Build an NDIS Service Agreement That Holds Up at Claim Time: A 2026 Walkthrough for Providers

From the Rostery team in Sydney. Originally based on our guide NDIS Service Agreement: What to Include (2026), rewritten as a build order for providers and checked against the NDIA's own pages, its October 2026 template and the current pricing documents.

A service agreement is easy to treat as onboarding paperwork. It's worth treating as the document your claims lean on. Travel, short notice cancellations, telehealth, non-face-to-face work and NDIA requested reports can only be claimed when the participant agreed to them first. If the agreement is silent, the money is often gone, however reasonable the charge was.

2026 has also moved a few things under existing templates. Maximum prices now come from the Minister's pricing determination, through the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (effective 24 September 2026). In October 2026 the NDIA and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission released a new service agreement template. And from December 2026, claims must be submitted within 90 days of delivering a support.

This post works through an agreement in the order we'd build one: first the charges that depend on it, then the schedule, prices and payment, then the terms that protect both sides, and finally signing and keeping it.

General information only, not legal advice. Claiming rules below come from the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2025-26 (version 1.1), which is still the latest claiming guidance on ndis.gov.au. The NDIA says it will shortly publish updated guidance, so check the current version before relying on any rule. Sources were read on 25 October 2026.

Step 1: confirm whether an agreement is required

The NDIA's position is short. You must have a service agreement for specialist disability accommodation (SDA). Agreements are encouraged for supported independent living (SIL). For other supports one isn't required, but the NDIA recommends making one when a participant starts with a new provider or their needs change.

For registered providers audited against the core module, the NDIS Practice Standards include "Service Agreements with Participants" as an outcome: each participant has a clear understanding of the supports they've chosen and how they'll be provided. So in practice, most providers should treat an agreement as standard.

Two things to keep in mind from the start. Neither the NDIA nor the NDIS Commission is a party to service agreements, keeps them or enforces them. And a provider can't use an agreement to contract out of its responsibilities under the NDIS Code of Conduct or the Australian Consumer Law.

Step 2: list the charges that need advance agreement

Before writing anything else, work out which extra charges you'll actually claim for this participant. Each one has to be in the agreement before the support happens.

Charge	What the agreement should say
Short notice cancellations and no-shows	Your notice period and what you charge
Provider travel	Which travel costs can be claimed, and how a shared trip is split between participants
Non-face-to-face supports	That this work can be claimed
Telehealth	That supports delivered by telehealth can be claimed
NDIA requested reports	That a report can be claimed when the NDIA asks for one
Irregular SIL supports	That irregular SIL supports can be claimed when required
Establishment fee	An agreement to supply at least 20 hours a month for three or more consecutive months

A few rules attach to these. Provider travel time is capped at up to 30 minutes each way in Modified Monash Model (MMM) areas 1 to 3 and up to 60 minutes in areas 4 and 5, and the price limit for therapy travel is half the therapy price limit. An establishment fee can be claimed only once per participant, across all their plans, and its 2026-27 national maximum is $735.80. If travel is a big part of your work, we wrote a separate walkthrough on claiming NDIS provider travel time and kilometres that goes deeper on the caps and invoice lines.

Only tick what you'll use. A clause for every possible charge makes the agreement harder to read and invites questions you don't need.

Step 3: build the schedule of supports

The schedule is the heart of the agreement and the part an invoice gets checked against later. The NDIA says it should include, for each support, the category, the item name or number, a description, the quantity or hours, the unit price, the total cost and any GST. It should also say how, where and how often the support happens, and list extra charges such as travel.

The October 2026 template puts this in an attachment called the Schedule of Supports. It notes that for plan-managed and NDIA-managed participants, costs must not exceed the NDIS Pricing Schedule, and that extra costs must be discussed with the participant and agreed in writing.

Using real item numbers matters. When the schedule says 01_011_0107_1_1 at an agreed rate and the invoice says the same, nobody has to interpret anything. When the schedule says "personal care, as needed", every disputed line turns into a conversation.

Step 4: set prices within the limits

Each provider agrees a price for each support with each participant, up to the price limit. Under the 2026-27 arrangements, the maximum prices in the pricing schedules apply to NDIA-managed and plan-managed participants. The NDIA says it can't pay a claim above the maximum, and providers can't charge more than it. Self-managed participants aren't covered by the maximums. Every maximum already includes any GST, and many NDIS supports are GST-free.

The limit is a ceiling, not a recommended price. You can agree a lower one. When limits change during the year, existing agreements don't update themselves: the NDIA says providers must discuss proposed changes to existing service agreements with participants, and participants must agree to the changes.

Step 5: write down how you get paid

The funding type decides who you invoice and whether the limits apply, so record it for each participant.

• NDIA-managed: registered providers only, paid through a payment request to the NDIA. Limits apply.
• Plan-managed: registered or unregistered providers invoice the plan manager. Limits apply.
• Self-managed: the participant pays you. The maximums don't apply.

For NDIA-managed and plan-managed funding, participants record the providers they work with regularly as "my providers". Recording is required for SDA, SIL, home and living supports, behaviour supports, and a plan manager, support coordinator or recovery coach. The NDIA automatically rejects claims for those supports from a provider who isn't recorded. Add a line to your intake process to confirm it.

