NDIS SIL registration: the complete 2026 guide
From 1 July 2026, every provider of Supported Independent Living (SIL) must be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Providers who were delivering SIL unregistered must apply by 1 October 2026 to keep operating during the transition. This guide covers the whole journey — who's in scope, the new registration group, the audit, the costs, and what happens if you don't act.
Who must register?
Anyone delivering Supported Independent Living. In December 2025 the Minister for the NDIS decided that SIL (and digital platform) providers would be the first cohorts moved to mandatory registration, and the change took effect on 1 July 2026. It applies regardless of how your participants' funding is managed — self-managed, plan-managed or NDIA-managed makes no difference for SIL. If you deliver SIL supports, registration is a condition of operating.
That includes sole providers running one shared home, family-linked arrangements delivering rostered supports in a participant's home, and larger organisations with multiple dwellings. The obligation sits with the entity delivering the support. The NDIS Commission is the authoritative source on scope — if you're genuinely unsure whether what you deliver is SIL, check with the Commission before assuming you're exempt. Our free 2-minute quiz gives you a fast first answer.
Two related notes. First, support coordination was originally slated for the same wave, but its move to mandatory registration has been paused — it is not required as at July 2026. Second, personal care supports were announced (22 April 2026) for mandatory registration from July 2027, but that is an announcement only — it has not been legislated. Track both on our NDIS SIL reform tracker.
The 0115 → 0138 transition
Until mid-2026, SIL was delivered under registration group 0115 — Assistance with Daily Life Tasks in a Group or Shared Living Arrangement. From 1 July 2026 a dedicated group exists: 0138 — Assistance with Supported Independent Living.
| Your situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Already registered for 0115 | The Commission varies your registration to add 0138 — it's Commission-driven, so you don't re-apply, but watch for the variation notice and check your certificate of registration reflects it. |
| Unregistered, delivering SIL now | You must lodge a registration application (covering 0138) by 1 October 2026 to keep delivering SIL during the transition. |
| New entrant planning to deliver SIL | Register before you start delivering — from 1 July 2026 there is no unregistered pathway for SIL. |
The registration group determines the standards you're audited against: the NDIS Practice Standards Core Module plus the new SIL Practice Standards — final instruments made 24 June 2026 (F2026L00802) and in force from 1 July 2026.
The certification audit, step by step
SIL is a certification-level registration — the more rigorous of the two audit pathways. Here's the sequence:
- Self-assessment and application. You apply through the Commission's portal, describe your service, and self-assess against the Core Module and SIL Practice Standards. Your policies, participant documents and registers need to exist before this step — the self-assessment references them.
- Engage an approved quality auditor. You get quotes (do this early — see why the deadline maths is tight), agree scope, and book.
- Stage 1 — document review. The auditor reviews your policies, procedures, participant plans and registers off-site, and reports any gaps you must close before Stage 2.
- Stage 2 — on-site visit and interviews. The auditor visits your dwellings, observes practice, and interviews you, your workers and your participants. They're testing whether you do what your documents say.
- Commission decision. The auditor's report goes to the Commission, which makes the registration decision and may impose conditions.
For the document side, our NDIS audit checklist breaks down exactly what an auditor expects at each stage, and this guide lists every policy a SIL provider needs.
Costs and timeframes
| Item | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Certification audit | $7,000–$20,000 | Varies with dwellings, sites, participants and modules |
| Consultant (optional) | $3,000–$10,000+ | For document preparation and audit coaching |
| Document preparation yourself | Weeks of work — or ~$595 with a personalised pack | 30+ documents: policies, participant plans, registers, agreements |
| End-to-end timeline | ~8–12 months | Documents → audit (two stages) → Commission processing |
The audit is usually the largest cash cost, but the schedule risk is documents: providers who arrive at Stage 1 with generic or missing documents lose months in rework. Preparing the document set first — properly tailored to how your service runs — is the single biggest thing you control.
Penalties for unregistered SIL
From 1 July 2026, delivering supports that require registration while unregistered is a criminal offence under the NDIS Act. As the law currently stands, penalties can reach up to 2 years imprisonment or 120 penalty units (or both) — and the Commission also has civil and banning powers. We're stating the maximums as published; how any case is treated depends on circumstances, and the NDIS Commission is the authoritative source on compliance and enforcement.
The practical takeaway isn't fear — it's that the transition rules are generous if you act: an existing unregistered SIL provider who applies by 1 October 2026 can keep operating while their application is processed.
What happens after 1 October 2026?
If you were delivering SIL unregistered and have not applied by 1 October 2026, you lose the transition protection — continuing to deliver SIL puts you in unregistered-provision territory, with the consequences above and real disruption for your participants, who may need to move to a registered provider.
If you have applied, you continue operating while the Commission processes your application and your audit completes. Expect scrutiny to be real: certification includes interviews and an on-site visit, and auditor calendars are filling as the deadline approaches. See our deadline guide for planning backwards from an audit date, and the reform tracker for what's next (including digital-platform conditions from 1 January 2027).
Find out exactly what your SIL service needs
Free 2-minute quiz: confirms whether mandatory registration applies to you, which audit type to expect, and every document an auditor will ask for.
Take the free quizWritten by the Clarova regulatory team · Reviewed 2 July 2026 · Sources: NDIS Commission, legislation.gov.au (F2026L00802)
SILReady is built by Clarova, an Australian company. This page is general information, not legal or registration advice — the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is the authoritative source for registration requirements.