Thinking about registering as an NDIS support coordinator? Here’s what the process involves, and a few tips on things that often catch providers off guard.
Registration is currently voluntary for support coordinators (as of March 2026). You can work with self-managed and plan-managed participants without registering. Registration opens the door to agency-managed participants, who can only work with registered providers, and signals to potential clients and referrers that your practice meets the NDIS Practice Standards.
Mandatory registration for support coordinators has been proposed and consulted on by the NDIS Commission, and while it’s currently on pause, it hasn’t been ruled out, so watch this space. If you’re planning to grow your practice or are wanting to future-proof, it’s worth understanding what registration involves now rather than rushing through it if things change.
If you’re registering for support coordination, you’ll be required to undergo a full Certification audit (even if you’re a one-person business).
Registration Groups: 0106 and 0132
Support coordination sits across two registration groups:
0106 Assistance in Coordinating or Managing Life Stages, Transitions and Supports covers general support coordination, including helping participants understand and implement their NDIS plans, connect with providers, and build their capacity to manage their own supports.
0132 Specialised Support Coordination involves a higher level of support coordination for participants with complex needs, significant barriers to plan implementation, or situations requiring multi-agency coordination and crisis planning.
You can register for 0106 only, 0132 only, or both. Either way, you’re in the Certification audit pathway. Both groups trigger a full two-stage Certification audit against the Core Module of the NDIS Practice Standards.
If you add 0132, you’ll also be audited against the Specialist Support Coordination supplementary module (Module 4).
This means registering for 0132 only doesn’t give you a lighter audit, as you’re still assessed against the full Core Module, with Module 4 on top.
What a Certification Audit Involves
If you’re coming from a Verification context (or haven’t been through any NDIS audit before), the difference in scope is significant. Certification is a two-stage process:
Stage 1 is a desktop review, where your auditor reviews your policies, procedures, and supporting documentation against the Core Module (covering everything from governance and risk management to participant rights and service delivery). If you’re including 0132 in your registration, Module 4 is assessed here too. The auditor will flag anything that needs closer attention before Stage 2.
Stage 2 is an on-site assessment. The audit team (Certification audits require at least two auditors) visits your service, reviews participant and worker files, interviews your staff and management, and speaks with participants about their experience.
One thing worth flagging for support coordinators who work from home or don’t have a permanent office: the on-site visit still needs to happen somewhere in person. If you don’t have a fixed service location, you’ll need to organise a meeting room. The Commission still requires in-person Stage 2 audits regardless of your working arrangements, so don’t leave this until the last minute.
Stage 2 must occur within three months of Stage 1. After Stage 2, if there are no major non-conformities, your auditor will generally complete their report within a few weeks, and submit this as well as their recommendation to the NDIS Commission. Commission processing after that can take several months and is generally out of your hands at this point.
What Auditors Are Looking For
Support coordinators often underestimate their documentation requirements.
All of the Core Module applies
The most common issue we see with support coordination providers is the assumption that certain requirements are for other types of providers, like the ones doing hands-on care and high intensity supports. Risk assessments, support plans, incident management processes all apply to your service, even if you’re never in a participant’s home doing personal care.
If a participant you’re coordinating for is in crisis, or a service arrangement breaks down and they’re left without critical supports, it may constitute an incident. If a participant discloses harm from another provider, that’s something your incident process needs to be able to respond to. Your risk register should reflect the actual risks in your work, not a generic list that reads like it was written for a group home.
Conflict of interest
This is a significant focus area in support coordination audits. Auditors want to see at least three things: a conflict of interest policy, a conflict of interest register, and evidence that disclosures are actually happening in practice.
If you also deliver other NDIS supports alongside your coordination work, the stakes here are higher so don’t get complacent. Auditors will be looking closely at whether participants are being genuinely supported to choose their own providers, or whether they’re being funnelled toward services that benefit the coordinator. A COI register with no entries is a red flag, not a clean bill of health. Most support coordinators have at least some conflicts to disclose and manage, and the auditor’s question is whether they’re doing it transparently.
Participant records and evidence of active systems
Support coordination providers don’t have clinical notes in the same way a therapy practice does, but auditors still want to see that your systems are being actively used.
This means things like support plan documentation that shows person-centred thinking, records of participant contact and progress toward plan goals, evidence of how you’ve navigated situations where a participant’s preferences conflicted with what was available or funded, and documentation of how you’ve managed transitions or changes in a participant’s circumstances.
