Implementing providers have a responsibility to:
- protect the rights of people with disability
- work together to help improve a person’s quality of life
- reduce and stop the use of regulated restrictive practices.
Legislation
Implementing providers must follow these rules under the NDIS Act
Implementing providers
Implementing providers are any NDIS providers who, in the course of delivering NDIS supports, implement behaviour support plans and/or use regulated restrictive practices. They must be registered.
Apply to become an implementing provider
The term implementing provider is not defined in NDIS legislation. It was introduced by the Commission to clarify the separate roles of NDIS providers who develop behaviour support plans and those that implement behaviour support plans, including those that contain regulated restrictive practices.
An NDIS provider may also be an implementing provider, if, during the delivery of NDIS supports, there is a need to use a regulated restrictive practice in relation to an NDIS participant. For example, the use of an unauthorised restrictive practice while waiting for authorisation or for a behaviour support plan to be developed.
All the of steps an implementing provider needs to do are outlined in the Implementing provider checklist.
The following rules are legislative requirements that implementing providers must follow. The NDIS Commission can take regulatory actions if an NDIS provider does not follow the rules. See the Compliance and Enforcement policy.
The rules place clear responsibilities on NDIS providers to deliver high quality supports, reflect on current practices, and take action to improve outcomes for people with disability.
These are some of the rules under the NDIS Act. It is important to be aware of all your obligations as an implementing provider by referring to the legislation.
Apply to become a registered provider who can implement behaviour support plans and use restrictive practices
Providers who implement behaviour support plans that contain regulated restrictive practices need to be:
- registered with the NDIS Commission
- audited against the supplementary NDIS Practice Standard Module 2A: Implementing behaviour support plans.
It is a breach of the NDIS Rules for an unregistered provider to use regulated restrictive practices. The NDIS Commission can take a range of actions against breaches, including education, enforcement, or banning providers from operating in the NDIS market.
Requirements when implementing behaviour support plans
The Implementing provider checklist promotes best practice around the implementation of behaviour support plans. It outlines requirements for the use of regulated restrictive practices and summarises the conditions of registration that apply to implementing providers.
It also aims to assist implementing providers with reviewing and improving their practices, and to meet the legislative requirements. Implementing providers and workers are encouraged to use this tool to assist with compliance and continuous improvement.
Supporting the development of a behaviour support plan
If a regulated restrictive practice will be used on an ongoing basis, a provider must engage a specialist behaviour support provider to develop a behaviour support plan.
This must happen within the following timeframes:
- Interim plan: within 1 month of when the regulated restrictive practice was first used.
- Comprehensive plan: within 6 months of when the regulated restrictive practice was first used.
Practical steps and actions an implementing provider can take to support the development of behaviour support plan are detailed in this guide: Facilitating the development of behaviour support plans.
The NDIS Commission has a register of suitable NDIS behaviour support practitioners.
See section 11 of the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018.
Behaviour support plans
Once the behaviour support plan is lodged in the NDIS Commission portal by the specialist behaviour support provider, the implementing provider needs to:
Activating a behaviour support plan
Follow the instructions in Activating a plan and lodging evidence (see page 4).
If you know a behaviour support plan has been developed but it hasn’t been uploaded in the portal, please:
- contact the behaviour support practitioner and ask them to upload it
- if this doesn't resolve the issue, email us at behavioursupport@ndiscommission.gov.au and let us know about the missing plan.
Authorisation to use regulated restrictive practices
An implementing provider is responsible for getting authorisation to use regulated restrictive practices. You do this with the authorising body in the state or territory the person with disability lives in.
See the authorising requirements in each state or territory in Restrictive Practices Authorisation Frameworks: Australian States and Territories.
You must lodge evidence of the authorisation with the NDIS Commission through the NDIS Commission Portal. Follow the instructions in Activating a plan and lodging evidence (see page 7).
See section 9 of the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018.
Reporting authorised (regulated) restrictive practices: monthly reporting
Implementing providers must submit monthly reports on the use of regulated restrictive practices to the NDIS Commission. This includes when a practice is not used.
Monthly reporting is done in the Registered providers portal. See Monthly reporting on the use of regulated restrictive practices.
Monthly reporting should be completed within 5 business days of month end.
See section 14 of the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018.
Reporting restrictive practices in a lodged behaviour support plan
When a behaviour support plan is lodged, the NDIS behaviour support practitioner creates a list (also known as a schedule) of the regulated restrictive practices.
The implementing provider is required to report monthly on the use of these practices.
Reporting on expired plans
Monthly reports can be submitted against plans with a status of active, expired or partially active.
Only the provider that has activated the plan in 'partially active' status can submit reports.
If you can't complete monthly reporting in the Registered providers portal, it may be due to one of these issues.
It's a new plan and it hasn't been uploaded by the behaviour support practitioner
See accessing a behaviour support plan.
It's a new plan and it hasn't been activated
Please activate the plan, see Activating a behaviour support plan and Authorisation to use regulated restrictive practices.
The restrictive practice you're trying to report isn't in the restrictive practices schedule
Discuss this with the behaviour support practitioner who developed the plan. They will need to update the schedule in the portal or relodge the plan if there's an error.
The plan has been closed
You can still do monthly reporting on expired plans, but not on closed plans.
- If a plan is closed (even in error) it cannot be re-activated, and monthly reports cannot be submitted.
- If a new plan has been developed, you will do your reporting on that.
Reporting unauthorised restrictive practices: reportable incidents
A restrictive practice is unauthorised if it:
- is not in a behaviour support plan
- has not been authorised in accordance with the state or territory authorisation process
- is not being used in accordance with the behaviour support plan.
Unauthorised restrictive practices are considered a reportable incident.
They must be reported to the NDIS Commission as a reportable incident within 5 business days of the provider becoming aware of the incident.
Reviews and recordkeeping
An implementing provider must let a specialist behaviour support provider know when something happens that requires the behaviour support plan to be reviewed.
They must also keep written information about the use of the regulated restrictive practices.
See section 10 and 15 of the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018.
Working together to provide effective behaviour support
Specialist behaviour support providers and implementing providers have shared responsibilities to work together and ensure participants receive effective behaviour support.
Shared responsibilities include:
Behaviour support
All participants have access to behaviour support that:
- meets their individual needs
- is based on evidence-informed practices
- follows Commonwealth, state and territory laws and policies.
Implementing the behaviour support plan
Providers must ensure that each participant's behaviour support plan is implemented effectively to meet their needs. For example, providers working together to provide person-focused training to NDIS workers so they can effectively implement a behaviour support plan. See the NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators.
Monitoring and reviewing the behaviour support plan
Every participant should have an up-to-date behaviour support plan that:
- reflects their needs, improves their quality of life, and supports positive progress
- aims to reduce and eventually eliminate any regulated restrictive practices, if applicable.
See Schedule 3 and 4 of the NDIS (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018.
Behaviour support resources
More information about behaviour support is available at Behaviour support resources.