NDIS SIL Mandatory Registration: What Providers Need to Know

By NoteGate Research Team

Mandatory registration for Supported Independent Living (SIL) commenced on 1 July 2026. Providers delivering SIL now operate under a new registration framework and a new set of Practice Standards, and both directly affect how shift notes, incident records, and audit evidence must be structured.

This guide covers what changed, what the SIL Practice Standards require from documentation, and how shift notes show the observable practice that certification audits look for.

What Changed for SIL Providers on 1 July 2026?

Two interconnected changes took effect together: assistance with supported independent living became a class of support a provider must be registered to deliver, and a new SIL Practice Standards module was added to the standards a SIL provider is assessed against.

Registration is now mandatory for the class of support. Assistance with supported independent living is now its own class of support with its own registration requirement. It is defined by the nature of the arrangement rather than by the accommodation: constant or immediately available person-to-person support for all or a substantial part of a day, delivered as a package of supports, with the provider managing that package. A provider previously delivering SIL under assistance with daily life in a shared living arrangement now needs a registration that covers the new class, because that older class has been expressly carved back to exclude SIL.

A new Practice Standards module applies. The SIL module sits alongside the Core Module rather than replacing any part of it. It adds four standards: supported decision-making, safeguarding, practice governance, and agreements about tenancy, housing and support arrangements. A SIL provider is assessed against the Core Module and the SIL module together.

Certification audits. The class of support is assessed by certification, not verification. Certification audits examine whether participant-centred, safe support is observable in practice, not just documented in policy. This is a higher standard than what most SIL providers have previously faced.

Which SIL Transition Pathway Applies to Your Organisation?

The pathway depends on what the provider was on 30 June 2026. There are three.

• Already registered. The obligation attaches when the Commission decides whether to vary the registration to include the new class of support. In the meantime, and this is the part providers most often miss, an existing registrant already registered for assistance with daily life in a shared living arrangement must comply with the SIL Practice Standards from 1 July 2026 until that decision is made. The standards bind first; the registration variation follows.
• Delivering SIL but not registered. Registration is required to deliver SIL. The Commission states that delivering SIL without being registered may breach the NDIS Act, with a maximum penalty of 2 years’ imprisonment, a fine of 120 penalty units, or both.
• Everyone else. Registration is required from 1 July 2026.

What a SIL registration carries, beyond what the older shared-living class required:

• Compliance with the SIL Practice Standards module
• Compliance with the NDIS Practice Standards Core Module
• Certification audits, not verification audits
• Compliance with the NDIS Code of Conduct
• Incident management system requirements
• Notification requirements for reportable incidents
• Behaviour support requirements where applicable

What the New SIL Practice Standards Require from Documentation

The new SIL Practice Standards introduce documentation expectations that are more specific than existing shift note requirements. The key areas are:

1. Supported decision-making

The SIL Practice Standards require that participants are supported to make decisions about daily life, routines, relationships, and their home, based on their individual needs, skills, and communication preferences. The standard's worker statement describes giving participants the information and support they need, such as tailored communication tools, enough time, and ongoing support from trusted decision supporters.

Shift notes are one place a provider can show this. Notes can capture:

2. Safeguarding and early harm recognition

The SIL Safeguarding Standard expects workers to have the skills to recognise early signs of harm and respond using trauma-informed and person-centred approaches. It also says providers and workers should evidence the steps taken to manage risks in the home, including risks between people living in the house.

For shared accommodation providers, this is particularly important. Risks between housemates - conflict, bullying, intimidation - are easier to evidence when documented with specificity. A note that says "there was a disagreement, staff supported" may not show the steps taken to manage the risk.

3. Practice governance: consistent, observable practice

The Practice Governance Standard says providers and workers should demonstrate that workforce management systems translate into consistent, observable practice in the participant's home. Notes can show that support meets individual needs, preferences, communication style, and cultural considerations.

This means a note that only records that a shift occurred shows little. A stronger note shows, in observable terms, how the specific participant was supported according to their individual plan. When an auditor examines a participant's note record, they may look across multiple shifts and multiple workers for evidence of consistent, participant-specific practice.

For SIL providers, inconsistency across workers is a significant risk. If one worker documents in detail and another writes generic notes, the participant's record shows uneven practice - even if the care delivered was good.

4. Evidence-based practice improvement

The provider statement in the module says providers use data, feedback and evidence-based practice to drive continuous improvement in practice quality. That has implications for documentation infrastructure: providers need to be able to extract patterns from their documentation records, identify systemic gaps, and demonstrate that identified issues have been addressed through corrective action.

Why Generic Shift Notes May Not Show What the New Standards Look For

Some shift note systems mainly record that a shift occurred. They capture time in, time out, a text field for narrative, and perhaps some structured fields for incidents or medication.

The SIL Practice Standards describe support that should be consistent and observable in the participant's home. The Commission describes audits as moving quickly from what policies say to what actually happens in practice. Shift notes are one of the records that can show what happened.

For SIL providers, gaps an auditor may question include:

• Notes that do not reference the participant's communication preferences or AAC strategies
• Notes that describe conflict or behavioural incidents without recording the de-escalation response or linking to the behaviour support plan
• Notes that record medication administration without recording the participant's response or relevant observations
• Notes that are identical or near-identical across multiple shifts (copy-paste), indicating that individual practice is not being documented
• Notes that mention risk indicators (anxiety, distress, conflict) without recording what action was taken
• Notes from different workers that show no consistency in how participant-specific requirements are documented

What Providers Should Do Now

The standards already apply, and the evidence an auditor will read is being written on shift today. The key actions are:

1. Audit your current note quality against the new requirements. Pull 30 days of notes for your highest-risk participants and assess them against the supported decision-making, safeguarding, and practice governance requirements above.
2. Update participant profiles with communication plans and BSP requirements. The standards expect support that reflects how each participant communicates and what their behaviour support plan requires. These need to be in the documentation system before workers can be expected to document them.
3. Address copy-paste patterns immediately. If notes are being duplicated across shifts or participants, this is a material compliance failure under the existing standards. Under the new SIL standards it will be more visible and harder to explain.
4. Set up a risk register for house-level patterns. The Safeguarding Standard requires tracking recurring risks between housemates. A spreadsheet is not sufficient for certification audit purposes. The risk register must have source evidence, corrective actions, and resolution records.
5. Brief your workers on the new documentation expectations. Workers who currently write generic notes need to understand what the new standards require - specifically the decision-making evidence and safeguarding evidence fields. Training alone is not enough; the note form must prompt for these fields.

