The EFQC Enquirer: 13 June 2025

In this edition

Important Information

• Why Every NDIS Provider Should Have a Worker Handbook
• NDIS Commission Increases Compliance Action to Safeguard Participant Rights
• NDIS Quarterly Report: Key Updates for Providers – Q3 2024–25

Ask the Experts

• What you need to know when selling your NDIS business? By Brendon Grail

Important Information

1. Why Every NDIS Provider Should Have a Worker Handbook

A well-designed NDIS Worker Handbook is an essential resource for any provider, helping staff understand and apply the key policies and procedures needed to deliver safe, high-quality supports.

What is an NDIS Worker Handbook?

An NDIS Worker Handbook is a user-friendly guide that summarises the most important information from your organisation’s policies and procedures. It makes it easier for workers to understand what is expected of them in their role to ensure they know how to act in line with the NDIS Code of Conduct and the quality and safeguarding standards required when supporting people with disability.

What are the Key Benefits for Providers and Workers

1. Clear, Accessible Information

• A handbook condenses complex policy documents into simple, practical guidance.
• Workers can quickly find what they need to know about the NDIS Code of Conduct, participant rights, privacy, incident reporting, complaints, and more—without wading through lengthy manuals.

2. Supports NDIS Compliance

• NDIS Practice Standards require providers to ensure all workers understand and follow policies and procedures.
• A handbook makes it easier for staff to meet these requirements, reducing the risk of compliance breaches and supporting audit readiness.

3. Promotes Consistency and Quality

• When every worker receives the same information, you create a consistent approach to service delivery.
• This helps ensure all participants receive safe, respectful, and high-quality supports, no matter who is on shift.

4. Empowers Staff and Reduces Errors

• Clear instructions on topics like incident management, safeguarding, medication, and mealtime management help staff respond confidently and appropriately.
• This reduces mistakes and promotes a culture of safety and continuous improvement.

5. Streamlines Onboarding and Training

• A handbook is a valuable tool for inducting new staff, providing a practical overview of your organisation’s expectations from day one.
• It also serves as a handy reference for ongoing training and supervision.

6. Helps you be Audit Ready

• Having a handbook that summarises key policies makes it easier to demonstrate compliance during NDIS audits as it provides workers with key information they need to know if asked by auditors.

What Should a Worker Handbook Include?

A comprehensive handbook should include the information staff are required to know under NDIS requirements including:

• An overview of your organisation’s vision, mission, and services
• The NDIS Code of Conduct and Practice Standards
• Rights and responsibilities for staff and participants
• Privacy, dignity, and confidentiality
• Advocacy and choice
• Incident management and reporting
• Child safety and safeguarding
• Feedback and complaints processes
• Medication, hygiene, and infection control
• Emergency and disaster management
• Bullying, harassment, and conflict of interest policies
• Occupational health and safety

A plain English NDIS Worker Handbook is more than just a summary of policies – it’s a practical, everyday tool that empowers your workforce, supports compliance, and ultimately leads to better outcomes for the people you support. If you haven’t developed a handbook yet, or if yours needs updating, now is the time to make it a priority.

Need Help Developing Your Handbook?

If you need support developing or updating your NDIS Worker Handbook, our team can help. We specialise in creating clear, compliant, and user-friendly resources tailored to your organisation’s needs.

Feel free to email us at info@engelsfloyd.com or call 1300 790 194 to discuss how we can assist you.

2. NDIS Commission Increases Compliance Action to Safeguard Participant Rights

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has sharply increased its compliance and enforcement activities to 6,841 actions in the January–March 2025 quarter—more than triple the previous period.

Key measures included:

• Five banning orders against providers and 55 against individuals found unsuitable to work with people with disability.
• Over 1,100 provider registration applications refused after failing suitability checks.
• More than 1,000 corrective action requests issued to address non-compliance.
• 4,000+ education activities delivered to providers breaching registration conditions.

Commissioner Louise Glanville credited the rise to more staff, improved processes, and better systems.

Enforcement in Action:

• Banning orders were issued for serious misconduct, including sexual offences, abuse, exploitation, child neglect, and substance misuse. Notably, a joint investigation with the NDIA led to a permanent ban for Freedom Care Group after fraudulent claims totaling $340,000 were uncovered.
• Other significant actions included a ten-year ban for Assistive Disability Services and three-year bans for The Australian Health Company and The Foot Specialist Australia.

3.  NDIS Quarterly Report: Key Updates for Providers – Q3 2024–25

The NDIA has released the NDIS Quarterly Report Q3 2024–25. The Quarterly Report highlights the following data.

