The NDIS for overseas OTs, speech pathologists and physios: registration, worker screening and pricing

Written by Callum Trevorrow. Last checked 28 October 2026 against official sources.

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As an employed OT, speech pathologist or physio in Australia, you don’t need your own NDIS registration: registration belongs to the provider, usually the practice you work for, and a provider must be registered to deliver any support, therapy included, to participants whose plans the NDIA manages. If you contract or run your own practice and want NDIA-managed clients, the registration question is yours. What does reach you personally is worker screening: at a registered NDIS provider in Queensland, a risk-assessed role needs an NDIS Worker Screening Check before you start, at A$147 for paid workers (Worker Screening Services Queensland).

I run a multi-site paediatric allied health practice in South East Queensland, and several of our clinicians came to us from overseas. This page sets out the three parts of the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) that affect you: registration, screening and pricing.

Registered and unregistered providers

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission registers providers, which are usually the business you work for. Registration is required to:

• deliver supports to participants whose plans the NDIA (National Disability Insurance Agency) manages
• provide plan management, specialist disability accommodation, specialist behaviour support or regulated restrictive practices
• deliver residential aged care to participants.

Participants who self-manage or use a plan manager can use unregistered providers. Every NDIS provider, registered or not, must follow the NDIS Code of Conduct.

What this means when you look at jobs. A practice can see self-managed and plan-managed NDIS clients without being registered. Only a registered practice can see NDIA-managed participants, and its staff in risk-assessed roles need worker screening. Ask any NDIS employer which it is. If you’re weighing a contract or your own practice, see contractor or employee.

What’s changing. The government’s reform timeline extends mandatory registration to some higher-risk supports. Therapy isn’t named in that group in the official sources we checked. The dates, and the caveat about which parts are legislated, are on paediatric therapy and the NDIS changes; check the department’s pages before relying on a date.

The NDIS Worker Screening Check in Queensland

The NDIS check is separate from the blue card. In Queensland, Ahpra-registered practitioners (OTs and physios) working in their profession are exempt from needing a blue card while their registration is current. That exemption doesn’t cover the NDIS Worker Screening Check. Speech pathologists aren’t Ahpra-registered, so they don’t get the blue card exemption either.

NDIS pricing

The NDIS sets price limits for supports, including therapy. I haven’t put a therapy dollar figure here, because we couldn’t confirm the 2026–27 therapy limits on an official page. Check the NDIS pricing arrangements directly. Two things to keep in mind:

• A price limit is a cap on what a provider can charge, not what you’re paid. Your pay comes from your employment contract, and the award floor applies if you’re an employee covered by it.
• Pricing affects your employer’s revenue, so it can shape caseload expectations. Ask how a practice sets client-hour targets, and see contractor or employee if any of the pay is linked to billings.

By profession

For the full pay picture, see pay by setting in Queensland. For where NDIS work sits in paediatrics, see paediatric OT jobs in Queensland and paediatric speech pathology in Queensland. The planned changes to children’s eligibility and the reform dates are on paediatric therapy and the NDIS changes.

Your next step

• OTs: check which OT Board route your qualification is on, then ask any NDIS employer whether it’s registered and who pays for the screening check.
• Speech pathologists: check whether you can use SPA’s mutual recognition route or need the full assessment, because NDIS work at a registered provider needs Certified Practising status.
• Physios: check which Physiotherapy Council route applies to where you qualified.

The pathway check below asks those questions in a few minutes and shows which route applies to you, so you know what to sort out before you take an NDIS-funded role.