SIL Mandatory Registration: What Unregistered Providers Must Do by 1 October 2026

Updated 14 September 2026. This post was first published in March 2025, when mandatory registration was still a proposal. It has been rewritten to reflect the rules now in force.

If you deliver Supported Independent Living (SIL) and you're not registered, 1 October 2026 is the date that matters. SIL mandatory registration began on 1 July 2026. Existing unregistered providers who want to keep delivering SIL must submit a valid registration application to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission by 1 October.

Lodge in time, and you can keep supporting your participants while your application is assessed. Miss it, and you'll need to stop delivering SIL.

But the application is the easy part. Registration gets you through the door. What keeps you there is being able to show, every day, how you actually deliver support — and that lives in your case management system.

What changed on 1 July 2026

From 1 July 2026, SIL must be delivered by a registered NDIS provider, under a new registration group: 0138 – Assistance with supported independent living.

Registered SIL providers must comply with the core module of the NDIS Practice Standards and a new supplementary module for SIL. It covers four areas: supported decision-making, safeguarding, practice governance, and agreements about tenancy, housing and support arrangements.

The new registration group affects your billing too. We've covered that in How to Invoice NDIS Line Item 0138.

Is it actually SIL?

The Commission describes SIL as a package of home and living support for people with higher support needs. It applies when:

• The participant needs support at all times of the day, or for most of the day
• The support helps them live in their home as autonomously as possible and access the community, by assisting with or supervising daily life tasks
• The provider is managing and delivering that package of supports

It is not SIL when a person only receives a few hours of support a day or week, or chooses and manages their own support workers — including directing, planning and rostering them.

Sole traders aren't exempt. If you're delivering, managing and coordinating supports that meet the definition, you're a SIL provider. Check the full definition on the NDIS Commission's SIL mandatory registration page.

Which pathway are you on?

If you're delivering SIL and don't apply, you'll need to stop and follow the Commission's steps for stopping the services you provide. Delivering SIL without registration is a serious offence — according to the Commission, the maximum penalty is two years' imprisonment, a fine of 120 penalty units, or both.

The people most affected are your participants. SIL is for people who need support at all or most times of the day, so an unplanned change of provider is a serious disruption.

After you apply

Once your application is in, you'll receive a scope of audit, engage an Approved Quality Auditor, complete a certification audit that includes the new SIL Practice Standards, and respond to the Commission's application review. If approved, your certificate includes 0138.

Every one of those steps comes back to the same question: can you show how you deliver support, not just describe it?

Policies say what you intend to do. Your records show what you actually did — on every shift, for every participant, in every home.

Why SIL puts your case management system under pressure

SIL is among the most demanding supports to document well. By definition, participants need support at all or most times of the day. That usually means:

• Many workers across rotating shifts, often in more than one home
• Several participants sharing a home, each with their own supports and funding
• Frequent handovers, where information is easily lost
• Incidents that need a fast, visible response
• Claims across many hours, participants and line items

And registration isn't a one-off. Providers must keep meeting the Practice Standards to remain registered. The evidence has to exist every day, not just in the weeks before an audit.

When that evidence is spread across paper notes, spreadsheets, group chats and inboxes, even a well-run SIL service struggles to prove it. That's not a people problem. It's a systems problem.

What a bulletproof case management system looks like for SIL

Whatever software you use, these are the questions worth asking of it.

1. Is there one record for each participant?

Care instructions, support plans, progress notes, incidents and appointments should live in one place that every authorised worker can see — with access controlled by role.

2. Does the roster protect you?

In SIL, the wrong worker on shift is a safeguarding risk. Your system should make it easy to see who's rostered in each home, and to make sure only screened, approved workers are put on shifts.

3. Are progress notes proof, or just paperwork?

A note that says "support provided as per plan" proves nothing. Strong notes are written at the time of support and record who delivered it, where, when, and what was provided.

4. Do incidents reach the right people straight away?

Serious and reportable incidents shouldn't wait in a notebook until the next team meeting. Your system should flag them and alert the people responsible immediately.

5. Do claims come from what was actually delivered?

Your claims should be built from recorded, validated services under the right registration group — not re-keyed from a separate spreadsheet.

6. Can you find any record in minutes?

Try this: pick three participants and pull up their current care instructions, last week's progress notes, any incidents, and who was rostered on each shift. If that takes hours of searching, that's your gap.

How Comm.care supports SIL providers

Comm.care is care management software built for NDIS and community care providers. It won't lodge your registration application or write your policies. What it does is give your SIL service one connected record of how support is delivered:

• Rostering for 24-hour services, with each shift as its own appointment and a roster you can filter by home
• Circle of Care for each participant, holding care instructions, support plans, documents and progress notes, with role-based access
• Progress note validation that checks location, clock in and clock out times, and line items
• Red and yellow flags for reportable and serious incidents, with push notifications to Circle members and managers on the mobile app
• Worker screening checks and approvals, so only approved staff are rostered — on the Quality Management System plan
• Incident, risk and complaint management, also on the Quality Management System plan
• NDIS bulk claims built from the services your team has recorded
• Progress note exports for handovers and reviews

So when someone asks you to show how you support a participant, you open one record — not five systems.

What to do before 1 October

1. Confirm your support is SIL. Check it against the Commission's definition.
2. Confirm your pathway on the SIL mandatory registration page.
3. Lodge a valid application for 0138 and any other relevant registration groups, through Apply for registration.
4. Run the three-participant test above. Note where records are missing, late or hard to find.
5. Check your roster and screening. Confirm every worker on a SIL shift has current, approved checks.
6. Update your billing to 0138 for SIL delivered from 1 July 2026.
7. Tell participants and plan managers you've applied, and keep your application reference number handy.

What about Support Coordinators?

Earlier versions of this post also covered Support Coordinators, who were flagged as a priority for mandatory registration.

As of September 2026, support coordination isn't on the NDIS Commission's list of services that require registration. That list covers SIL, NDIS digital platform services, specialist disability accommodation, specialist behaviour support, plan management, supports for participants with NDIA-managed funding, and the use of regulated restrictive practices.

Requirements can change, so check the Commission's About registration page for the current list.

FAQs

What is the deadline for unregistered SIL providers?

Existing unregistered providers already delivering SIL must submit a valid registration application by 1 October 2026 to keep delivering while it's assessed.

Can I keep delivering SIL after I apply?

Yes, if you're an existing SIL provider and submitted a valid application before 1 October 2026. If your application isn't approved, you can't deliver SIL.

I'm already registered with 0115. Do I need to do anything?

You don't need to reapply — your registration was varied to include 0138. You must meet the SIL Practice Standards now, and update your billing to 0138.

Do sole traders need to register for SIL?

Yes, if they're delivering, managing and coordinating supports that meet the SIL definition.

What if a participant manages their own support workers?

That arrangement generally isn't SIL. The Commission says a participant or family member who chooses and manages their own support workers would not usually need to register as a SIL provider.

Why does case management software matter for SIL registration?

Registration depends on showing how you deliver support, and staying registered depends on keeping that up every day. For a 24/7 service with many workers and shifts, a connected case management system is the most practical way to keep that evidence complete and easy to find.

This article is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Always confirm your obligations with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

Further reading

• How to Invoice NDIS Line Item 0138: A Guide for SIL Providers
• NDIS Supported Independent Living (SIL) Explained
• How to calculate apportioned pricing for SIL group services
• NDIS Real-Time Digital Claims: What Proof of Service Actually Means