Everything You Need To Know About NDIS Training
Major changes have come into play for the disability sector following the 2023 NDIS Review. These changes aim to transform the sector while continuing to deliver high-quality care. As significant updates take effect from 1 July 2025, NDIS service providers need to sharpen their focus on NDIS training.
Meeting your NDIS training requirements can be tricky and sometimes frustrating. But through this NDIS Training Guide, you learn the NDIS’s expectations and how you can meet them.
The link between training and compliance
Historically, the NDIS has always emphasised the requirement and need for support worker training as a component of meeting compliance with the NDIS Practice Standards.
While the Practice Standards provide guidance on training requirements, many service providers are often unsure where to begin.
This can often lead to compliance gaps, such as:
- Unkept/incomplete training records or records that are not easily accessible
- No participant-specific training undertaken, e.g. transporting in a wheelchair
- No regular refresher training undertaken
- Board Members/Executive Management who have training/skill gaps
That’s where training can help. It ensures that support workers stay up-to-date with best practices and follow the requirements prescribed by the NDIS Practice Standards. More importantly, support workers become more resilient when they have the right tools and knowledge. They can set and enforce clear boundaries, solve problems easily, and maintain their own wellbeing.
To further highlight this, the 2022 NDIS Workforce Retention Survey found that 1 in 2 support workers intend to leave the workforce. 24% stated a lack of learning or career progression opportunities as one of the most common reasons for leaving. 8% said a poor induction/ training experience also contributed to a desire to leave the workforce.
The evidence speaks for itself: training drives compliance and leads to retention and workforce satisfaction.
READ MORE:
- The Importance of NDIS Training for Compliance and Quality Care
- Building Resilience: Training Support Workers in the Face of Burnout
- 5 Steps to Passing Your NDIS Audit
- How to Conduct Internal Audits to Stay NDIS-Ready
- NDIS Skills Assessment & Competency: What Auditors Expect in 2025
Which NDIS training is mandatory?
Management and support workers must complete mandatory training, particularly induction training, BEFORE providing supports to people with disability. This is to ensure workers’ safety and the safety of the people they support.
Service providers must ensure that support workers complete the following training at a minimum:
- NDIS Worker Orientation Module
- The provider’s internal orientation and induction training (which, ideally, should cover organisational policies and procedures)
All workers must also undergo an NDIS Worker Screening Check before commencing work.
In addition to the mandatory training listed above, support workers may be required to complete specific training after induction/orientation, including:
- Incidents and incident reporting
- Infection control, including PPE and hygiene
- Complaints and feedback
- Emergency and disasters, i.e. what to do during an emergency
READ MORE: Mandatory Training Requirements for NDIS Workers: What, When & How Often
Are practical assessments required?
To meet compliance requirements in delivering specific supports, support workers need to complete practical assessments.
Areas that often require observational assessment may include:
- Manual handling and mobility support (e.g. using hoists, transferring clients)
- Medication assistance (if part of the worker’s role)
- Infection control procedures (e.g. PPE use, hand hygiene)
- First aid and CPR (must be assessed in-person under HLTAID units)
- Use of assistive technology or equipment
- Behaviour support strategies (especially where restrictive practices are involved)
Typically, senior staff members, trainers, or assessors conduct these assessments, observing the support worker performing specific tasks. They observe the support worker against a set of criteria to confirm their competency in real-world scenarios.
Service providers can carry out these assessments through:
- On-the-job assessments by supervisors or trainers
- Skills checklists signed off after observation
- Refresher training with practical components
- RTOs (Registered Training Organisations) for accredited units like First Aid
Note: the assessor needs to have recent, relevant experience. The observation must be structured, documented, and conducted by someone qualified.
READ MORE:
- Ensuring Safe Practices Through NDIS Manual Handling Training
- Enhancing Infection Control Safety Through NDIS Training
- A Support Worker’s Guide to NDIS Medication Management
What if I offer specialised support?
