NDIS Registration for Dietitians

NDIS registration is optional for dietitians delivering therapeutic supports (as of June 2026), and you can work with self-managed and plan-managed participants without it. Registration lets you take on agency-managed participants, who can only use registered providers, and it demonstrates that your practice meets the NDIS Practice Standards.

Dietitians register under the registration goup 0128 Therapeutic Supports and complete a Verification audit. This is a desktop review of your documentation, not a site visit or in-person audit.

Dietetics isn’t regulated by AHPRA, so your audit evidence works slightly differently to professions like occupational therapy or physiotherapy. Your Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) credential does most of that work. Here is the full process.

The Registration Group: 0128 Therapeutic Supports

Dietetics falls under the NDIS registration group 0128 Therapeutic Supports. This covers assessment, therapy, and capacity building delivered by allied health and therapeutic professionals, including dietitians. The dietitian support items under this group are for participants aged 7 and over.

The dietetics support item in the Price Guide covers advice on managing diet for health and wellbeing where the need relates to the impact of a participant’s disability. It isn’t for nutrition needs that are the usual responsibility of the health system, which the NDIS doesn’t fund. The line between disability-related support and health-system care is one of the scope boundaries you need to be able to hold, and document, as a registered provider.

Selecting only 0128 Therapeutic Supports when you complete your registration application keeps you on the Verification audit pathway.

Required Qualifications

Occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, and several other allied health professions are regulated by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Their qualifications and registration status are managed through a national scheme with a single, publicly searchable register.

Dietetics doesn’t sit under AHPRA, as the profession is self-regulated through the Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) program run by Dietitians Australia, which is recognised by the NDIS, Medicare, and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Your APD credential is the evidence that does what AHPRA registration does for the regulated professions.

The NDIS qualification guide refers to the ‘Dietitians Association of Australia’. That organisation rebranded to Dietitians Australia in 2021, but it is the same body and the same APD credential, so don’t be thrown when the official guide and the professional body’s website use different names.

Unlike some non-AHPRA professions, dietetics has a single public register an auditor can check (the Register of Accredited Practising Dietitians on the Dietitians Australia website). You should still have your own evidence of current APD status ready, because maintaining your credential is your responsibility and there is no national scheme prompting you to renew.

Verification vs Certification

There are two types of NDIS audits: Verification and Certification.

Certification is for higher-risk services (like personal care, behaviour support, or supported independent living). It involves site visits, record reviews, and interviews with management, workers, and participants. Providers going through this type of audit should budget $8k to $12k as a starting point.

Verification is for supports deemed lower-risk (including therapy and dietetics). It’s a desktop audit, meaning the auditor reviews your documents remotely, and it typically costs between $900 and $1,500 depending on the auditor.

For dietitians delivering therapy under 0128 Therapeutic Supports, Verification is the required pathway.

When Your Audit Pathway Changes

Your pathway changes if you add registration groups that trigger a Certification audit.

The most common one for dietitians is early childhood. Dietitians are eligible to deliver early childhood supports for children younger than 9, but adding registration group 0118 Early Childhood Supports triggers a Certification audit against the Core Module plus the Early Childhood Supports supplementary module. If you are considering this, budget $8,000 to $12,000 as a starting point and get clear on whether you actually intend to work in the early childhood early intervention model before you apply. Our guide on NDIS Certification vs Verification explains the differences.

The 4 Requirements for Verification

To pass a Verification audit, you need to demonstrate you have appropriate processes in place for your business and the NDIS participants you work with. Read more here. The auditor will review four areas:

Human Resource Management: Evidence of your qualifications, APD status, NDIS Worker Screening Check, and relevant right-to-work documentation. For dietitians this means current APD accreditation with Dietitians Australia and evidence that it is active, plus evidence of the clinical supervision and continuing professional development your APD status requires.

Incident Management: A process for responding when something goes wrong. For a dietetics practice this should reflect the incidents that actually arise in your work, such as an adverse reaction to a dietary change, a choking or aspiration event for a participant on a texture-modified diet, an enteral feeding complication, an allergic reaction, or a participant becoming acutely unwell and needing escalation.

Complaints Management: A clear, accessible process for participants to raise concerns and evidence of how you resolve them. Dietitians Australia has its own complaints and ethics process, but that doesn’t replace the requirement for a complaints process that meets the NDIS Practice Standards.

Risk Management: How you identify and manage risks in your practice. Your risk register should reflect the real risks of dietetics, like managing participants with dysphagia and aspiration risk, complications of home enteral nutrition, allergens and food safety, nutrition intervention for participants with complex or unstable medical conditions, refeeding risk in at-risk participants, and the boundaries of your scope of practice (when to refer back to the treating medical team).

NDIS Registration for Dietitians: Required Documents and Checks

Gather the following evidence before you apply, as it’s easier to attach it to your application than to chase it down later for your auditor.

APD Accreditation: Current, active accreditation as an Accredited Practising Dietitian with Dietitians Australia.

