How to Get NDIS Clients

Most advice on how to get NDIS clients is written from the provider's side. This guide is written from the other side. Providers talk about marketing. Support coordinators, plan managers and families talk about risk. When a coordinator gives a participant a provider's name, they put their own judgement on the file. Get that distinction right and the strategy is clear. You are not trying to persuade anyone that you are good. You are trying to be safe to recommend, easy to present alongside two other options, and quick to answer.

The figures below come from the NDIA's Quarterly Report for the quarter ending 31 March 2026. The rules come from the NDIS Code of Conduct. The dates come from the reform timeline published by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. All were current in September 2026. This page is general information only, not advice. See the notice at the end.

The market you are competing in

Three facts from that data change how you should plan. First, the provider market is enormous in headcount and very thin in revenue. Of the 207,052 providers paid through plan managers in the March quarter, only 16,895 were registered at some point in the quarter. Registered providers are 8 per cent of that group, and they receive 58 per cent of the money. Only 2 per cent of unregistered providers were paid more than $100,000 in the quarter. For registered providers the figure is 40 per cent. Most of those 277,376 names are not competing with you seriously.

Second, the gatekeepers are far more concentrated than the provider market. Sixty-eight per cent of participants use a plan manager for some or all of their funding. During the quarter, 526,376 participants used one. There were only 1,462 plan managers. That number has sat between 1,443 and 1,481 for two years, while the participants they carry grew from 408,652. Nationally the referral market sounds vast. In your service area it is dozens of organisations, and they all know each other.

Third, value per participant is rising faster than participant numbers. There were 36,808 participants receiving supported independent living, with $16.4 billion in SIL payments over the year, an average of $447,100 per SIL participant. If you deliver home and living supports, an empty room is the most expensive problem in your business.

Why a referral is not a sale

Every NDIS provider, registered or not, must comply with the NDIS Code of Conduct. The NDIA also expects providers to avoid conflicts of interest. A conflict may be actual, potential or perceived, and unavoidable ones must be declared and managed. So when a coordinator helps a participant choose a provider, four things are expected of them. Recommend what suits the participant. Provide alternative options, so the participant has real choice and control. Declare any relationship that could look like influence. And stay away from what the NDIA calls sharp practices, including over servicing, high pressure sales and inducements.

The nine referral pathways

Do not work all nine. Pick three that match your supports and your postcodes, and do them properly.

The twelve checks a coordinator runs before naming you

1. Real capacity, with a date. "We have capacity" is not capacity. Give the earliest start date and the days and hours you can staff.
2. Coverage by suburb, not by region. "All of Sydney" reads as "we will send whoever is free".
3. Worker match. Gender, language, cultural background, driving, animals in the home, hoist and transfer experience, mealtime management, behaviour support plan experience.
4. What you do not do. The provider who states their limits is the one worth a referral.
5. Registration status against plan management type. Agency managed participants need a registered provider.
6. Service agreement quality. Plain English, clear notice periods, terms consistent with current NDIS pricing arrangements.
7. Cancellation and no show policy in writing, up front. Surprise charges generate more complaints than anything else.
8. Reporting. Whether reports arrive before a plan reassessment without three reminders.
9. Incidents and complaints. A named contact, a response time, and the participant's right to contact the NDIS Commission.
10. Conflict of interest position, in writing. Never make one support conditional on taking another.
11. Handover and exit behaviour. How you leave matters more than how you arrive.
12. Who answers after 5pm. Most first contacts arrive outside business hours.

The bright lines, and what to do instead

The NDIA launched a targeted campaign on misleading advertising in August 2024. By the Government's announcement of 4 December 2025 it had made three sets of referrals. It sent 604 instances of concerning practices to the ACCC under Australian Consumer Law. It sent 112 likely breaches of the NDIS Code of Conduct to the NDIS Commission. It sent 6 integrity matters to the Fraud Fusion Taskforce. More than $100,000 in fines has been paid. Separately, more than 2,500 problematic providers have been removed from the NDIS since the Fraud Fusion Taskforce began in November 2022.

The reform dates that change your referral channels

• 1 July 2026, in force. Mandatory registration commenced for supported independent living and NDIS digital platform providers. Providers already delivering SIL while unregistered have until 1 October 2026 to lodge an application and may keep delivering while it is assessed. Applicants who were not already delivering SIL cannot start until approved.
• 27 August 2026, in force. First changes under the Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act 2026, including tighter criteria for unscheduled plan reassessments and seven year record keeping.
• 1 December 2026. The claim window drops from two years to 90 days from the date of delivery.
• 1 February 2027. Plan renewals replace many continuations and unspent funds do not carry over, so slow onboarding costs participants money directly.
• 1 July 2027. Mandatory registration expands to higher risk supports, and a separate NDIA provider enrolment system begins.
• 1 October 2027. A commissioned panel of plan managers begins, and plan managers are to be barred from delivering other NDIS supports.
• 1 July 2028. A newly commissioned support coordination function begins.

Two of the channels most providers rely on are being redesigned. Three channels you own are untouched by every date on that list. Those are your reputation with families, your presence when someone searches, and your own contact list.

Get the full playbook

The full version includes the referral pack template and five reply templates. It also covers the intake response standard, the PACE "my providers" mechanics, a 90 day plan and a scorecard out of 40.