Message from the Commissioners 

Welcome to the August edition of our Provider Newsletter.

As the national regulator for the NDIS market, we are committed to lifting the quality and safety of NDIS supports and services and recognise that well-trained staff are an important part of that. Over the last month, we released the Positive Behaviour Support Training Package for disability support workers. The Package comprises three short courses that build skills around supporting people in a safe, respectful and person-centred way. See below for more information. There has already been a strong uptake but there are plenty of places left. Please encourage your workers to take this opportunity to boost or refresh their knowledge of positive behaviour support.

Another way the NDIS Commission addresses quality and safety in the sector is by removing unsuitable providers from the market. For the first time, we have sought civil penalties for breaching a banning order by bringing two individuals before the Federal Court who are alleged to have breached banning orders.

In this month’s newsletter you will find information on:

• Free positive behaviour support training for workers
• Civil penalty proceedings for banning order breaches
• Research into reducing inappropriate use of psychotropic medications
• New resource: Restrictive Practices and Me
• New Entry-Level Behaviour Support Practitioner Reconsideration process underway 
• New position statement on safe surround beds and safe sleepers
• How the NDIS Commission is working with community visitor schemes
• Changes to how providers prove their identity 
• Worker screening renewals coming up: time to update the NDIS Worker Screening Database.

Louise Glanville and Natalie Wade
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner and Associate Commissioner  

Free positive behaviour support training for workers

We have launched a free Positive Behaviour Support Training Package for up to 15,000 disability support workers across Australia. 

Positive behaviour support looks at why a person may use behaviours that can harm themselves or others. It focuses on meeting the person’s needs, building their skills and creating safe supportive environments. The goal is to improve quality of life and protect their human rights.

The training package includes three short online courses:

• Positive Behaviour Support
• Human rights and you
• Trauma-informed support.

Launched in partnership with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, the training is aligned with the NDIS Practice Standards and Code of Conduct and designed to help workers provide safe, respectful, and person-centred supports.

All courses can be completed flexibly online, and workers will receive a certificate of completion for each course.

The courses in the training package were created by National Disability Services (NDS) as part of their “NDS Workforce Essentials eLibrary”. Workers who have already completed this training need not register.

Learn more and register at: Positive Behaviour Support Training Package for DSWs | NDIS Commission.

Civil penalty proceedings for banning order breaches

The NDIS Commission has begun separate civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against two individuals – Synthia Restar and Lynette Peters – who are both alleged to have breached orders that banned them from providing supports and services to NDIS participants.

The Federal Court can impose a civil penalty of up to $330,000 for individuals and $1.6 million for companies for each contravention of a banning order.

The NDIS Commission investigated Restar and Peters for possible breaches of banning orders after we received tipoffs.

Anyone can check the compliance record of NDIS providers and workers – including banning orders – via the NDIS Commission’s Compliance and enforcement actions search.

Individuals who suspect a provider or worker is breaching a banning order are encouraged to contact the NDIS Commission by phone on 1800 035 544 or via the online complaint form.

Read our media release for more information.

Research into reducing inappropriate use of psychotropic medications

The NDIS Commission recently completed a review, in collaboration with other Australian researchers, to understand which interventions can reduce the inappropriate use of psychotropic medications. These medications include antidepressants, antipsychotics, and benzodiazepines. 

The reduction and elimination of regulated restrictive practices, including the use of chemical restraints, is one of the NDIS Commission’s regulatory priorities for 2025-26. 

The research shows that several interventions have resulted in a reduction of up to 55% in the use of psychotropic medications. These include:

• medication reviews
• workplace training
• improved organisational guidelines and policies
• multi-component intervention strategies emphasising the ‘last resort’ requirement of restrictive practices.

The primary purpose of using psychotropic medicines should always be the treatment of mental health conditions. 

Reductions in the usage of psychotropic medications is an important goal as their use can negatively impact the wellbeing and quality of life of recipients. This includes through increases in risks from falls, weight gain, hypertension, and diabetes. 

The research identified that limited data exists as to whether any negative effects, such as behaviours of concern or restrictive practices, occurred following medication reduction or whether people remained off medications long-term. More high-quality research is still required.  

Read the evidence summary on the NDIS Commission website. 

The full paper was also published in the March 2025 issue of the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities.

New resource: Restrictive Practices and Me

We have published a new resource for behaviour support practitioners. It aims to support meaningful consultation with NDIS participants when their behaviour support plan involves restrictive practices.

Restrictive Practices and Me includes plain English and Easy Read discussion books, a tip sheet, case study and a set of icons about restrictive practices.

We created Restrictive Practices and Me in collaboration with people with disability, NDIS providers, peak bodies, and state and territory governments.

The resource promotes respectful, person-centred practice. It may also help specialist behaviour support providers to comply with their legislative obligations under the NDIS Act and associated Rules.

New Entry-Level Behaviour Support Practitioner Reconsideration process underway 

On 11 August 2025, the NDIS Commission emailed NDIS providers who are registered to provide specialist positive behaviour support under registration group 110. The email was about recent updates to the New Entry-Level Behaviour Support Practitioner Reconsideration process.

Practitioners who were considered suitable through the New Entry-Level Pathway (Alternative Pathway) must have their suitability reconsidered by the NDIS Commission after 12 months. This will ensure NDIS behaviour support practitioners have the right skills and supervision arrangements for the delivery of safe and quality positive behaviour support for NDIS participants.