Support workers may need specialised training to provide specialised support, such as medication assistance or mealtime support.
Support workers can assist with medication only after completing the appropriate NDIS medication training. The training must clearly explain what support workers can and cannot do when helping someone with medication. It should focus on respecting the person's choices and protecting their rights. The training must emphasise two key principles. First, follow the person's individual plan. Second, encourage self-administration as far as possible.
Mealtime support is considered high-risk, as some participants may have difficulty swallowing or chewing or may need specialised support (or, in some cases, they may have dysphagia).
Recently, the NDIS began a campaign to examine the mealtime management practices of registered and unregistered disability service providers. Initially, the NDIS started with a data collection survey, but only some service providers were contacted/invited to participate.
However, as the campaign continues, the NDIS intends to send representatives to different providers and review mealtime management practices. The data collection and site visit will then inform best practices, which will be shared with all providers.
With that underway, it’s crucial that service providers ensure their support workers receive the appropriate training before supporting a person with their meals.
READ MORE:
What are the High Intensity Skills Descriptors?
The High Intensity Skills Descriptors describe the skills and knowledge support workers must demonstrate when supporting people with complex care needs.
As these supports are intensely personal, i.e. they involve lots of close contact with people with disability, service providers need to ensure support workers can deliver these supports safely while meeting the participants’ preferences and daily routines.
Some key areas include:
- Bowel care
- PEG/enteral feeding
- Dysphagia support
- Ventilator support
- Tracheostomy support
- Urinary catheter support (In-dwelling Urinary Catheter, In-out Catheter, Suprapubic Catheter)
- Subcutaneous injections
- Complex wound care support
With a strong emphasis on maintaining the currency of skills and knowledge related to these supports, service providers should provide periodic reassessments and refresher training.
READ MORE:
- High Intensity NDIS Support for PEG Feeding
- Catheter Care 101: A Breakdown Of Catheters and How They Work
- Epilepsy Training for Disability Support Workers
Do support workers need refresher training?
Yes, the NDIS also requires service providers to offer refresher training for certain areas, particularly infection control. As we explored just before, they would also need to complete refresher training when providing high intensity supports.
However, this is dependent on the service provider itself. We do recommend that, in addition to high intensity supports, you provide refresher training in these areas as well:
- Support worker roles and responsibilities
- Documentation and incident reporting
- Medication assist, including storage
- Waste management
- Manual handling
- Food safety
- Work health and safety
- Risk management
- Restrictive practices
As a general rule, service providers should ensure that support workers complete refresher training at least annually or every six months for high intensity supports.
FAQs
Is Infection Control the only required refresher?
Currently, the NDIS Practice Standards only mention refresher training for infection control. However, if a support worker is providing high-intensity supports, such as bowel care or mealtime management, it’s best to deliver refresher training in these areas as well.
How often should refresher training be completed?
It depends on the organisation, but a good rule of thumb is to provide this annually.
Is a practical assessment required for medication support?
It depends. The type of medication, specific participant requirements, risks, and required processes will influence the need for such assessments.
Who can observe and sign off on competency?
- Senior team members with more experience than the person being assessed
- Team leaders
- Trainers
- Assessors
All of these people must have the appropriate level of training to conduct the assessment, which must also be current and relevant.
How do you prove training was effective?
Observations are assessed against key criteria to determine whether a support worker can safely and correctly perform the skill in a real-world setting.
Resources
Check out these resources for extra support on your NDIS training journey:
- Training & Compliance Assessment: our Training & Compliance Assessment helps you identify gaps, offers actionable insights, and recommends tailored learning solutions to upskill your workforce.
- Training Provider Checklist: stuck on where to start? Our Checklist helps disability support providers compare etrainu with other providers.
- The Role of Training in NDIS Compliance: watch the webinar to learn more about NDIS audits, compliance, and training requirements.
- NDIS Practice Standards Training Plan: use this structured training plan to help you understand the NDS Workforce Essentials and how it is mapped to the Practice Standards.
.png)
