The NDIS Code of Conduct for support workers
The NDIS Code of Conduct explained for support workers — the seven expectations, what they mean day to day, and why they apply even to unregistered and independent workers.
What is the NDIS Code of Conduct — and does it apply to you?
The seven elements of the Code, in plain English
Respect, choice and dignity of risk
Working safely and within your competence
Honesty, integrity and professional boundaries
Preventing and responding to abuse, neglect and violence
Restrictive practices: a special watch-out
Worker screening: the check behind the Code
What happens if you breach the Code — banning orders and penalties
How to speak up: complaints, whistleblowing and your protections
Common mistakes that lead to Code breaches
Staying on the right side of the Code, every shift
Frequently asked questions
Does the NDIS Code of Conduct apply to unregistered providers and independent support workers?
Yes. The Code of Conduct applies to all NDIS providers and all workers delivering NDIS supports, whether the provider is registered or unregistered, and whether you're an employee or an independent contractor found through a platform. Registration changes your employer's audit and paperwork obligations, but it does not change your personal duty to follow the Code. If you're paid to support an NDIS participant, the Code binds you personally — and you can be held accountable even if your employer told you to do something.
What are the seven elements of the NDIS Code of Conduct?
The seven elements require you to respect individual rights to freedom of expression, self-determination and decision-making; respect the privacy of people with disability; provide supports safely and competently with care and skill; act with integrity, honesty and transparency; promptly raise and act on quality and safety concerns; take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation; and take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct. Four are about what you actively do well and three are about harm you must never do or tolerate. The current wording sits with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
What happens if a support worker breaches the Code of Conduct?
The NDIS Commission can investigate and take compliance action against you personally. Responses range from education and compliance notices to enforceable undertakings, and for serious or repeated breaches a banning order that stops you working with NDIS participants for a period or permanently, with details potentially on a public register. In serious cases civil penalties may apply, and conduct that is also criminal (assault, theft, fraud) can be dealt with by police separately. Because a banning order follows the individual and can be published, a breach can end your career across the whole sector, not just cost you one job.
Can I accept gifts or lend money to a participant?
No, not in ways that cross professional boundaries. Borrowing or lending money in either direction, buying or selling goods, using their cards or accounts, being named in a will, or accepting gifts beyond genuinely token gestures all risk breaching the integrity element, because support work happens in private and one-on-one where exploitation is easy and hard to detect. Always follow your provider's gift and financial-conduct policy, and when someone offers something generous, decline warmly and explain that boundaries protect them as much as you.
What should I do if I see another worker mistreating a participant?
Act — the Code puts a positive duty on you to prevent and respond to harm, so staying silent is itself a breach. Make the participant safe first (call 000 if there's immediate danger), attend to their needs, then document what you saw factually — observations, not conclusions — and report it through your provider's incident and complaints process as soon as possible. If the provider fails to act, or is part of the problem, you can complain directly to the NDIS Commission. Serious matters such as abuse, neglect or unexplained serious injury are reportable incidents the registered provider must notify to the Commission within set timeframes.
Is the NDIS Code of Conduct the same thing as my pay award?
No, and it's important to keep them separate. The Code of Conduct is about your behaviour and safety obligations and is enforced by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Your pay, penalty rates and loadings come from the SCHADS Award (MA000100) set by Fair Work — a completely different system — and both of those are separate again from the NDIS price limits a provider charges to a participant's plan. Confirm pay questions with the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool and conduct questions with the NDIS Commission.
Do I need special training before doing tasks like PEG feeding or bowel care?
Yes. These are high-intensity daily personal activities that require specific, documented training and sign-off, and doing them without being trained and assessed breaches the 'safe and competent' element of the Code — even if the participant asks you to and even if it seems to go fine. The same applies to any restrictive practice, which must be authorised and written into the person's behaviour support plan, and used exactly as prescribed, before you go anywhere near it. If a shift asks you to do something you haven't been trained for, refusing until you're properly trained is you following the Code correctly, not being difficult.