Allied Health NDIS Audit Checklist: worksheet
NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators. Edition held: Rules Schedules 1 to 8, Compilation No. 6 (F2026C00527) and Quality Indicators Guidelines Compilation No. 3 (F2026C00528), in force 1 July 2026; checked current on 6 October 2026 (Federal Register: both compilations are the latest version on 6 October 2026).
Under review, not in force: The NDIS Commission's review of the Practice Standards (a proposed quality framework and changes to the standards and how they are assessed) is still being considered; nothing from it is in force.
Source: https://compliance.theartofservice.com/frameworks/australia-ndis-practice-standards-and-quality-indicators. Page: https://allied-health-ndis-audit-checklist.theartofservice.com/participant-file-checklist/
| Ref | Requirement (our statement of the clause) | Evidence an auditor or the regulator asks for | Common gap to check | Held (yes, partly, no, not applicable) | Where it is kept | Owner | Last reviewed | Next review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core 19.1 | With the participant's consent, the provider works with the participant and their support network to assess needs and develop a support plan, drawing on appropriate information sources so that needs, support requirements, preferences, strengths and goals are all captured. | Completed intake assessment and support plan in a sample of participant files; Signed consent for assessment and for involving the support network; Reports from other practitioners or the NDIS plan used to inform the assessment; Support planning procedure | Support plan templated and identical across participants; Goals and strengths sections left blank | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 19.2 | Working with each participant, the provider regularly carries out risk assessments, documents them in the support plan, and plans and puts in place strategies to treat the known risks to that participant. | Individual risk assessments filed with the support plan and dated; Risk treatment strategies linked to each identified risk; Records of participant involvement in the risk assessment; Risk assessment review schedule | Risk assessment completed once at intake and never repeated; Strategies listed but not implemented in daily practice notes | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 19.2A | The participant's risk assessment considers how far the participant relies on the provider's services for daily living needs and how much their health and safety would suffer if those services were disrupted. | Risk assessments with a reliance or criticality rating for each participant; Register of participants who would be at high risk if services stopped; Individual plans for backup workers or alternative supports in a disruption; Link between the reliance rating and the emergency and disaster management plan | Reliance on services not assessed, so high-risk participants cannot be prioritised in an emergency; Disruption impact considered at organisation level only | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 19.3 | The provider periodically reviews with each participant whether the risk management strategies are working and adequately addressing the risks, and changes them when needed. | Dated risk strategy reviews in participant files; Progress notes recording discussion of what is and is not working; Updated risk assessments after incidents or changes in circumstances | Review dates passed without any review recorded; Incidents not followed by a review of the related strategy | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 19.4 | The provider reviews each support plan with the participant at least annually, or earlier as needs or circumstances change, and assesses progress toward outcomes and goals at a frequency proportionate to risk, functionality and the participant's wishes. | Support plans showing review dates within twelve months; Plan review records signed or acknowledged by the participant; Goal progress reports or outcome tracking notes; Triggers for early review recorded after hospitalisation or change in needs | Plans more than a year old in the file sample; Progress toward goals not measured or recorded | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 19.5 | Where a participant's progress differs from the expected outcomes and goals, the provider works with the participant to change and update the support plan. | Revised support plans with a change history; Case notes showing the participant was consulted about the change; Outcome reviews identifying goals not being met and the agreed response | Goals carried over unchanged despite no progress; Changes made by staff without the participant's input | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 19.6 | Each participant receives their support plan in the language, mode of communication and terms they are most likely to understand, and the plan is readily accessible to the participant and to the workers supporting them. | Participant copy of the plan in Easy Read, translated or visual form where needed; Record of plan provided to the participant; Client management system access logs or on-site plan folders available to rostered workers; Worker interviews showing they know where the plan is kept | Participant never given a copy of their plan; Casual or agency workers unable to access the plan on shift | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 19.7 | Where appropriate and with consent, the provider communicates the participant's support plan to their support network, other providers and relevant government agencies. | Consent to share the support plan, naming recipients; Correspondence or handover records sending the plan to other providers; Contact list of the participant's support network and involved agencies | Plan shared without recorded consent; Other providers supporting the same participant working from different plans | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 19.9 | Each support plan anticipates individual, provider and community emergencies and disasters, includes responses that protect the participant's safety, health and wellbeing, and is understood by every worker supporting that participant. | Individual emergency and disaster plans or plan sections for each participant; Person-centred emergency preparedness tool or equivalent completed with the participant; Worker sign-off or briefing records for the emergency section of the plan; Drill or scenario records involving participants | Emergency section generic and not specific to the participant's needs; Workers unaware of the participant's evacuation or power-failure arrangements | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 20.1 | The provider develops a service agreement together with each participant that sets expectations, explains the supports to be delivered and states any conditions attached to delivery, including the reasons for those conditions. | Signed service agreements in a sample of participant files; Service agreement template showing supports, conditions and reasons; Meeting notes from the agreement discussion | Conditions such as cancellation rules imposed without explanation; Agreement lists supports not matching those actually delivered | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 20.2 | The provider supports each participant to understand their service agreement and its conditions, using the language, mode of communication and terms the participant is most likely to understand. | Easy Read or translated service agreement versions; Records of interpreter or advocate use during agreement discussions; Participant feedback or interview notes confirming understanding | Complex legal wording with no accessible summary; No support offered to participants with cognitive disability | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 20.3 | Where a service agreement is in writing, each participant receives a copy signed by both the participant and the provider; where that is not practicable or the participant chooses not to have an agreement, the provider records the circumstances. | Agreements signed by both parties with the participant's copy noted as given; File notes recording why an agreement was not signed or not wanted; Agreement register tracking status for