Stage 1 audit: an evidence checklist — ProviderQMS
Provider Assurance Centre

Stage 1 audit: an evidence checklist

What a Stage 1 audit looks at, where the document request comes from, and the evidence to have ready for each part of it.

Audit preparationSIL & Module 5ATemplates & checklists

Last checked 27 August 2026 — every quotation on this page was read at its own source on that date.

On this page

Your auditor's Stage 1 request is not a wish-list. Each item below traces back to a clause in the NDIS Practice Standards, a quality indicator, one of the Rules that sit beside them, or the Commission's own audit scheme and application pages — and each carries the source it traces to, so you know why it is on the list before your auditor asks for it.

What Stage 1 is

A certification audit has two stages, and the approved quality auditor scheme defines both.1 Stage 1 is usually the off-site review; Stage 2 is normally the visit.2 At Stage 1 the auditor reviews three things: the self-assessment you completed in the Commission's portal and the documents you attached to it; your previous audit outcome and corrective actions, if you have been audited before; and anything extra the Commission has raised.3

The Stage 1 finding does two things. It states whether what you supplied has enough content to meet the modules in your scope.4 And it sets out which registration groups, key personnel and participants Stage 2 will involve.5 The first is a content test. Whether the documents are actually in use is Stage 2's job.6

Three timing rules shape how you plan:

  • You receive the Stage 1 findings at least two weeks before Stage 2 if a non-conformity was found or is suspected, and at least one week before if none was.7
  • Stage 2 should begin within three months of Stage 1 finishing.8
  • If the audit team thinks you are unlikely to be ready, they tell you, and tell the Commission that Stage 2 is likely to be delayed.9

One more thing worth knowing: every document you hand the auditor at Stage 1 is uploaded to your record on the Commission's system.10 What you send is on file.

Where the request comes from

The Practice Standards Rules carry a table matching each class of supports to the schedule of standards that applies and the assessment method. For assistance with supported independent living, the entry reads "Schedules 1 and 7A certification".11 Schedule 1 is the core module. Schedule 7A is Module 5A.

The auditor reads your documents against the Quality Indicators Guidelines, which sit under each standard and list what "should be demonstrated" to achieve its outcome.12 That is why the checklist below is arranged by indicator, not by document name.

And the Commission is direct about documents you did not write yourself: they must describe your organisation.13 Tailoring is not optional.

The checklist

Tick an item only when the document exists, names your organisation, and the record behind it has entries.

1. The application layer (Commission portal)

  • Self-assessment against each applicable standard, with the evidence named in each comment.14
  • Your Initial scope of audit document — it sets the audit type, your registration groups, delivery types, the standards in scope and what to share with the auditor.15
  • Renewals: the previous audit report and the corrective actions closed since.16

2. Governance and operational management (Schedule 1, Part 3)

The outcome the auditor is testing: each participant's support "is overseen by robust governance and operational management systems relevant and proportionate to the size and scale of the provider".17

  • Governance structure, and a written delegation for when a position holder is absent.18
  • Conflict-of-interest policy and the register it feeds.19
  • Risk management system and risk register covering incidents, complaints, finance, governance, human resources, information, work health and safety, and emergency and disaster management.20
  • Current insurance certificates — professional indemnity, public liability, accident.21
  • Quality management system, with an internal audit program and a continuous improvement record.22
  • Information management: consent records, and procedures for storage, retention and destruction.23
  • Complaints: the documented system in a form participants and workers can read, and a register recording each complaint, the action taken and the outcome, kept for seven years.24
  • Incidents: the documented system in an accessible form, and a register with a field for every detail the Rules set as the minimum — description and impact, whether it is reportable, when it happened or was first noticed and where, people involved and witnesses, the assessment, actions taken, consultation with those affected, whether those affected were given any report or findings, any investigation and its outcome, and who made the record.25
  • Reportable incident procedure that carries both clocks. Death, serious injury, abuse or neglect, unlawful sexual or physical contact or assault, and sexual misconduct: 24 hours.26 Every other reportable incident: five business days.27 Records kept seven years.28
  • Human resources: position descriptions; records of pre-employment checks, qualifications and experience; induction including the mandatory NDIS worker orientation; a training system; supervision and performance records.29
  • Worker screening: a written list of your risk assessed roles30 and a written list of every worker in one, with their check outcome and expiry.31
  • Continuity of supports arrangements, and an emergency and disaster management plan.32

3. Rights and provision of supports (Schedule 1, Parts 2, 4 and 5)

  • Policies covering person-centred supports, individual values and beliefs, privacy and dignity, independence and informed choice, and freedom from violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation or discrimination.33
  • Intake and access procedure; support planning procedure with a review cycle; service agreement template; transition procedure.34
  • Safe environment, participant money and property, and medication management procedures.35

4. Module 5A — assistance with supported independent living (Schedule 7A)

Schedule 7A carries four standards: supported decision-making, safeguarding, practice governance, and agreements about tenancy, housing and support arrangements.36

  • Supported decision-making policy and procedure for workers, and training and refresher records.37
  • Safeguarding policy that balances dignity of risk with safety in the home, and procedures for bullying and conflict between people who live together.38
  • Worker training records in de-escalation, trauma-informed practice and positive behaviour support.39
  • Practice governance documents, and your tenancy, housing and support agreement arrangements, written for the homes you actually operate in.40

5. Before Stage 2: the participant notice

Not a portal item — it comes from the audit sampling rules.

