Corrective action template, with a worked example

A corrective action plan is what the auditor asks for after a finding, and you may have to write it inside a week. The auditor scheme defines it: "an action plan developed by the provider that defines those corrections and corrective actions to be taken by the provider to address identified non-conformities."¹ The record below is that plan plus the evidence and the closure: a template built on the scheme's definition, and a worked example on an expired worker screening check.

Why the record matters more than the fix

Two things make the written record load-bearing.

The clock is short. The scheme requires the auditor to have the provider "present a corrective action plan to it within seven calendar days of written notification of the non-conformity".² Major non-conformities "shall be downgraded or closed within three calendar months of initial written notification".³ Minor ones must be closed within eighteen calendar months of initial written notification, at the mid-term or recertification audit, whichever comes first; otherwise they escalate to major.⁴

The finding follows you. At a mid-term audit the auditor must assess "any standard for which a previous assessment by an approved quality auditor identified a need for the provider to implement a corrective action plan".⁵ Follow-up on a major finding "may entail a desktop review of documentation, supplemented by telephone interviews of workers and participants".⁶ That review reads the record, which is why the template below is built around cause, change and check.

The Commission puts the intent plainly: "If a non-conformity is raised, it does not mean you've failed. It means something needs to be corrected or strengthened."⁷

The template

Seven fields. The scheme's definition names both corrections and corrective actions, and defines neither. We give field 3 two parts and draw the distinction ourselves: the correction fixes this instance; the corrective action fixes what let it happen. That distinction is our guidance, not the instrument's. The quality indicators expect the system to be "reviewed and updated as required to improve support delivery", which is the discipline field 7 is for.⁸

CORRECTIVE ACTION RECORD
Ref: CA-____          Raised: __/__/____

1. FINDING
   What, where, by whom, on what date. Quote
   the standard or indicator it sits under.
   Rate it as the auditor did.
   _____________________________________

2. ROOT CAUSE
   Not "the check expired" but why the system
   let it. Ask "why" until the answer is a
   missing control, an unowned step or a
   record nobody reads.
   _____________________________________

3. ACTION
   a) Correction (this instance):
   _____________________________________
   b) Corrective action (the cause):
   _____________________________________

4. OWNER
   One named person per action; a role is not
   an owner.
   _____________________________________

5. DUE DATE
   One date per action. Corrections are
   usually today; corrective actions within
   the auditor's timeframe.
   _____________________________________

6. EVIDENCE OF COMPLETION
   The dated document that proves each action
   happened: the register entry, the roster,
   the signed acknowledgement, the amended
   procedure and version.
   _____________________________________

7. EFFECTIVENESS CHECK
   How and when you will test that the cause
   is gone, not just the instance: who checks,
   what they sample, the date.
   _____________________________________

Closed by: ______________  Date: __/__/____
Reviewed at management meeting: __/__/____

Worked example: an expired worker screening check

Illustrative: roles, days and details are invented; this is not a record of any provider.

The requirement first. A registered provider "must only allow a worker to engage in a risk assessed role, if the worker has a clearance".⁹ A clearance is a decision that is "current and operative".¹⁰ The Rules let a person without a clearance into a risk assessed role only where every limb of one of the exceptions is met. The exception in section 14(1)(a) has four limbs: the person is in the process of obtaining a clearance; the person is "appropriately supervised by a person with a clearance"; the provider is implementing a risk management plan; and the law of the state or territory allows a person to work in a risk assessed role while obtaining a clearance.¹¹ "In the process" starts only on the day a complete application is submitted.¹² An application is complete for that purpose only once the screening unit has issued a written notice confirming it, the provider has confirmed to the unit that the person is or intends to be a worker, the provider has seen the notice, and the provider has recorded the application number on it.¹³ Section 14A switches that exception off where all four of its limbs are met: the person has submitted an application for a clearance; the law of the participating jurisdiction in which the application is submitted "prohibits a person from engaging in a risk assessed role while the person is in the process of obtaining a clearance"; the person does not have an acceptable check that applies in that jurisdiction; and a decision has not been made on the application.¹⁴ The Commission's direction on this is short: "Check the requirements in the states or territories you operate in."¹⁵ The Commission's page for registered providers puts the term of a check at five years: "An NDIS worker screening check is valid for 5 years."¹⁶ The provider "must keep the written list up-to-date"¹⁷ and, where the provider may only allow the worker to engage in a risk assessed role with a clearance, that list must include "the worker's NDIS worker screening check outcome and any expiry date for that outcome".¹⁸ Those records are kept "for 7 years from the date the record is made".¹⁹

The root cause names controls, not people, so the corrective action can be tested; and the effectiveness check samples the future, which is what the mid-term audit will do.

