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NDIS acronyms & jargon, decoded

The NDIS runs on alphabet soup. Here's a plain-English glossary of the terms you'll actually hear, perfect for new staff, participants and families. Search it, bookmark it, share it.

NDIS: National Disability Insurance Scheme: Australia's national scheme that funds supports for people with permanent and significant disability.
NDIA: National Disability Insurance Agency: The government agency that runs the NDIS, approves plans and manages funding.
Participant: A person with disability who has an approved NDIS plan and receives funded supports.
Provider: An individual or organisation that delivers supports or services to NDIS participants.
Registered provider: A provider approved by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to deliver certain supports, having met the Practice Standards.
SIL: Supported Independent Living: Funding for help with daily tasks in a shared or individual living arrangement, usually for people with higher support needs.
SDA: Specialist Disability Accommodation: Funding for housing designed for people with extreme functional impairment or very high support needs. SDA pays for the dwelling, not the support.
SC: Support Coordination: Help to understand and use an NDIS plan, connect with providers and build skills to manage supports.
Navigator: A new role (rolling out 2026 to 2028) replacing support coordinators and local area coordinators, helping participants navigate the NDIS and mainstream services.
LAC: Local Area Coordinator: A person or organisation that helps people understand and access the NDIS and connect with community supports.
Plan: A participant's approved set of goals and funded supports for a set period.
Plan management: How a participant's NDIS funding is managed: self-managed, plan-managed, or NDIA-managed.
Plan manager: A provider who pays a participant's invoices and tracks their budget on their behalf.
Self-managed: When a participant manages their own NDIS funding, choosing and paying providers directly.
NDIA-managed (agency-managed): When the NDIA pays providers directly; the participant can only use registered providers.
Core supports: Funding for everyday activities and disability-related needs: the most flexible budget category.
Capacity building supports: Funding to build a participant's skills and independence, such as therapy or employment support.
Capital supports: Funding for higher-cost items like assistive technology, home modifications or SDA.
Reasonable and necessary: The test the NDIA uses to decide if a support will be funded in a participant's plan.
Price Guide / Pricing Arrangements: The NDIA document setting the maximum prices providers can charge for supports.
Line item: A specific support with its own code and price in the NDIS Price Guide.
Service agreement: A written agreement between a provider and participant setting out the supports, costs and expectations.
Service booking: An allocation of a participant's funding to a registered provider (used in NDIA-managed plans).
Practice Standards: The quality standards registered providers must meet, assessed at audit.
Quality and Safeguards Commission: The body that regulates NDIS providers, handles complaints and runs the worker screening and registration systems.
Audit: An independent assessment of whether a provider meets the NDIS Practice Standards, required for registration.
Verification vs Certification audit: Verification is a lighter audit for lower-risk supports; certification is a deeper, on-site audit for higher-risk supports like SIL.
Mid-term audit: A check around 18 months into a registration period to confirm a provider still meets the standards.
Reportable incident: A serious incident (such as abuse, neglect or serious injury) that must be reported to the Commission within set timeframes.
Worker screening / NDIS Worker Screening Check: A national check workers must pass to deliver certain NDIS supports.
NDIS Worker Orientation Module: A free online course ("Quality, Safety and You") workers complete to understand their obligations.
Code of Conduct: The behaviour standards all NDIS providers and workers must follow, registered or not.
Restrictive practice: Any practice that restricts a person's rights or freedom of movement; tightly regulated and must be authorised and reported.
Behaviour Support Plan (BSP): A plan developed by a specialist to reduce behaviours of concern and the need for restrictive practices.
Positive Behaviour Support (PBS): An evidence-based approach to improving quality of life and reducing behaviours of concern.
Functional capacity: What a person can do day to day; assessed to determine support needs.
AT: Assistive Technology: Equipment or devices that help a participant do things they otherwise couldn't, like wheelchairs or communication devices.
OT: Occupational Therapist: An allied health professional who helps people do everyday activities and recommends equipment or modifications.
Allied health: Health professionals such as physios, OTs, speech pathologists and psychologists who deliver therapy supports.
Roster of care: A document showing how SIL supports are delivered across a week for participants in a shared arrangement.
Plan reassessment (review): The process of updating or renewing a participant's plan, usually before it ends.
Stated support: A support in a plan that must be used exactly as described and can't be swapped for something else.
Flexible funding: Funding (typically in Core) a participant can spend across different supports as they choose.
In-kind support: A support paid for by government in advance, where the participant must use a specific provider.
Participant outcomes: The goals and life changes the NDIS aims to achieve for a participant, tracked over time.
Mainstream services: Services outside the NDIS: like health, education and housing: that participants also use.
Informal supports: Unpaid help from family, friends or the community.
Capacity: A participant's ability to make their own decisions; the NDIS presumes capacity.
Nominee: A person appointed to make decisions or act on a participant's behalf.
Provider Travel: Time and costs a provider can claim for travelling to deliver a support, within Price Guide rules.
Cancellation (short notice): When a participant cancels without enough notice; providers may claim a fee under the Price Guide rules.
NDIS myplace portal: The online system participants and providers use to manage plans, bookings and claims.
PRODA: The Provider Digital Access system used to securely log in to government services including the myplace provider portal.
Bulk payment / claim: How registered providers claim payment for supports delivered, in batches, through the portal.

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