NDIS registration groups explained

What NDIS registration groups are and why they matter

NDIS registration groups are the formal categories of NDIS support that a registered provider is approved to deliver. They are set by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and define the boundaries of what you can lawfully provide and claim payment for as a registered provider.

Think of your registration groups as your approved service scope. If a support falls within one of your registered groups, you are authorised to deliver it to NDIS participants and claim funding for it. If it falls outside your registration groups — even if the support itself is NDIS-funded — you are not authorised to deliver it under your registration, and claiming for it constitutes a compliance breach.

There are currently 36 registration groups, numbered from 0101 to 0136. Each group corresponds to a category of NDIS-funded support and is assigned to either the verification or certification audit pathway based on the complexity and risk profile of those supports. The complete list is published and maintained by the NDIS Commission at www.ndiscommission.gov.au.

Registration groups were previously referred to as ‘support categories’ in older Commission materials. The terminology has been standardised to ‘registration groups’ in current Commission guidance.

How NDIS registration groups determine your audit pathway

Every NDIS registration group is assigned to one of two audit pathways by the Commission based on the risk profile of the supports in that group, and it cannot be changed by the provider.

The verification pathway applies to lower-risk supports. The verification audit is a desktop document review — your Approved Quality Auditor (AQA) assesses your policies, procedures, and evidence remotely, with no site visit. Verification audits are faster and less expensive than certification audits.

The certification pathway applies to higher-risk supports. The certification audit is a two-stage process: a desktop document review (Stage 1) followed by an on-site audit involving site visits, staff interviews, and participant file review (Stage 2). Certification audits are more involved, more costly, and take longer to complete.

For a detailed comparison of timelines and costs under each pathway, see Article 1.2: How long does NDIS registration take — and what does it cost?

The critical rule: one certification group triggers full certification

This is the most important thing to understand before you select your NDIS registration groups:

This rule has significant practical implications for providers who deliver a mix of lower-risk and higher-risk supports. Before finalising your NDIS registration group selection, confirm which pathway each group sits on and model the audit cost and timeline implications of your full set of groups, not just the most complex one.

It also means that adding a certification group to an existing verification registration triggers a reassessment under the certification pathway. Providers who are already registered under verification and want to expand their services into a certification group need to plan for a full certification audit at renewal or by applying to vary their registration.

Verification groups — complete reference table

The following 23 NDIS registration groups are assessed through the verification audit pathway. They cover lower-risk supports where the primary assessment focus is on documentation, qualifications, insurance, and policy frameworks rather than on-site operational practice.

Note: Group 0114 (Community nursing care) sits in the verification pathway but involves clinical delivery. Providers should confirm with their AQA the evidence requirements for workforce qualifications given the clinical nature of this group.

Certification groups — complete reference table

The following 13 NDIS registration groups are assessed through the certification pathway. They cover higher-risk supports where participant vulnerability, complexity of delivery, or the severity of potential harm requires a more rigorous, on-site audit assessment.

Which NDIS registration groups are currently mandatory

Registration is voluntary for most NDIS providers. However, certain service categories require mandatory registration regardless of a provider’s participant funding management arrangement. Delivering these supports without registration is a compliance breach and, under the NDIS Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Act 2026, a criminal offence carrying up to five years’ imprisonment.

The following NDIS registration groups currently carry mandatory registration obligations:

For full detail on the mandatory registration changes taking effect in 2026, see NDIS mandatory registration changes.

The most common mistakes providers make when selecting NDIS registration groups

Selecting registration groups sounds straightforward but is one of the most consequential decisions in the registration process. Getting it wrong creates problems that are expensive and slow to fix.

Selecting too few groups

The most common version of this mistake: a provider registers for Supported Independent Living (Group 0115) but does not realise that the community access activities they also deliver require Participation in community, social and civic activities (Group 0125). When a participant wants to use Core Supports funding for a community outing, the provider cannot claim for it, as it falls outside their registered scope.