Before you close a record

• The finding quotes the standard or indicator, and says who found it and when.
• The root cause is a missing or failed control, not a restatement of the finding.
• Correction and corrective action are separate lines with separate owners and dates.
• Every action has a named person, not only a role.
• Each completion evidence item is a dated document you could hand over today.
• The effectiveness check has a date, a method and a person, and it has been done.
• The closure was seen above the person who did the work: the indicators expect management performance to be "monitored by the governing body to drive continuous improvement in management practices".²³

What ProviderQMS does here

Worker checks, actions and evidence sit in one workspace: each action carries an owner and a date, and Home ranks what is overdue, expiring and due, with the reason attached. Workspace records you create in the app are stored in your browser on the device you use. Account storage that follows you between devices arrives in October.

Sources

Each numbered line is the document or page a quotation above was taken from, with the date we opened it.

1. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 4 (definition of corrective action plan)
   Opened 27 August 2026.“an action plan developed by the provider that defines those corrections and corrective actions to be taken by the provider to address identified non-conformities”
2. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex C item 1
   Opened 27 August 2026.“present a corrective action plan to it within seven calendar days of written notification of the non-conformity”
3. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex C item 4
   Opened 27 August 2026.“Major non-conformities shall be downgraded or closed within three calendar months of initial written notification of the non-conformity”
4. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex C item 6
   Opened 27 August 2026.“closed out within eighteen calendar months of initial written notification at the mid-term or recertification audit (whichever comes first)”
5. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, s 13B(5)(b)
   Opened 27 August 2026.“any standard for which a previous assessment by an approved quality auditor identified a need for the provider to implement a corrective action plan”
6. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex C item 9
   Opened 27 August 2026.“may entail a desktop review of documentation, supplemented by telephone interviews of workers and participants”
7. The quality audit process | NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
   Opened 27 August 2026.“If a non-conformity is raised, it does not mean you've failed. It means something needs to be corrected or strengthened.”
8. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 13(1)
   Opened 27 August 2026.“The system is reviewed and updated as required to improve support delivery.”
9. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 13(a)
   Opened 27 August 2026.“must only allow a worker to engage in a risk assessed role, if the worker has a clearance”
10. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 5 (definition of clearance)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“being a decision which is current and operative”
11. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 14(1)(a)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the person is in the process of obtaining a clearance; (ii) the person is appropriately supervised by a person with a clearance”
12. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 15(1)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“starting on the day on which the person submits a complete application for a clearance to the relevant NDIS worker screening unit”
13. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 15(3)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“that unit has issued a notice in writing to the person confirming that the application has been made”
14. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 14A(1)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Paragraphs 14(1)(a) and 14(2)(a) do not apply to a person if: (a) the person has submitted an application for a clearance to an NDIS worker screening unit; and (b) the law of the participating jurisdiction in which the application is submitted prohibits a person from engaging in a risk assessed role while the person is in the process of obtaining a clearance; and (c) the person does not have an acceptable check that applies in that participating jurisdiction; and (d) a decision has not been made on the application”
15. Worker screening for registered providers | NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Check the requirements in the states or territories you operate in.”
16. Worker screening for registered providers | NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
    Opened 27 August 2026.“An NDIS worker screening check is valid for 5 years.”
17. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 18(2)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“The registered NDIS provider must keep the written list up-to-date.”
18. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 18(3)(d)(iii)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the worker's NDIS worker screening check outcome and any expiry date for that outcome”
19. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 21
    Opened 27 August 2026.“A record subject to this Part must be kept for 7 years from the date the record is made.”
20. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 17(2)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Records of worker pre-employment checks, qualifications and experience are maintained.”
21. Worker screening for registered providers | NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Start and end date of the period they are working without a screening clearance.”
22. Worker screening | NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
    Opened 27 August 2026.“You can apply to renew your worker screening check up to 90 days before the expiry date of your current check.”
23. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 11(5)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“is monitored by the governing body to drive continuous improvement in management practices”