (section 20).

Failing to comply with Part 3 of the Complaints Rules is a breach of a condition of registration. Include in your policy who responds to the Commission, how any required actions are recorded and tracked to completion, and how the outcome is fed back into your review of the system.