  • Participant notice that they are automatically included in the audit, plus a record of anyone who opted out.41

Why the registers matter at Stage 1

Stage 2 is drawn from the records behind these documents, and you do not choose the draw. Auditors may not let you pre-select the files or the people they sample.42 Sampled workers span governance, management and service delivery, across shifts where that applies.43 For a certification audit the minimum participant sample is the square root of your sample population, rounded up44 — unless that population is five or fewer, in which case the minimum is all of them.45

So a policy with an empty register behind it may have enough content for Stage 1 and arrive at Stage 2 with nothing to show. Build the register the day the policy is adopted.

If you deliver supported independent living: the date

From 1 July 2026 you need to be registered with the Commission to provide supported independent living.46 The Rules carry a transitional provision beside that date. It reaches a provider that was delivering supported independent living before 1 July 202647 and was not registered then.48 For that provider, where an application is made before 1 October 2026,49 the requirement applies from the day the Commissioner decides that application.50 Without such an application, it applies from 1 October 2026.51 The Rules decide whether that reaches you. Their test begins with whether the participant "requires constant, or immediately available, person-to-person supports at all times during a day, or for a substantial portion of a day".52 The Commission puts the same line plainly — a few hours of support a day or week is not supported independent living.53 Its page on what happens if you have not applied by 1 October 202654 answers that a provider currently delivering these supports that chose not to apply will need to stop providing them.55

The application form carries the self-assessment and its evidence, alongside questions about the suitability of your organisation and key personnel.56 So most of this checklist is also your application.

What ProviderQMS does here

The SIL kit is 109 documents covering the Core Module and Module 5A areas, for you to put your own organisation into — the Commission expects nothing less. It ships registers for incident, complaints, conflict of interest, risk, worker screening, training, continuous improvement and participant money. The entries in them are yours to make, from the day each policy is adopted.