Provider Registrations and Market Growth

• Participant Growth: As of 31 March 2025, there were 717,001 participants with approved NDIS plans—a 3.5% increase from last quarter.
• Plan Management: The number of participants using plan managers continues to rise, reaching 462,569 this quarter, while the number of plan managers remains stable at 1,443.
• In the March 2025 quarter, registered providers received 57% of the $6.6 billion overseen by plan managers, unregistered providers received 42%, and providers with unknown registration status received 1% of the plan-managed payments.
• Supported Independent Living (SIL): There are 36,432 participants in SIL, with payments for SIL supports rising by 19% annually over the past two years.

Complaints and Incident Trends

• Complaints Decreasing: The volume of participant complaints fell to 7.7%, the lowest in the past year reflecting improvements in NDIA processes and responsiveness.
• Provider Complaints: 974 complaints were received from providers this quarter, with participant plans and funding amounts remaining the most common focus.
• Complaint Resolution: 86% of complaints were closed within 21 days, up from 74% in the previous quarter.
• Critical Incidents: The rate of participant critical incident reports rose slightly to 2.7% of active participants, with abuse/neglect and self-harm as the most common themes.

Market Stewardship

• The provider market is growing, with 263,145 active providers supporting participants this quarter.
• Payments across all support categories have grown by 37% over the past two years.
• The NDIA is supporting the NDIS market through market design, coordination and engagement activities, such as:
  • a refresh of the market stewardship framework, which will establish a set of shared objectives for all Commonwealth agencies that have a role in disability provider market
  • establishing provider lists to assist participants and their families and carers to find trusted information on products and providers more easily
  • establishing blended payments pilot programs (that aim to remunerate providers for the outcomes achieved).

For more information, the report is available here.

Ask the Experts

What you need to know when selling your NDIS business? By Brendon Grail

With the arrival of the NDIS price guide, one that will continue to squish provider margins, a lot of NDIS providers are looking at their options, including the option of selling their NDIS business.

In my experience, most NDIS providers choose one of these options:

Option 1: Take the first offer that comes along, and walk away. This is generally the option that people choose when they are so burned out and their mental health so dire, that they are happy when the first person comes along offering $. Let’s face it, lots of wealthy people attained their wealth by taking advantage of vendors in distress.

Option 2: Explore the sale option, but only if they can find a buyer who offers a fair and reasonable price.

Option 3: Push on in the blind hope that things will change. Inevitably, they don’t. Margins continue to shrink. Ironically the founders/Directors work longer hours because they are so dedicated to their staff and clients.

Option 2 is arguably the wisest option. So what is a ‘fair and reasonable’ price?

A common method of valuing a business is to multiply EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) by a number, to reflect not just the earnings potential of the business into the future, but also the risk inherent in the business, compared to alternate income-generating assets (including other businesses).

For example, a NDIS business that is making $1M profit annually, would typically sell for a multiple of that amount. Six years ago (pre-Covid), that multiple may have been 6x or more i.e. pay $6M for that business and earn an effective 16.6% interest p.a. on the investment i.e. $6M x 16.6% = $1M. When interest rates were zero, and NDIS pricing made most services viable, that was an attractive proposition.

Now that interest rates are not zero and NDIS pricing is unviable for many services, the multiple may be as little as 3x for the same business i.e. $3M may be a fair and reasonable price, effectively a 33.3% annual return. But this over-simplifies what the true value of any given business is.

What other variables are considered when looking at the value of your business?

Some other variables that are commonly taken into consideration by an astute buyer will include:

• The growth trajectory of the business i.e. if in a mature or declining market, future revenue and therefore profit may trend downwards, lowering the value of the business today
• The degree to which the business can be scaled, either via technology or a more aggressive sales/marketing strategy
• Reputation in the market, which is particularly important in human services
• Government signals related to higher or lower spend on x/y/z
• Whether the founder/Director is prepared to hang around, which of course depends on a judgement by the buyer as to whether that person’s presence in the business (principally related to staff retention) is a key contributor to success.

There are lots of other variables, but hopefully this has given you a ‘Selling an NDIS business for dummies’ crash course.

I also recommend that vendors also seek the advice of at least 1 independent lawyer and 1 independent accountant before they sign anything.

Editor note: Brendon is an Associate with Engels Floyd Quality Consulting and is available on a consulting basis to advise providers on this matter. During his time as CEO of My Plan Manager, Brendon presided over the sale of the business to IFM in 2019, and has provided advice to many NDIS provider businesses since then on an independent consultancy basis.

If you are seeing business advice reach out to Brendon Grail at Grail Group Consulting Services for expert guidance!