NDIS Incident Reporting — What to Report, When, and How

📅 May 2026⏱ 8 min read👤 CareIQ Team

Registered NDIS providers have mandatory incident reporting obligations to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Getting this wrong — failing to report, reporting late, or reporting incompletely — can result in compliance action. This guide explains exactly what you must report and when.

Internal Incidents vs Reportable Incidents

There are two levels of incident reporting:

Internal incidents

Events that must be documented in your internal incident management system and reviewed by management — but do not need to be reported to the NDIS Commission. This includes minor incidents, near misses, and low-level issues that you manage internally.

Reportable incidents

Specific categories of incidents that must be notified to the NDIS Commission within defined timeframes. These are set out in the NDIS (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules.

The Six Categories of Reportable Incident

The following must be reported to the NDIS Commission:

Death of an NDIS participant — reported immediately (same day)
Serious injury — injury that requires treatment by a medical practitioner
Abuse or neglect — including sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect
Unlawful sexual or physical contact — including contact between participants
Unauthorised use of a restrictive practice — any regulated restrictive practice used without proper authorisation
Unexplained absence — a participant missing for an unexpected period

Notification Timeframes

Incident type	Notification timeframe
Death of a participant	Immediately (within 24 hours)
Serious injury, abuse, neglect, unlawful contact	Within 24 hours of the provider becoming aware
Other reportable incidents	Within 5 business days of the provider becoming aware
Completion of investigation	Within 5 business days of investigation completion

⚠ The clock starts when the provider becomes aware — not when the incident occurred

If a support worker tells their manager about an incident on Tuesday that happened on Sunday, the 24-hour clock for notification starts on Tuesday when management became aware — not Sunday. This means your internal escalation process is critical. Workers must report to management immediately, not at the end of the week.

How to Submit a Reportable Incident to the Commission

Reportable incidents are submitted through the NDIS Commission portal (myplace provider portal). The submission requires:

Date and time the incident occurred
Date and time the provider became aware
Category of reportable incident
Description of what happened
Participant NDIS number
Actions taken immediately after the incident
Whether police were contacted (for abuse and unlawful contact)
Whether the participant's guardian or family were notified

A follow-up report is required once an investigation is complete. The Commission may also request a post-incident review.

Internal Investigation Requirements

For every reportable incident, you must conduct an internal investigation and document the findings. The investigation should cover:

What happened and when
Who was involved
What factors contributed to the incident
What immediate actions were taken
What systemic issues (if any) the incident reveals
What corrective actions will be taken to prevent recurrence
Timeline for implementing corrective actions

The investigation and its findings must be documented. The Commission may request this documentation during an audit or review.

When to Contact Police

For incidents involving suspected criminal conduct — assault, sexual abuse, theft — you may have an obligation to report to police in addition to the NDIS Commission. In some cases reporting to police is mandatory under state or territory law. Understand the mandatory reporting obligations in your jurisdiction, as they vary.

Notifying Participants and Their Families

Participants and their families or guardians have the right to be informed of incidents that affected them. Your policy should specify how and when this notification happens. For serious incidents, notification should occur as soon as practicable after the incident is managed and the immediate safety of the participant is addressed.

Building a Culture of Incident Reporting

Many incidents go unreported because staff fear negative consequences. A reporting culture requires management to make clear that reporting is expected, protected, and valued — and that the purpose of reporting is to improve safety, not to punish individuals.

Under-reporting is itself a compliance risk. If your provider has very few reported incidents despite delivering significant hours of support, an auditor may question whether your reporting culture is working or whether incidents are being hidden.

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