Private practice OT and speech pathology jobs in Australia: how clinic roles are funded, billed and paid

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

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In an NDIS-funded clinic, the most a practice can charge for an hour of occupational therapy or speech pathology is A$193.99 (national price limit, NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27). Under the 2025-26 claiming rules (2026-27 guidance isn’t out yet), a practice can also bill some time that isn’t a face-to-face session, such as late cancellations, agreed report writing and case conferences, but never general admin.

This page is for OTs and speech pathologists, overseas or already here, weighing a role in a private clinic, most often a paediatric one. It covers what the practice can bill, what that means for your pay and targets, and what you need in place first. It’s general information, not legal, tax or visa advice. If you’re already working in Australia and want a confidential chat about a clinic role, the pathway check points you to one. I’m a physio, and I run a multi-site paediatric allied health practice in South East Queensland. Several of my own team trained overseas. I’ve done this move with them, not just for them.

What each funder pays the practice

The NDIS figures are caps on what a practice can charge a participant’s plan. Medicare is different: it pays the benefit, the practice can charge above the schedule fee, and the patient pays the gap. None of these is your pay.

The Medicare chronic condition items need a GP referral under a GP chronic condition management plan, and each service must be at least 20 minutes, face to face and individual. A patient gets at most 5 of these services a calendar year, shared across every allied health profession. So in a clinic where most clients have NDIS plans, the NDIS rules below shape your week. For where paediatric NDIS work is heading, see paediatric therapy and the NDIS changes.

What the NDIS lets a clinic bill, and what it doesn’t

The 2026-27 price limits are in the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27. The NDIA says updated pricing and claiming guidance will follow, so until then the latest claiming rules are the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2025-26 (version 1.1, valid from 24 November 2025). Check the current pricing arrangements before you rely on these.

Why this matters to you. A clinic’s client-hours or billings target only makes sense against these rules. Ask whether report writing, case conferences and travel count towards your target, because the practice may be able to bill them. And if any of your pay depends on sessions, ask what you’re paid when a client cancels late: the NDIS rule says the practice can only claim a short notice cancellation if it paid you for that time.

What you’re paid

Private practices set their own pay, but an employee covered by the Health Professionals and Support Services Award can’t be paid below its minimum. From 1 October 2026, at Level 1, year 1, full-time:

• Occupational therapists: A$1,308.80 a week (A$34.44 an hour). OTs sit at AQF level 7 only, so a master’s degree doesn’t lift the minimum.
• Speech pathologists: paid by the AQF level of the qualification you hold: AQF 7 (for example, a pass bachelor’s) A$1,308.80 a week; AQF 8 (for example, honours) A$1,337.10; AQF 9 (master’s) A$1,444.90.

Some quick maths. At the OT and AQF 7 speech minimum, an hour of your time plus 12% super costs the practice A$38.57, before leave, leave loading, rooms, admin staff, resources and the hours that can’t be billed. The NDIS price limit is a ceiling on what the practice charges, not a rate it’s guaranteed to collect for every hour you work. The space between the two pays for everything else in the practice, so ask how your target was set and what it assumes about non-billable time.

The honest downsides. NDIS clinic work can mean report deadlines, plan reviews, cancellations you can’t control, and pressure on billable hours. If an offer is a percentage of fees or uses an ABN, read contractor or employee before you sign.

Before you can bill: by profession

Occupational therapists

• Registration: with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia (Ahpra). Overseas OTs outside New Zealand use one of three Board pathways; some need a portfolio assessment. Board fees from 1 October 2026: application A$250 plus registration A$138; portfolio assessment A$688 if your pathway needs it. See Ahpra registration for overseas OTs.
• Medicare provider number: needs current general or limited registration. Apply in HPOS, with a separate number for each location you work from.
• Insurance: the OT Board requires professional indemnity insurance for all your practice. An employer’s cover may only cover work done as part of that job, so check with the employer, and you need your own cover for any self-employed work.

Speech pathologists

• Assessment, not registration: speech pathologists aren’t regulated by Ahpra. Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) assesses you: the Mutual Recognition Agreement costs A$825, or the full assessment (OSQCA) A$2,000. Canadian S-LPs can’t currently use the MRA. See Certified Practising, not Ahpra.
• Certified Practising status (CPSP): this is what lets you provide services funded by Medicare, the NDIS and private health insurers. Registered NDIS providers, and their employees and contractors, must hold it to deliver NDIS supports. You need it for a Medicare provider number.
• Insurance: SPA’s Regulation Fact Sheet (November 2025) lists professional indemnity insurance as mandatory for CPSP status.

For NDIS registration and the worker screening check, see the NDIS for overseas therapists. For the settings and employers in paediatrics, see paediatric OT jobs in Queensland and paediatric speech pathology in Queensland. Physios have their own page: private practice physio jobs.

What I’d ask a clinic

1. What’s the funding mix: NDIS, Medicare, WorkCover, private, self-paying?
2. What’s the client-hours or billings target, and do reports, case conferences and travel count towards it?
3. How am I paid when a client cancels late?
4. Is report writing inside paid hours?
5. Who pays for my insurance, CPD and resources?
6. If I leave, who keeps the clients, and is there a restraint clause? See notice periods and restraints.

Your next step

• Occupational therapists: check which of the Board’s pathways your degree fits, and whether you’ll need a portfolio assessment, because that sets when you can hold a provider number and start billing.
• Speech pathologists: check whether you hold current full membership of an MRA signatory association, trained in a member country, can get a letter of good standing, and have 1,000 hours of practice in the past 5 years. If not, you’ll need the OSQCA.

The pathway check is the quickest way to find out which pathway you’re on: it asks those questions for your profession and country, and tells you whether to book a call with me or join an info session first.