A support coordinator’s guide to finding providers who show up

The 2026 changes that touch your caseload

• New laws. The NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act passed Parliament in August 2026. The NDIA says participants can keep using their plans and supports as usual while the changes phase in.
• Budget changes from 1 October 2026. Social, Economic and Community Participation and Improved Daily Living Skills budgets are being reduced as plans are created or reassessed from 1 October 2026, or renewed from 1 February 2027. High intensity supports, and essential day-to-day supports like help with eating, dressing, toileting, cleaning and medication, aren’t affected.
• Claims within 90 days from 1 December 2026. The time to claim for supports drops from 2 years to 90 days after the support is delivered. A provider who invoices late becomes your participant’s funding problem.
• No rollover from 1 February 2027. When a plan reaches its reassessment date, unspent funds won’t roll over to the renewed plan.
• Kickbacks and inducements. The government’s timeline shows a ban on providers offering kickbacks and inducements starting on 27 November 2026.
• Registration. SIL and NDIS digital platform providers have had to register from 1 July 2026. Registration for providers of higher-risk supports rolls out from 1 July 2027, with personal care and daily living supports given as examples, and all in-scope providers registered by December 2030. Mandatory registration for support coordination has been paused.
• Your own role. From 1 July 2028, the NDIA plans to appoint providers directly to deliver a new support coordination and connection service, instead of funding support coordination in individual plans.

Check a provider before you put your name to them

The NDIS Commission’s Provider Register is free and public. Search by business name, legal name or ABN, choose the registration status ‘Approved’ to see current registrations, and check the registration groups match the support you’re referring for. The status ‘Revoked’ shows providers who have been banned or had their registration revoked.

Registration tells you a provider has met the Commission’s conditions. It doesn’t tell you whether they can staff a Tuesday morning in Riverstone. For that, you have to ask, and listen for a straight answer.

Signs it’s time to look elsewhere

• They say they deliver supports that need registration, but can’t give you a registration number.
• They say yes to every suburb, every shift and every level of need on the first call.
• Nobody can tell you who the support worker will be, or what happens when that person is sick.
• Invoices arrive months late, or include shifts that were cancelled.
• Prices change without a conversation or a new agreement.
• They offer gifts or incentives for referrals, or push a family to sign quickly. The NDIA lists high-pressure sales and inducements among the ‘sharp practices’ it considers unethical.
• They make one support conditional on another, such as only providing personal care if they also get the plan management. The NDIA names this kind of arrangement as a conflict of interest.

How to brief a new provider so the first visit goes well

Most shaky starts trace back to a thin referral. A five-minute brief saves weeks. With the participant’s consent, share:

• what the participant wants from the support, in their own words, and what a good week looks like
• the funded hours, the support category, and how the plan is managed (NDIA-managed, plan-managed or self-managed)
• the days and times that suit, and which ones can’t move
• what a new worker must know on day one: communication preferences, routines, risks, and who else is involved
• who the provider should update, how often, and what counts as urgent
• who the plan manager is, if there is one, and where invoices go.

Then ask the provider to put the supports, price, cancellation terms and contacts into a written service agreement. The NDIS recommends one every time a participant starts with a new provider.