NDIS registration

Choosing your NDIS registration groups

When you apply to register as an NDIS provider, one of the first things the application asks is which registration groups you want. It looks like a simple tick-a-box question, but your answer shapes almost everything that follows: which Practice Standards apply to you, which audit you need, how much evidence you prepare, and what your audit costs. This guide explains what a group actually is, how to pick the right ones, and why fewer is usually better at the start.

What a registration group actually is

A registration group is a class of supports the NDIS Commission registers you to deliver. Each has a four-digit code and a name - Household tasks is 0120, Therapeutic supports is 0128, Assistance with daily personal activities is 0107, and so on. Your registration certificate lists your groups, and together they define what you are registered to provide.

Groups matter because they are the unit the whole registration system works in. The Practice Standards you are assessed against, the scope of your audit, and the supports you can deliver to NDIA-managed participants all follow from the groups on your registration - not from how you describe your business.

How to pick groups that match your services

Start from the supports you will actually deliver in your first year, then map each one to a group. Some common mappings:

• Personal care - Assistance with daily personal activities (0107), plus High intensity daily personal activities (0104) if you will deliver those higher-intensity supports.
• Community access and group programs - Participation in community, social and civic activities (0125) and Group and centre-based activities (0136).
• Allied health - Therapeutic supports (0128) covers OT, physiotherapy, speech pathology, psychology, podiatry and dietetics. Early childhood is its own group (0118) with its own module.
• Cleaning and gardening - Household tasks (0120).
• Plan management - Management of funding for supports (0127).
• Support coordination - Assistance in coordinating or managing life stages, transitions and supports (0106), or Specialised support coordination (0132) where that specialised registration group applies.

The full list runs to more than thirty groups. Our registration groups lookup shows every group with what it covers, split by audit pathway.

The temptation is to tick extra groups “just in case”. Resist it. Every group you add widens the scope of your registration. Depending on the groups you choose, that can mean additional Practice Standards or supplementary modules, more evidence to demonstrate, and potentially more auditor time and cost. An auditor assesses you against everything you applied for, not just the parts you are actively delivering.

How your groups decide which audit you need

Every group belongs to one of two audit pathways. Verification groups - most allied health, plan management, household tasks, equipment and modifications - get the lighter, desktop-based verification audit. Certification groups - most direct support work, support coordination, SIL, behaviour support, early childhood - get the deeper, two-stage certification audit with an onsite component.

The rule that catches people out: if your application includes even one certification group, you need a certification audit. Your verification groups still carry their applicable standards, but those standards can be assessed as part of the certification process. So a cleaner who also wants to offer a little personal care is no longer a verification provider - that one group changes the audit. Check where your groups sit in the verification vs certification lookup before you apply, because the difference in audit depth and cost is significant - see what registration really costs.

Adding or changing groups later

Your first application is not your last word. Once registered, you can apply to the NDIS Commission to vary your registration and add groups when you are ready to deliver new supports. The variation may require further assessment or another audit - and if the new group is a certification group on a verification-only registration, your pathway changes.

That is why it can make sense to start with the groups you genuinely plan to deliver: it may keep your initial scope simpler, although adding groups later can require an out-of-cycle audit or further assessment. The reverse - registering wide and delivering narrow - means a bigger initial audit for supports you are not yet providing.

Higher-risk groups and what they require

Some groups carry requirements beyond the standard certification pathway:

• High intensity daily personal activities (0104) - adds the High Intensity Daily Personal Activities module, with skill and training expectations for the workers delivering those supports.
• Specialist positive behaviour support (0110) - adds its own module, and practitioners must be considered suitable by the Commission. Any provider using regulated restrictive practices also needs the Implementing Behaviour Support Plans module.
• Early intervention supports for early childhood (0118) - adds the Early Childhood Supports module.
• Supported independent living (0138) - a new registration group under the rules that took effect 1 July 2026, requiring certification against the Core Module plus Module 5A: Assistance with supported independent living. SIL became a mandatory-registration support from that date, subject to transitional arrangements for providers already delivering SIL beforehand.
• Specialist disability accommodation (0131) - carries its own supplementary SDA module.

If your plans include any of these, budget more time for evidence and get qualified advice early - these are the areas where generic paperwork falls over fastest.

And if you are still deciding whether to register at all, it is worth reading registered vs unregistered first - many supports can be delivered unregistered to self-managed and plan-managed participants, and in that world registration groups do not apply to you at all.

Where Bluetail fits

Your groups determine the Practice Standards and audit scope that apply to you, which in turn affects the documents and other evidence you need to prepare. Bluetail’s registration document pack helps with the document side of that preparation - 73 editable policies, agreements, registers and forms, pre-filled with your business details, for a one-off $65.

To be clear about what it does and does not do: the documents help you prepare. They do not register you, choose your groups for you, make you compliant on their own, or guarantee that you will pass an audit. You still complete the external steps yourself - the application, worker screening, insurance and the audit. For higher-risk groups and modules, we recommend independent, qualified review before your audit.

Bluetail is independent, and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the NDIA or the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

This guide is general information to help you understand NDIS provider registration. It is not legal, financial, clinical or compliance advice, and it is not affiliated with the NDIS Commission or the NDIA. Rules change - check the current requirements with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, and get advice from an appropriately qualified person for your situation.