NDIS Certification Audits

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Delivering lower risk services? You may be eligible for a verification audit instead.

NDIS Certification Audits

Part of the process of becoming an registered NDIS provider is to complete a certification audit with an Approved Quality Auditor (AQA) such as HDAA.

A certification audit takes place in two stages:

  1. Stage 1 involves a review of your business’s key policy and process documents to determine your readiness for the next stage. This is an opportunity to have an auditor help identify gaps in your documents that you may not have realised existed.
  2. Stage 2 is when an audit team meets with you and your team, usually over at least a day, to explore how well you and your business are meeting the NDIS Practice Standards and what steps, if any, you need to take to ensure you meet these standards.

Benefits of becoming a registered NDIS provider

Unregistered providers can only provide NDIS services to participants that are self-managed or plan-managed. Some service types, such as Behaviour Support Planning and Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA), can only be delivered by registered providers.

Many participants and plan managers also consider registered providers to be safer and of a higher quality, as these providers are required to meet a strict set of standards before becoming registered and are regulated on an ongoing basis by the NDIS Commission.

Completing a certification audit and becoming a registered provider will help make your business a highly desirable option in today’s competitive market.

The Certification audit process

  1. Submit your application to be a new provider, or to renew your registration, at the NDIS Commission’s website to receive your ‘Initial Scope of Audit’ (ISoA).
  2. Send your Initial Scope of Audit to AQAs e.g. HDAA to receive a quote or proposal for your Certification audit. While Certification audit costs can vary depending on the AQA, you should also ask any prospective AQA:
    • What is included in the price and are there any extra costs (e.g., auditor travel)?
    • How long will you take to complete my audit?
    • How much support will you provide?
    • Do your auditors have backgrounds in working with disability services?
    • Do you have experience auditing other providers like me?
  3. Provide the evidence documents required to complete your Stage 1 audit. The Stage 1 audit will provide insight into whether your processes may need adjusting so that you are meeting the NDIS Practice Standards.
  4. Confirm dates for your Stage 2 audit – this needs to be within three months of your Stage 1 audit.
  5. Your AQA will develop a full audit plan for the Stage 2 audit and provide this to you ahead of time to assist you in scheduling for the day and understanding what to expect.
  6. The audit team will conduct the Stage 2 audit. If any gaps (or ‘non-conformities’) are identified, these will be discussed with you on the day and the AQA will ask you to document a brief plan to demonstrate how you will respond.
  7. You will then have some time to implement your plan and provide extra evidence to the AQA to demonstrate that you have sufficiently responded to any identified gaps.
  8. Within the required timeframe, your audit report will be submitted to the NDIS Commission with a recommendation for your registration. Once processed, the Commission will confirm your registration status with you.

What makes HDAA different?

We are transparent with our proposals and audit costs, with our ‘all inclusive’ pricing model you will know from the beginning what the price will be.

All of our assessors come from a background in the health and/or human services sectors, and bring this experience and knowledge to all audits.

We have a highly experienced team and allocate each provider a dedicated contact person who will work closely with you throughout the process.

With thousands of health and human services clients, we have a lot of experience across a very diverse range of providers.

Obtaining a proposal

If you would like us to provide a written proposal outlining expected costs for your certification audit, our friendly NDIS team would love to provide more information and can be contacted directly by calling 1800 601 696.

Alternatively, simply click the button below to send us a quick message, and our team will be in touch shortly to discuss your certification needs.

Contact us

“We thank you all immensely for your support and guidance throughout this journey, your team has been wonderful.”

“We just want to thank HDAA for the fabulous experience we have had with our first NDIS certification audit.  They guided us through the process, were very knowledgeable about the type of services were are providing and want to improve and we actually enjoyed the process.  I can’t say I have ever ‘enjoyed’ an audit before.” 

“I am very grateful for your excellent service. You have made the challenging process of selecting an auditor much easier. Your patience and your friendly, efficient service has been the reason we chose HDAA to be our NDIS auditor.”

“It was a pleasure working with you. You made something that initially appeared daunting so easy.”

“Both auditors were of exceptional quality and highly respectful of (our) staff and their knowledge and skills. We very much appreciated their approach. We are very pleased to have completed the NDIS auditing process and to have received such positive feedback from the auditors. Thank you.”