"Are You Registered?" The Question the NDIS Is Asking Participants to Put to Their Provider
There is a question the NDIS is currently encouraging participants to ask their provider, and most people have not heard about it yet.
The question is simply: are you registered?
We want to talk about that openly, because we think the way a provider responds to that question tells you a great deal about them. So we will answer it about ourselves, and then we will show you how to check any provider in Australia, including us.
What changed on 1 July
From 1 July 2026, providers delivering supported independent living, along with NDIS digital platform providers, must be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Providers in scope must be registered, or have applied to register, by 1 October 2026.
The reasoning is straightforward. Supported independent living means someone is being supported in the place where they sleep, wash, eat and feel safest. That carries a level of responsibility that deserves formal oversight.
If you use SIL supports, here is what the NDIA has said this means for you. Your plan and your funding do not change. If your provider registers, you do not need to do anything at all. If your provider does not register, you will need to move to a provider who has, and the NDIA has said it will help you understand your options and find one.
And this is the part worth underlining, because it comes from the NDIA rather than from us: participants and carers are encouraged to start talking to their provider now and ask whether they are registered, and if not, whether they plan to register before 1 October 2026.
What being registered actually requires
"Registered" is not a badge a provider awards itself. It is a status granted and monitored by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, and it comes with obligations attached.
Registered providers are subject to independent audits against the NDIS Practice Standards, suitability assessments, reporting requirements, and worker screening obligations for people in risk-assessed roles.
That last one deserves a sentence of its own. If a worker is employed by a registered NDIS provider, they will already hold a current NDIS worker screening clearance. That is not a promise made in a brochure. It is a condition of how registered providers are allowed to operate.
Registration does not make a provider warm, or consistent, or culturally understanding. Those things are earned in living rooms, not in audits. What registration does is set a floor beneath the whole relationship, and give you somewhere independent to go if that floor is ever not met.
Where Freedom Quality Care sits
Freedom Quality Care is a registered NDIS provider, and we deliver supports across Sydney including personal care, community nursing, domestic assistance, social and community participation, support coordination, allied health, transport, and SIL and SDA services.
So when a participant or a family asks us that question, our answer is a straightforward yes, and we would rather you ask it than assume it.
We would say the same thing to someone considering a different provider entirely. Ask them. A provider who is doing this properly will not be offended by the question. They will be pleased you knew to ask.
How to check a provider yourself, in about two minutes
You do not have to take anyone's word for this, and you should not have to.
The NDIS Commission maintains a public provider register, listing providers currently registered, along with providers whose registration has been suspended or revoked. It records identifying details such as the provider's legal name, suburb and ABN. The Commission also publishes compliance and enforcement decisions, including banning orders.
Two minutes with either of those tools will tell you more about a provider's standing than any amount of advertising, ours included.
How to check a provider yourself, in about two minutes
Some providers would consider this an odd article to write. Handing participants the tools to scrutinise providers, when you are a provider, looks like an unusual marketing decision.
We see it differently.
The families we support across Western Sydney are, in many cases, navigating a national scheme in their second or third language, in a year of significant change, often while managing work, children and caring responsibilities. Confusion is not neutral in that environment. It is exactly the conditions in which people end up with support that is not good enough, and no idea that they were entitled to expect better.
An informed participant is a safer participant. And a provider who is doing the work properly has nothing to lose from informed participants. That is not a marketing position. It is just the truth about how this should work.
How to check a provider yourself, in about two minutes
If you use SIL supports and you are not sure where your provider stands, ask them this week. You are entitled to a clear answer.
And if you are in Sydney and looking for a registered provider who will tell you the truth in plain language, involve your family, work in your language wherever we can, and treat you as a Boss, a King, a Queen rather than a file number, we would love to meet you. No pressure, no obligation, just a conversation about your life and how we might support it.
Warmly,
Ruby Akron, COO
▸ Phone: +61 450 449 362
▸ Email: [email protected]
▸ Website: https://freedomqualitycare.com.au/
Freedom Quality Care is an NDIS registered service provider based in Western Sydney. This article is for general information purposes only and is based on official Australian Government and NDIS sources current as of May 2026. For advice specific to your plan, please speak with your planner, Local Area Coordinator, or support coordinator.