The Documentation Standard the Commission Is Moving Toward

The NDIS Commission has described the reform direction using three types of expectation statements: a participant statement (what good support looks like from the participant's perspective), a worker statement (what good practice looks like for frontline staff), and a provider statement (what organisational accountability looks like).

For providers, the key phrase in the provider statement is that providers must use data, feedback, and evidence-based practice to drive continuous improvement in practice quality. This is not a passive requirement. It means the documentation system must be capable of surfacing patterns, identifying gaps, and feeding back into practice improvement - not just recording what happened.

For workers, the expectation is that training must be visible in practice. A worker who has completed training in person-centred practice, trauma-informed support, and active support must be able to demonstrate those practices in their shift note record. If training is completed but notes show no evidence of those practices, the training is not demonstrably translating into support delivery.

For participants, the expectation is that support delivered in the home matches their individual needs, communication preferences, and support plan requirements. The documentation must show the participant as an active participant in their own support - not a passive recipient of whatever the worker decided to do.

How the New Standards Affect Shared Accommodation Specifically

SIL is particularly complex from a documentation perspective because multiple participants share a physical space, and risks can exist between participants as well as between participants and the external environment. The SIL Safeguarding Standard explicitly addresses this.

For shared accommodation providers, the Safeguarding Standard's focus on managing risks between people who live together points to some practical documentation habits:

• House-level risk patterns are worth tracking - a single incident note shows little if the same pattern is recurring across shifts
• Incidents between housemates are easier to evidence when documented with specificity: who was involved, what was observed, what the trigger appeared to be, what de-escalation strategy was used, whether anyone was at risk, and whether the pattern is recurring
• Risk mitigation steps are easier to evidence when notes show what was done in response to a risk, not just that a risk existed
• Behaviour support plan strategies are easier to evidence when notes record which strategy was applied and what the outcome was, not just "BSP followed"

For SIL providers, the risk is rarely one incident. It is the pattern across shifts. Auditors examining a shared accommodation provider's records may look across the full note history for evidence of patterns, responses, and systemic risk management. A provider who can produce a structured risk register with source evidence and corrective action records is in a fundamentally different position to one who can only produce a folder of shift notes.

Summary: Where SIL Providers Stand Now

• Assistance with supported independent living is a registrable class of support in its own right, carved out of the older shared-living class
• The SIL Practice Standards module has applied since 1 July 2026, alongside the Core Module
• An existing registrant complies with the SIL standards now, while its registration variation is decided
• Delivering SIL without being registered may breach the NDIS Act
• The class is assessed by certification audit, and providers are audited against the SIL standards at their next scheduled audit
• Shift notes are one place to show supported decision-making at the point of support
• Safeguarding incidents are easier to evidence when the steps taken, de-escalation responses and risk links are documented
• The Practice Governance Standard expects consistent, observable practice across workers and shifts
• House-level risk patterns are worth tracking across shifts, not treating as isolated incidents
• Documentation systems can support continuous improvement, not just recording

The providers best positioned under the new standards are those who treat them as a documentation infrastructure question, not just a training question. Training tells workers what to do. Documentation infrastructure makes sure they do it consistently, and that the evidence is there when the auditor asks.

Read the NDIS audit documentation checklist for a full pre-audit review, or explore how NoteGate maps to the new SIL Practice Standards for a structured look at each requirement and the relevant NoteGate capability.

Frequently asked questions about SIL registration

Do SIL providers have to register with the NDIS Commission?

Yes, where the provider manages and delivers a package of home and living support for a person who needs support all or most of the day. From 1 July 2026 some SIL providers must register. The Commission’s definition excludes arrangements where a participant chooses and manages their own support workers. Read the Provider Registration Rules for the full definition.

Which registration group covers supported independent living?

Group 0138, Assistance with supported independent living, is a new class of support added to registration certificates. A registered SIL provider needs certification audits and must meet the NDIS Practice Standards core module and the SIL module, as well as the other conditions of registration.

How quickly must a SIL provider notify the NDIS Commission of a reportable incident?

Within 24 hours of becoming aware for a death, serious injury, abuse or neglect, unlawful contact or assault, or sexual misconduct. Use of an unauthorised restrictive practice is due within 5 business days. The Commission says late notification might result in an infringement notice or other compliance action.

How long must SIL providers keep incident records?

For 7 years. Under the NDIS Incident Management and Reportable Incidents Rules, an incident record must be kept for 7 years from the day it is made, and a reportable incident record for 7 years from the day the Commission is notified. Other Commonwealth, state or territory laws may add retention requirements.

Sources for these answers are listed below.

Sources

• Mandatory registration and transition pathways for supported independent living (NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, retrieved 21 September 2026). Pathway pages read: registered for 0115 and delivering SIL and delivering SIL but not registered
• Reportable incidents (NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, retrieved 25 September 2026)
• NDIS (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules 2018, sections 12 and 25 (Federal Register of Legislation)
• Incident Management Systems Detailed Guidance (NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, September 2024)