For providers holding 0132, auditors will also be looking at how you approach complex situations specifically, e.g. evidence of multi-agency coordination, crisis planning documentation, and how you’ve addressed barriers to plan implementation for participants with complex needs.
Qualifications and Competency
There’s no mandated qualifications for support coordination, but this doesn’t mean anyone without experience can jump right. What auditors are looking for is evidence that you know what you’re doing, that you’re doing it ethically, and that you’re genuinely working in participants’ best interests rather than your own.
In practice, this can mean a combination of relevant qualifications (social work, community services, etc), sector experience, and demonstrated understanding of person-centred practice. What this looks like in your documentation and in the audit interview will probably vary between auditors to some degree, but the underlying question is consistent: can you show that participants are truly driving the decisions in their own planning processes?
For solo operators
Even if you’re a one-person business, the Human Resource Management standard still applies. Auditors aren’t going to pretend there’s a team to review when there isn’t, but they will look at how you monitor your own competency and keep up with best practice. Professional development is a minimum, but if you have access to peer supervision, mentoring, or a professional network where you can test your thinking on trickier cases, that’s worth documenting.
Solo operators in support coordination carry risk, you’re making significant decisions about participants’ lives, often without a colleague to check your reasoning. Auditors know this, and they want to see that you’ve thought about it too.
Costs
Support coordination is always a Certification audit, so the cost floor is meaningfully higher than Verification.
For a small provider with a handful of participants and staff, assessed against the Core Module only (0106): budget from around $7,000. Adding the Specialist Support Coordination module (0132) will add to this, I’d recommend budgeting at least $1,000–$2,000 more, depending on the auditor and the complexity of your participant cohort.
If you’re not yet delivering services to any participants, a provisional certification audit may be available to you. This is a combined Stage 1 and Stage 2 conducted by a single auditor, with reduced sampling requirements because there are no participant files to review. Starting cost is around $4,000–$5,000. The catch: a provisional audit produces a qualified certification decision, not a full one, so once you start delivering services, a further Stage 2 audit is required. Budget at least a couple of thousand dollars extra for that follow-up.
As with all Certification audits, cost scales with size, so more participants, more staff, more sites means more audit time and higher costs. Always get at least three quotes from Approved Quality Auditors before committing to anything (but keep your wits about you – if one auditor is offering a significantly cheaper price than others, it’s worth asking why).
The Registration Process
Step 1: Submit your application Log in to the NDIS Commission portal and start a new application. Select 0106 and/or 0132 as your registration groups, and complete the self-assessment against the relevant Practice Standards.
Step 2: Receive your Initial Scope of Audit The Commission generates this document automatically once you submit. It confirms your pathway (Certification) and the specific standards you’ll be assessed against. This is what you take to Approved Quality Auditors when requesting quotes.
Step 3: Engage an Approved Quality Auditor You must use an auditor from the Commission’s published list, so the next step is to send them your Initial Scope of Audit and request a quote. Ask how they calculate audit duration, how many auditors will be on your team, and how they handle non-conformities.
Step 4: Stage 1 – document review Submit your policies, procedures, and supporting evidence. Your auditor reviews everything and prepares a Stage 1 report, and any gaps identified here will be the focus of closer attention in Stage 2.
Step 5: Stage 2 – on-site assessment The auditor team visits your service (or the location you’ve organised if you work from home). They’ll meet with you, review participant and worker files, and speak with participants.
Step 6: The decision Once your audit report is finalised, it goes to the Commission for the registration decision. Commission processing currently takes several months, though this timeframe has been improving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I just register for 0132 without 0106?
Yes, you can hold 0132 only. But it’s still a full Core Module audit with Module 4 on top, there’s no lighter version of the Certification audit available for support coordinators.
Do I need a physical office?
No, but you do need to arrange a suitable location for the Stage 2 site visit. A booked meeting room is fine, but coordinate this with your auditor in advance so they know where to send their team.
What if I also deliver other supports?
If you or your organisation delivers other NDIS supports alongside support coordination, it’s not against the rules (currently), but conflict of interest management becomes especially important. Auditors will look closely at how you’re ensuring participants have genuine choice in selecting their providers, and that coordination decisions aren’t influenced by your other service interests. Make sure your COI register and processes reflects this reality.
How long does registration take?
The audit itself (Stage 1 and Stage 2) typically takes three to six months from when you engage your auditor, depending on your preparation and how quickly any non-conformities are resolved. Commission processing after the audit adds several months on top of that.