Timing belongs here too. From December 2026, claims must be submitted within 90 days of delivering a support. If your payment terms or invoicing rhythm assume months of slack, adjust them now. In Rostery, invoices are generated from completed shifts and agency-managed claims can go out as PRODA/PACE bulk-upload files, as described on our NDIS billing and invoicing page.

Step 6: get the cancellation clause right

Under the 2025-26 rules, a provider can claim up to 100% of the agreed fee for a short notice cancellation or no-show, subject to the pricing rules and the service agreement. Short notice typically means:

• less than 7 days' notice, for disability support worker supports
• less than 2 clear business days' notice, for most other supports.

The provider also has to have been unable to find other billable work for the worker, and (unless a sole trader or partnership) still has to pay the worker for the time. There's no hard limit on the number of short notice cancellations, but the NDIA monitors them. You can waive the fee or offer more generous terms. Our glossary entry on short notice cancellation rules and notice periods has the definitions in one place.

Here's the part many templates miss. The new NDIA template goes further than the pricing rules. It says the provider will only charge for a short notice cancellation or no-show when there has been an actual loss, and won't charge a fee where it would be unfair under the Australian Consumer Law. If you adopt the template, your cancellation practice has to match that wording.

The clause should also cover what happens when you cancel, pause or replace a support yourself. If you'd like those rules applied the same way every time, our page on configurable cancellation rules shows how Rostery applies the notice actually given against the rules you set, and records the reason on the shift.

Step 7: dates, changes and ending

Dates. Include a start date, an end date and a review date. The end date shouldn't be later than the participant's plan reassessment date, and the template says the review should be no more than 12 months after the start.

Changes. Small changes can go on a variation added to the original agreement. For big changes, such as new supports, a new provider or a new plan, the NDIA recommends a new agreement. The template adds that if you propose a price change and the participant doesn't agree, they can end the agreement straight away.

Ending. The notice period is whatever you agree; the template leaves a blank with 14 days as its example. It also includes an optional cooling-off period, with 7 days as the example, and states that the participant won't be charged an exit fee. That lines up with the pricing rules, which say participants are generally not required to pay exit fees, even when changing providers part way through a plan.

Step 8: rights, privacy, complaints and emergencies

The NDIA's list of what a good agreement covers includes each side's rights and responsibilities and what to do when you disagree or something goes wrong. In practice that means:

• Provider responsibilities: treat the participant with respect, communicate clearly and on time, work with them on supports that meet their needs, and explain complaints, changes, privacy, records, safety rules and conflicts of interest. The template adds arranging an interpreter if needed and keeping accurate records for at least seven years.
• Participant rights and responsibilities: choice, asking questions, making complaints, getting support and privacy, along with paying invoices on time and telling you when their needs or plan change.
• Cultural safety: information that works for them, an interpreter if needed, the choice to involve family, carers or community, and respect for cultural practices that matter to them.
• Privacy and consent: what you collect and share, and how consent can be changed or withdrawn.
• Complaints: a clear process, plus the NDIS Commission's contact details (1800 035 544, TTY 133 677).
• Emergencies: the Practice Standards indicator says agreements set out the arrangements for providing supports in an emergency or disaster.

Step 9: leave out what you can't charge

Some things don't belong in an NDIS agreement at all. Under the pricing rules, registered providers must not add credit card surcharges, gap fees, late payment fees or cancellation fees beyond what the rules permit. Developing and agreeing a service agreement is listed as an administrative activity covered by the price limits, so it isn't billable. And the template itself says extra costs must be reasonable, clear and not unfair under the Australian Consumer Law.

Step 10: sign it, give a copy, keep it

The Practice Standards indicator is specific. Where the agreement is in writing, the participant receives a copy signed by both the participant and the provider. If that isn't practicable, or the participant chooses not to have an agreement, the provider records the circumstances. The participant, or a representative with authority, signs.

For keeping it, the NDIA has announced a 7-year record-keeping period for providers and says more detail on which records are covered is coming. With the template also committing providers to keep records for at least seven years, 7 years is a sensible default for signed agreements.

A pre-signing check

• Every charge you'll claim beyond the support itself is named, with its terms.
• Each support has an item number, quantity, unit price and total, within the limit where it applies.
• The funding type and "my provider" status are confirmed.
• Cancellation terms match both the pricing rules and the template wording you've adopted.
• Dates end no later than plan reassessment, with a review inside 12 months.
• Notice, cooling-off and no exit fee are stated.
• Complaints and emergency arrangements are included.
• It's signed, and the participant has a copy in their preferred format.

If you'd rather not start from a blank page, our free NDIS service agreement template in Word and PDF follows the NDIA's October 2026 structure and adds the claim clauses, an emergency clause and a sole trader version.

Sources: ndis.gov.au, What is a service agreement and How to make a service agreement; NDIA and NDIS Commission service agreement template (October 2026); NDIS pricing arrangements page and NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27; NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2025-26 v1.1; NDIS Practice Standards (Quality Indicators Guidelines, Service Agreements with Participants); ndis.gov.au, What is a my provider and Securing the NDIS for future generations. All read 25 October 2026. Full guide: NDIS Service Agreement: What to Include (2026).