What the NDIS Integrity and Safeguarding Bill 2026 Means for Families

The NDIS Integrity and Safeguarding Bill 2026

On 1 April 2026 the NDIS Integrity and Safeguarding Bill passed through both houses of parliament and received royal assent. It represents the largest single tightening of the NDIS regulatory framework since the scheme began. For participants, families and coordinators, it changes three things that matter immediately — who can legally provide services, how claims get made, and what happens when a provider steps outside the rules.

This is not a technical update. It is a re-drawing of the lines around who participates in the scheme at all.

What the Bill Actually Does

At its core, the Bill introduces three new controls:

• Criminal offence for unregistered provision of certain support categories — up to 5 years imprisonment. The list of supports affected is being staged in across 2026 and 2027, but it includes high-intensity personal care, behaviour support plan implementation, and supported independent living.
• Civil penalties of up to $15 million for serious breaches of the NDIS Code of Conduct by provider entities.
• Mandatory electronic claims through the NDIS portal for all registered providers, replacing paper or email-based invoicing.

The Bill also gives the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission new powers to issue anti-promotion orders — essentially stopping a provider from advertising their services while an investigation is underway.

What Families Should Watch For

The practical effect on families depends on whether your existing provider is registered, unregistered, or something in between. If your current provider is registered and operating in good faith, you will not notice much change — beyond a possible shift to electronic-only invoicing and slightly tighter paperwork at your next plan review.

If your provider is unregistered, things get more complicated. For supports now moving to registered-only provision, your provider either needs to complete registration (a multi-month audit process) or stop delivering those supports. If they stop, you will need to transition to a registered provider. The NDIA and your support coordinator can help, but the transition is on you to drive.

Here is what we recommend to every family we speak to:

• Ask your current provider directly: "Are you registered for the supports you deliver to us?" Get the answer in writing.
• Check the NDIS Commission provider register for your provider's registration status and the specific registration groups they hold.
• If you are on SIL, Module 1 (high-intensity personal care) or Module 2A (behaviour support) supports, confirm your provider holds the matching registration.
• If you discover your provider is unregistered for what they are delivering, talk to your support coordinator about transition options sooner rather than later.

Why Registration Matters

Registration is not just a sticker on a website. A registered NDIS provider has to:

• Meet the NDIS Practice Standards and pass audit every three years
• Screen every worker through NDIS Worker Screening
• Hold appropriate insurance cover
• Report notifiable incidents to the Commission within required timeframes
• Follow the NDIS Code of Conduct
• Submit to the Commission's complaints-handling jurisdiction

None of these protections exist — automatically — with an unregistered provider. The Bill is the scheme saying, for the first time, that certain supports are too consequential to be delivered outside those protections.

Our Position

InLife is a registered NDIS provider. All of our service lines operate under full registration. The Bill does not change our operations. It does, however, change the wider market we operate in — and we think it is a good thing. Participants with complex needs, families placing trust in providers they chose during a vulnerable moment, and coordinators trying to build stable teams have all been poorly served by a two-tier market where quality and registration did not always align.

What Happens Next

The Bill's provisions are staging in over 2026 and 2027. Services Australia has published a transitional timetable indicating which supports move to registered-only and when. We will publish follow-up posts as each tranche lands.

If you have questions about whether your current arrangements are affected, or if you want to walk through your plan in plain English (or Farsi, Urdu, Hindi or Punjabi), our free Plan Health Check is 15 minutes and has no obligation. You can also see our dedicated NDIS Pricing Guide and NDIS Behaviour Support pages for more on the specific implications for those support categories.

Source: NDIS Commission, ndiscommission.gov.au/news · captured 2026-04-05.