Qualifications: An accredited Australian dietetics degree (or an overseas qualification assessed as equivalent). Your APD status demonstrates your qualification meets the required standard, but auditors may still want to sight the underlying qualification.

Home Enteral Nutrition: If you deliver home enteral nutrition (HEN) therapy, the NDIS qualification guide requires specific experience and knowledge of HEN, in addition to your APD accreditation. Have evidence of that experience ready for your auditor. If you don’t deliver HEN, this doesn’t apply to you.

Clinical Supervision and Professional Development: Evidence that you’re meeting the supervision and CPD requirements that maintain your APD status.

Insurance: Professional indemnity insurance is essential. Public liability insurance is also required unless you deliver services entirely virtually and never see participants in person. Confirm with your insurer that your cover is appropriate for NDIS service delivery, including any community or in-home settings where you work.

NDIS Worker Screening Check: Required for all dietitians delivering NDIS services, regardless of your APD status.

NDIS Worker Orientation Module: Certificate of completion for you and any staff.

Infection Control and PPE Training: Required even if you work from a private clinic or by telehealth. This can be relatively simple (hand hygiene, cleaning protocols, what to do when you or a participant is unwell), but you need evidence that you’ve considered infection control in your service environment.

Operational Documents: Policies and procedures covering the four Verification areas above. These should describe how your dietetics practice actually operates, not how a generic disability support service operates.

Common Mistakes

Documents that describe someone else’s service

Most generic NDIS policy template packs are built around personal care and support work. If your incident management procedure covers medication errors and falls prevention but says nothing about managing aspiration risk on a modified diet or an enteral feeding complication, your documentation isn’t truly reflecting your practice. Auditors can tell when a provider has bought a generic pack and changed the business name on the cover without fully customising it to their operations.

Risk registers with irrelevant risks

A risk register listing participant transport incidents and community access hazards isn’t useful for a dietetics practice. The risks you manage are clinical and nutrition-specific, so your register should describe those and the strategies you use to manage them.

Missing HEN-specific evidence

If you deliver home enteral nutrition, your APD credential alone won’t satisfy the qualification requirement. Have your HEN experience and training documented before your audit.

Service agreements that miss NDIS-specific requirements

If you’re coming from Medicare, DVA, or private practice, your existing intake and consent documents may not cover what an NDIS service agreement needs: how pricing works under the NDIS Price Guide, your cancellation policy, how you manage the different plan management types (agency-managed, plan-managed, self-managed), and what happens when a participant’s plan is reviewed or their funding changes.

The Registration Process

Step 1: Start Your Application

Log in to the NDIS Commission Portal and start a New Application. Enter your business details and select 0128 Therapeutic Supports as your registration group. You’ll complete a self-assessment against the relevant NDIS Practice Standards and may be prompted to upload your evidence.

Step 2: Receive Your Initial Scope of Audit

Once you submit, the system will provide an Initial Scope of Audit confirming whether you require a Verification or Certification audit. If you’ve selected only 0128 Therapeutic Supports, you’ll be on the Verification pathway.

Step 3: Engage an Approved Quality Auditor

You must engage an independent Approved Quality Auditor (AQA) from the list published by the NDIS Commission. Send them your Initial Scope of Audit and request a quote for a Verification audit. These typically cost between $900 and $1,500 depending on the auditor.

Step 4: Submit Your Documents

Your auditor will request your policies, insurance, APD evidence, screening checks, and other documentation. They’ll review everything against the NDIS Practice Standards and identify any gaps. If a major non-conformity is found, you’ll have up to 3 months to provide additional evidence before the auditor can finalise your report.

Step 5: The Decision

Once the auditor completes your report, they submit their recommendation to the NDIS Commission. The Commission assesses your application and audit result, then makes the final decision on your registration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need any qualifications beyond my APD accreditation to register?

No. Your current APD accreditation with Dietitians Australia, with evidence of supervision and CPD, demonstrates you’re qualified to deliver therapeutic supports under 0128. You don’t need any additional NDIS-specific qualification. The exception is home enteral nutrition, where you also need specific HEN experience and knowledge.

Can a nutritionist register instead of a dietitian?

No. The NDIS qualification requirement is APD accreditation. Nutritionists who aren’t APDs aren’t eligible to deliver dietitian support items under 0128. All dietitians are nutritionists, but the reverse isn’t true, and the NDIS recognises the APD credential specifically.

Can I charge more if I’m registered?

No. The NDIS Price Guide sets maximum prices for therapeutic supports, and registration doesn’t change what you can charge. It does expand your potential client base to include agency-managed participants. Dietetics is claimed under support item 12_025_0128_3_3 (advice provided by a dietitian on managing diet for health and wellbeing). Check the current price limit in the NDIS pricing arrangements, as it’s updated periodically.

How long does it take?

The Verification audit itself can usually be completed within a few days once you submit your documents. If the auditor identifies gaps, you may need to provide further evidence. Once your report is finalised, NDIS Commission processing can take several weeks or months depending on their current backlog.