Already Registered for SIL Under 0115? What Mandatory Registration Means For You

Of all the providers affected by SIL mandatory registration, you are in the strongest position. You are already registered, already audited, and already operating under the NDIS Practice Standards. The reform does not ask you to start again.

What it does ask is easy to underestimate, and that is the real risk for your group. The registration side is automatic, so it is tempting to read the whole change as "nothing to do." It isn't. There is a new set of SIL Practice Standards that applies to you from 1 July 2026, and your next audit will test you against them. The providers who treat the automatic transition as a cue to relax are the ones most likely to be caught short when the auditor arrives.

This guide explains what happens automatically, what doesn't, and what to do with the time you have.

Do I need to re-apply for registration?

No. This is the part you can stop worrying about. Because you already hold registration group 0115 (Assistance with Daily Life Tasks in a Group or Shared Living arrangement) and are delivering SIL, the Commission will update your registration for you. There is no new application to lodge and no fee to pay for the change itself.

From 1 July 2026, the Commission updates relevant registration certificates to include the new group 0138 (Assistance with supported independent living). You don't request it. You don't complete a form for it. It is added to your certificate as part of the transition. Your other supports under 0115 — such as Short Term Accommodation, Medium Term Accommodation and Individualised Living Options — stay under 0115 and are unaffected; it is only SIL that moves to 0138.

What actually changes for me, then?

Two things, and only one of them needs your attention.

The first is the registration group itself, which is handled for you as described above. The second is the standard you are held to. Alongside mandatory registration, the Commission is introducing SIL-specific Practice Standards that sit on top of the existing Core Module you already work under. Holding registration today does not exempt you from them. They apply to every provider delivering SIL from 1 July 2026, including those who were registered long before the reform.

So the honest summary is this: your paperwork is sorted, your obligations are not. The bar for how you deliver SIL is rising, and meeting the new bar is the work in front of you.

What are the new SIL Practice Standards I'll be audited against?

The new SIL Practice Standards are built around four outcomes. In an audit, the evidence for each comes from four places: your documents, your records, what the auditor observes in the service environment, and what your workers and participants say when asked. Policies alone are not enough. The auditor is checking whether your day-to-day practice matches what your policies claim.

The four outcomes:

• Supported decision-making. The principle is that a participant's decisions about their home, routines, relationships and daily life are made by them, not for them. Auditors look for a trail showing how a significant decision was reached and who was involved, and support plans written with the participant rather than about them. A common gap is consent captured once at intake and never revisited.
• Safeguarding. How you prevent, identify and respond to harm, covering incidents, complaints, risk and restrictive practices. Expect scrutiny of your incident records: each event with a date, the participant, the immediate action and the follow-up. Common gaps include an incident noted in a shift log that never reaches the register, and a restrictive practice in use without current authorisation.
• Practice governance. Whether your policies, supervision and worker training describe what really happens, not what a template says. Version-controlled, regularly reviewed policies that staff can explain in their own words.
• Agreements about tenancy, housing and support. The most common gap here is failing to separate the service agreement from the tenancy agreement where you are both landlord and provider. The standard treats the home as the participant's home first, with rights to privacy, tenancy security, visitors and control over their own space.

These sit alongside the Core Module and any supplementary modules already relevant to your services, such as the high intensity daily personal activities module and, where restrictive practices apply, the behaviour support module.

When will I be audited against the new standards?

Not on a special timetable, and not all at once. You will be assessed against the new SIL Practice Standards at your next scheduled audit after 1 July 2026, whether that is your mid-term audit or your registration renewal audit. You do not need to commission a separate audit to "add" 0138.

That timing is the good news and the trap in one. Depending on where you sit in your three-year cycle, you may have many months before the new standards are tested. That is time to prepare properly. It is also time that disappears quietly if you assume the automatic transition was the whole story.

What should I do now?

1. Review the new SIL Practice Standards and understand how they apply to your organisation.
2. Assess your current practice against the four outcomes. For each, ask the blunt question: could I produce evidence for one participant, on one date, today?
3. Close the policy-to-practice gap. Auditors notice the daylight between a policy and what staff actually do. Tighten consent, supervision and training records first, since those thin out fastest.
4. Check your tenancy and service agreements are separated if you are both landlord and provider.
5. Confirm your next audit date and work backwards from it.

How Provider+ can help

Provider+ works with registered SIL providers to get audit-ready against the new SIL Practice Standards before their next audit, policy and evidence alignment, and structured audit preparation.

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This guide is general information for SIL providers. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for the NDIS Practice Standards, the NDIS Act, or guidance from your approved quality auditor. For the authoritative and current position, see the NDIS Commission Reform Hub.

We strive to keep our content accurate and up to date; however, NDIS Commission rules and requirements can change. For the latest information, visit the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission website or contact our team.