each participant | Unsigned agreements with no explanation on file; Only the provider's signature present | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Core 20.5 | Service agreements set out how supports will be provided if an emergency or disaster occurs. SDA providers should also meet the Part 8 SDA outcomes. | Service agreement clause on supports during emergencies and disasters; Cross-reference from the agreement to the participant's emergency plan; Communication sent to participants on changes to supports during a past emergency | Agreements silent on what happens to supports in an outbreak or natural disaster; Emergency arrangements in the agreement inconsistent with the organisation's plan | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 4.1 | Each child's support plan is built on the choice and control of the child and family and is developed together with the family, not written by the provider and handed over. | Family-centred support plans signed or acknowledged by the family; Planning meeting notes showing the family's choices recorded; Family feedback on the planning process | Plans drafted by the therapist before meeting the family; No record of the family's choices in the plan | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 4.2 | The provider recognises and respects what the family knows about their child and draws on that expertise when assessing the child, planning goals and delivering supports, treating the family as partners rather than recipients. | Intake and assessment records capturing the family's knowledge of the child; Plan reviews showing family observations used to adjust strategies; Family satisfaction survey results on being listened to | Family observations not recorded or not reflected in plans; Professional assessment treated as the only valid source | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 4.3 | The provider works in partnership with the family to identify the family's strengths, needs and priorities, and records them so they guide the supports provided. | Family strengths and priorities assessment or ecomap; Support plans linking goals to the priorities the family named; Partnership meeting records | Assessment records only the child's deficits; Family priorities absent from the plan goals | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 4.4 | Each support plan is flexible and individual, reflecting the preferences and learning styles of the child and of each family member who takes part, and is adjusted when those change. | Support plans recording how the child and family members prefer to learn; Records of plan changes made in response to family preferences; Varied delivery modes in session notes (coaching, modelling, written or video guidance) | Template plans with identical strategies for different families; No record of how family members learn best | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 4.5 | Each support plan responds to and respects the family's cultural beliefs and their community, including language, kinship and community practices, and does not ask the family to set aside its beliefs to receive supports. | Cultural information captured at intake (language, cultural practices, community connections); Records of interpreter or cultural liaison use; Cultural responsiveness training records for early childhood workers | Culture recorded at intake but not reflected in the plan; Interpreters not offered to families who need them | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 4.6 | The provider gives information and supports in a clear, easy to understand and flexible way, and integrates the support into the child's everyday routines rather than relying on clinic-only activities. | Routine-based intervention plans (mealtime, bath time, play, getting dressed); Plain-language or translated information resources given to families; Session notes from home or other everyday settings | Strategies only practised in clinic sessions; Written information too technical for the family | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 4.7 | The provider promotes and develops the family's strengths and helps the family build its own network of formal and informal resources, recognising that good outcomes for children do not depend only on therapy programs focused on the child. | Records of referrals or links to playgroups, parent groups and community services; Plans with goals for the family's own network and resources; Progress notes on the family's confidence and strengths | Plans contain only therapy goals with no family network goals; No referrals to community or informal supports | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 4.8 | The provider works with the family to inform and strengthen their participation in, and contribution to, the child's learning and development, so the family can carry strategies into daily life between sessions. | Coaching records showing parents practising strategies with feedback; Family learning resources provided and reviewed; Review notes on the family's contribution to progress | Parents observe sessions but are never coached; No record of what the family contributes between sessions | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 9.1 | Functional outcomes for the child and family are based on their needs and priorities, and the skills needed to reach them are identified by working with the child and family. | Support plans with functional outcomes stated in the family's words; Goal-setting records showing the child's and family's input; Skills analysis linked to each outcome | Outcomes written as clinical targets the family did not choose; Skills needed for each outcome not identified | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 9.2 | Each child has a documented support plan that sets out the interventions to be used and the functional outcomes they are meant to achieve, kept current and reviewed with the family. | Current documented support plan in each child's file; Plan listing interventions against each functional outcome; Plan version and review date control | Plans missing for some children or past their review date; Interventions listed with no link to outcomes | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 9.3 | The family takes an active part in assessing the child and in developing and reviewing the support plan, so the plan reflects what the family sees and wants. | Assessment records showing family participation; Plan review meeting notes with family attendance; Family sign-off on reviewed plans | Reviews done by the practitioner alone; Family not invited to the assessment | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 9.4 | A copy of the support plan is given to the family in the language, mode of communication and terms they are most likely to understand. | Record of the plan copy provided to the family and the date; Translated or plain-language versions of plans where needed; Family confirmation that the plan was understood | No record that the family received the plan; Plan given only in English to families who need another language | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 9.5 | The functional outcomes chosen support the child's meaningful participation in family and community life, such as joining family meals, playgroups, early learning or local activities. | Plan outcomes framed as participation in named family or community activities; Progress reports describing participation gained; Family feedback on changes in daily life | Outcomes limited to isolated skills with no participation focus; Progress reported only as test scores | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a | ||||
| Module 3 9.6 | The provider measures, evaluates and reports on the assessment, intervention planning and outcomes for the child and family in ways the family finds meaningful and understands. | Outcome measurement records using a stated tool at baseline and review; Progress reports written for the family; Records of discussing results with the family | Outcomes never measured after the baseline; Reports written in technical language the family cannot use | ☐ yes ☐ partly ☐ no ☐ n/a |
Completing this worksheet records what your practice holds and where. It does not make a practice compliant or ready for audit, and it is not legal advice.