The practical consequence of under-registration is that you are either delivering supports you are not authorised to claim for, or turning participants away. Both outcomes are bad. Map every support you currently deliver or plan to deliver against the registration group tables above before finalising your application.

Not realising one certification group pulls everything into certification

An OT practice adding a community support program. An allied health provider adding group therapy sessions. A therapeutic support provider adding a capacity-building daily living component. In each case, adding a single certification group to an otherwise verification registration application triggers the full certification pathway — a significantly more expensive and time-consuming process than the provider anticipated.

Before adding any new group, confirm its pathway. If it is certification and your existing groups are verification, model the full cost and timeline implications before proceeding.

Selecting too many groups

The opposite error: registering for every group that might conceivably apply, on the logic that more coverage is better. This inflates your audit scope, your documentation requirements, and your audit cost. AQAs price audits partly on the number of groups being assessed. Registering for groups you do not currently deliver and have no near-term plan to deliver creates compliance obligations — including ongoing surveillance for those groups — without commercial benefit.

Register for the groups that correspond to supports you actually deliver or have a firm plan to deliver within the registration period. You can add groups later through a registration variation.

Confusing NDIS registration groups with support budget categories

The NDIS has a separate system of support budget categories (Core Supports, Capital Supports, Capacity Building) used for participant plan management. Registration groups are not the same as budget categories. A single registration group may encompass supports funded from multiple budget categories, and a single budget category may be relevant to multiple registration groups. Do not use the budget category system to infer which registration groups apply to your services.

Applying for 0106 instead of 0132, or vice versa

There are two support coordination groups, and providers regularly mix them up. Group 0106 covers standard support coordination — helping participants understand and implement their NDIS plan. Group 0132 covers specialised support coordination for participants with complex needs or in crisis situations, requiring higher-level qualifications and experience. If you deliver standard coordination, you need 0106. If you deliver specialised coordination, you need 0132. Many providers who deliver both need both groups. Note that mandatory registration for 0106 was announced and subsequently paused in 2026 — it remains under review.

How to add registration groups after initial registration

If your services expand after you become registered, you can apply to add registration groups through a registration variation. This is not a new registration application — it is an amendment to your existing registration conditions.

However, adding groups is not cost-free. If the new group sits in the same pathway as your existing groups, your AQA may be able to assess the additional group through a focused review rather than a full re-audit. If the new group triggers a pathway change — for example, adding a certification group to an existing verification registration — you will need to complete a full certification audit, which resets your audit cycle and costs significantly more than your original verification audit.

Plan your registration group selection with your medium-term service plans in mind. If you expect to add higher-risk supports within the next three years, it is often more cost-effective to include those groups in your initial registration than to add them later and trigger a pathway change mid-registration period.

How to confirm the right groups for your services

The NDIS Commission’s online registration portal includes a self-assessment tool that maps your planned supports to registration groups. Working through this tool before finalising your application is a useful starting point, but it has limitations — some supports sit close to the boundary between groups, and the tool does not always flag ambiguous cases.

The most reliable way to confirm your registration groups is to:

• Map every support you currently deliver or plan to deliver to the registration group tables above, using the plain-English descriptions to identify the best match.
• Cross-reference against the NDIS Commission’s current registration group schedule at ndiscommission.gov.au. Group assignments can change when the Commission updates its rules, so always verify against the current published list before submitting your application.
• Confirm your selection with an experienced NDIS compliance advisor or your AQA before submitting. An advisor who has worked across many provider registrations will identify non-obvious group requirements and flag pathway implications before they become expensive problems.
• If your services sit close to the boundary between two groups — for example, between therapeutic supports (0128) and high intensity personal activities (0104) — seek a formal assessment rather than assuming the lower-risk group applies.

Related Articles:

NDIS Registration Guide

NDIS Mandatory Registration Changes

How long does NDIS Registration take

NDIS Registration – Top 5 Questions