When you apply to become a registered NDIS provider, the NDIS Commission assigns your application to one of two audit pathways: verification or certification. Which pathway you're on determines how your audit runs, how much it costs, and, most importantly, what documentation you need to produce.
The short version
Your pathway follows the registration groups you apply for. Lower-risk supports, things like household tasks, gardening, transport and similar services, go through verification. Higher-risk supports, supported independent living, high intensity daily personal activities, behaviour support, early childhood supports, support coordination, specialist disability accommodation, go through certification.
What a verification audit looks like
Verification is a desktop audit. An approved quality auditor reviews your documentation against the verification module of the NDIS Practice Standards: your incident management, complaints management, risk management and human resource management arrangements, along with the supporting registers and records. There are no site visits or staff interviews in most cases, which means your documents essentially are your audit.
That's why verification providers live or die on documentation quality. Our VeriPath package ($469) covers the full verification document set: ten policies and procedures, seven registers and eight forms, customised with your business details.
What a certification audit looks like
Certification is a two-stage audit. Stage 1 is a document review against the core module of the NDIS Practice Standards: governance and operational management, provision of supports, the support environment and the rights of participants, plus any supplementary modules your registration groups trigger. Stage 2 adds interviews with key personnel, staff and participants, and a closer look at how your documents work in practice.
The documentation load is significantly larger. Our CertCore base package ($1,290) covers all four core divisions, and specialist supplementary modules cover high intensity supports, behaviour support, early childhood, coordination and SDA. Registering across several groups? Veyora Prime ($2,990) includes every module and saves $3,240 against buying separately.
How to check your own pathway
- List the registration groups you plan to apply for
- Check each group against the NDIS Commission's registration requirements: each group is designated verification or certification
- If any group requires certification, your whole audit runs as certification
Common mistakes
The two we see most: applying for more registration groups than you actually deliver (which inflates your audit scope and cost), and discovering mid-application that one “extra” group has tipped you from verification into certification. Scope your registration to what you'll genuinely deliver in the next 12 months. You can always add groups later.
See how Veyora works, or tell us your registration groups and we'll tell you exactly which pathway and package you need.
This article is general information, not legal or professional advice. Always confirm current requirements with the NDIS Commission.