To support the process, NDIS Providers registered for 110 should:

• identify any practitioners who were considered suitable through the New Entry-Level Pathway
• ensure these practitioners have supervision that meets their needs
• support practitioners and their supervisors to complete the self-assessment and new endorsement tool.

We have also written directly to practitioners who were considered suitable through the New Entry-Level Pathway and who are now due to have their suitability reconsidered. Practitioners don’t need to take any action until they receive the letter, which explains the timeframes and reconsideration process.

Visit our website for more information about what is involved in the reconsideration process.

New position statement on safe surround beds and safe sleepers

We have published a Position statement on safe surround beds and safe sleepers to help providers.

Safe surround beds and safe sleepers are fully enclosed devices designed to prevent a person from leaving their bed during the night. Our position statement provides information about these devices, the context of their use and considerations for providers.

The position statement explains that the use of these devices meets the definition of a mechanical restraint – a restrictive practice that’s subject to regulation and oversight by the NDIS Commission.

The information will also help NDIS participants and those who support them to uphold their rights, and know what to expect from providers in the use of these devices.

We developed the position statement with the relevant state and territory authorising bodies.

How the NDIS Commission is working with community visitor schemes

The NDIS Commission has developed the Strengthening Information Sharing with Community Visitors Project (the CVS Project).

Community visitors are appointed individuals who, while their roles vary by state and territory, generally visit people with disability to independently monitor services and facilities and assist in resolving issues or complaints.

The CVS Project follows the Australian Government’s response to the Disability Royal Commission and reflects the importance of community visitor schemes as a safeguarding mechanism for people receiving disability supports. It will run in parallel with a broader project being led by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing known as the Nationally Consistent Approaches to Community Visitor Schemes Project. 

A key component of the CVS Project is a trial to improve data and information sharing with the Official Community Visitors (OCV) scheme administered by the NSW Ageing and Disability Commission.

The trial aims to improve the safety and quality of NDIS supports for participants and uphold their human rights by:

• identifying opportunities to share NDIS Commission data and information with the NSW OCV. This should improve the way the OCV identifies and safeguards NDIS participants who may face a higher risk of harm.
• improving the value of the information the NSW OCV provides to the NDIS Commission from a quality, safety and human rights perspective. 

Outcomes from the trial will then inform a national approach to information sharing with other state and territory agencies.

We acknowledge the important role that community visitors play in the NDIS. Their work with participants and providers helps improve quality and deliver safe outcomes for NDIS participants.

We will provide you with updates as this important project progresses.

Changes to how providers prove their identity 

The NDIS Commission and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) are strengthening how we check the identity of providers. Strong identity checks help us keep participants, providers and the Scheme safe against scams, fraud and data breaches.

Providers will need to move from using Provider Digital Access (PRODA) to a combination of Digital ID (myID) and Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM):  

• myID is the Australian Government’s Digital ID app.
• RAM is an authorisation service that allows an individual to act on behalf of a provider online when linked with their myID.

Providers must make this change now to access NDIS provider portals managed by the NDIA.

The NDIS Commission will be making these changes in December 2025, so providers should continue to use PRODA for our portals until then. Self-managed participants will continue to use PRODA to access NDIS Commission portals until further notice. This change does not and will not replace NDIS worker screening checks. 

We will publish more information for providers soon. In the meantime, you can find out more on the NDIS website. 

Worker screening renewals coming up: time to update the NDIS Worker Screening Database

Every five years, NDIS workers in risk-assessed roles must renew their NDIS Worker Screening Check to continue to hold a clearance. As the NDIS Worker Screening Check was first introduced on 1 February 2021, some workers’ checks will start to expire from 1 February 2026.

Workers will receive a reminder to renew from the state or territory worker screening unit that did the original check. Employers will also receive reminders via the NDIS Worker Screening Database (NWSD) if they have linked to the worker in the database.

Update the NWSD

The best way to ensure you know the current status of your workers is to update the NWSD. This also ensures you know when their checks expire.

You may also have employees linked to you in the NWSD who no longer work for you. If so, we encourage you to unlink them before the worker screening renewal period begins. That way, the NWSD won’t send you unnecessary reminder emails.

To update the workers linked to you in the NWSD:

• log in to your Employer Account on the NWSD
• go to the ‘My workers’ tab
• link all workers who currently work for you
• unlink all workers who no longer work for you.

There is a Quick Reference Guide available on the NDIS Commission website that details how employers can unlink workers on the NWSD. If you have any problems, please contact us.

We'll provide more information about worker screening renewals soon.

Key resources to help you  

Our website has a range of key resources to support you in delivering safe and quality services and complying with your registration.

Find the links here:

• Provider registration
• Worker resources  
• NDIS Code of Conduct 
• Worker screening  
• NDIS Practice Standards 
• Reportable incidents 
• Incident management 
• Workforce Capability Framework 

Resources for Behaviour Support Practitioners 

• Understanding behaviour support and restrictive practices - for providers
• Rules for behaviour support and restrictive practices

Stay in touch with the NDIS Commission on social media:

General Enquiries

1800 035 544 (free call from landlines)

Our contact centre is open Monday to Friday 9am - 5:30pm AEST, excluding public holidays.

To provide feedback, contact the NDIS Commission by emailing 
contactcentre@ndiscommission.gov.au.
 

Thanks for reading!

You can find past issues of the NDIS Commission provider newsletter on our website.