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 13
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Certification audits shall comprise both those activities in a stage one audit as specified in section 14, and those activities in a stage two audit”
  2. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 15(10)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Subject to subsection 15(11), a stage two audit shall be conducted on-site.”
  3. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 14(1)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“a stage one audit is an off-site audit that shall incorporate a review of”
  4. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 14(5)(a)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“state whether the range of documents and information supplied displayed sufficient content to meet the requirements of the relevant modules”
  5. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 14(5)(b)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“clearly identify the NDIS provider's registration class(es)/groups that will be included in the audit, key personnel, and number of participants”
  6. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 15(1)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of the NDIS provider's systems in addressing all relevant modules or parts of the NDIS Practice Standards”
  7. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 14(4)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“supply the NDIS provider with the findings of the stage one audit at least two weeks before the commencement date of stage two audit”
  8. The quality audit process
    Opened 27 August 2026.“The Stage 2 onsite audit should take place in the 3 months after the Stage 1 audit is complete.”
  9. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 14(6)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“shall inform the NDIS provider and also inform the Commission using the Commission's system that the stage two audit is likely to be delayed”
  10. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 17(4)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“any document provided to the approved quality auditor by the NDIS provider as part of a stage one audit, shall be uploaded”
  11. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, s 20(3) table item 38
    Opened 27 August 2026.“38 assistance with supported independent living Schedules 1 and 7A certification.”
  12. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, the line under each outcome (e.g. s 13)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“To achieve this outcome, the following indicators should be demonstrated”
  13. Apply for registration
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the responses in your application are specific to your organisation and are not a direct copy of purchased documents”
  14. Apply for registration
    Opened 27 August 2026.“a self-assessment against the applicable NDIS Practice Standards, including evidence to support comments”
  15. Apply for registration
    Opened 27 August 2026.“an Initial scope of audit document that explains: the type of audit you need”
  16. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, s 14(1)(b)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the prior NDIS provider certification or verification outcome, corrective actions and audit report, if applicable”
  17. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, Schedule 1 cl 9
    Opened 27 August 2026.“overseen by robust governance and operational management systems relevant and proportionate to the size and scale of the provider”
  18. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 11(7)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“a documented system of delegated responsibility and authority to another suitable person in the absence of a usual position holder”
  19. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 11(8)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Perceived and actual conflicts of interest are proactively managed and documented”
  20. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 12(2)–(3)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“A documented risk management system that effectively manages identified risks is in place”
  21. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 12(6)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Appropriate insurance is in place, including professional indemnity, public liability and accident insurance.”
  22. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 13(2)–(3)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“The provider's quality management system has a documented program of internal audits”
  23. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 14(1), (4)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Documents are stored with appropriate use, access, transfer, storage, security, retrieval, retention, destruction and disposal processes”
  24. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Complaints Management and Resolution) Rules 2018, s 10
    Opened 27 August 2026.“A record made for the purposes of subsection (2) must be kept for 7 years from the day the record is made.”
  25. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules 2018, s 12(1)–(2)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the following details, as a minimum, to be recorded in relation to each incident that occurs”
  26. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules 2018, s 20(1)–(2)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“must notify the Commissioner of the following information within 24 hours”
  27. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules 2018, s 21(1)–(2)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“be given within 5 business days after the provider became aware that the reportable incident occurred”
  28. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules 2018, s 25(2)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“The record must be kept for 7 years from the day that notification of the reportable incident is given”
  29. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 17(1)–(6)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Records of worker pre-employment checks, qualifications and experience are maintained.”
  30. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 17(1)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“must keep a written list of all roles with the registered NDIS provider which are risk assessed roles”
  31. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Practice Standards—Worker Screening) Rules 2018, s 18(1), (3)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the worker's NDIS worker screening check outcome and any expiry date for that outcome”
  32. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, Schedule 1 cll 16, 16A
    Opened 27 August 2026.“ensures the continuity of supports critical to the health, safety and wellbeing of participants in an emergency or disaster”
  33. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, Schedule 1 cll 3–7
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Each participant can access supports free from violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation or discrimination.”
  34. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, Schedule 1 cll 18–22
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Support plans reflect participant needs, requirements, preferences, strengths and goals, and are regularly reviewed.”
  35. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, Schedule 1 cll 24–26
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Participant money and property is secure and each participant uses their own money and property as they determine.”
  36. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, Schedule 7A cll 3–6
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Each participant is supported to live in a safe, respectful and supportive home environment.”
  37. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 72B(4)–(5)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Policies and procedures are in place to facilitate supported decision-making by workers.”
  38. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 72C(2), (6)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Policies and procedures are in place to balance and respect participants' dignity of risk in decision-making”
  39. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, s 72C(3)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“ensuring workers are trained in de-escalation, trauma-informed practice and positive behaviour support”
  40. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018, ss 72D–72E
    Opened 27 August 2026.“72E Agreements about tenancy, housing and support arrangements”
  41. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex B.3
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the provider needs to document and respect that decision, and communicate it to the approved quality auditor”
  42. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex B.5(c)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“Approved quality auditors shall not allow the provider to pre-select samples.”
  43. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex B.5(e)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“The workers sampled shall include workers in governance, management and service delivery roles, from all shifts (where applicable).”
  44. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex B.4 Step 5(iii)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“take the square root of the sample population number and round up to the nearest integer. The result is the minimum sample size”
  45. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex B.4 Step 4(i)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the sample population number is 5 or less, then the sample population number is the minimum sample size for that provider”
  46. Apply for registration
    Opened 27 August 2026.“From 1 July 2026, you need to be registered with the NDIS Commission to provide supported independent living”
  47. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, s 32(2)(b)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“if the provider of the support is an existing NDIS provider that, before 1 July 2026, had provided assistance with supported independent living”
  48. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, s 32(1)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“existing NDIS provider means a person or entity (other than a registered NDIS provider) who was an NDIS provider immediately before 1 July 2026”
  49. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, s 32(2)(b)(i)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“in the case that the provider makes an application, before 1 October 2026, under subsection 73C(1) of the Act to be registered to provide”
  50. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, s 32(2)(b)(i)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the day on which the Commissioner makes a decision under subsection 73E(1) of the Act on the application”
  51. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, s 32(2)(b)(ii)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“otherwise—1 October 2026”
  52. National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018, s 7(5)(a)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“the participant requires constant, or immediately available, person-to-person supports at all times during a day, or for a substantial portion of a day”
  53. Mandatory registration and transition pathways for supported independent living (SIL)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“It is not supported independent living if: a person only receives a few hours of support a day or week”
  54. Mandatory registration and transition pathways for supported independent living (SIL)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“What happens if I choose not to apply, or I haven't applied by 1 October 2026?”
  55. Mandatory registration and transition pathways for supported independent living (SIL)
    Opened 27 August 2026.“chose not to apply for registration, you will need to stop providing supported independent living supports”
  56. Apply for registration
    Opened 27 August 2026.“questions about the suitability of the applicant and key personnel”
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