NDIS Daily Activities Support: What Providers Need to Know About Assistance with Daily Life

What Is Assistance with Daily Life?

Assistance with Daily Life is a core NDIS support category that funds help with everyday personal activities that a participant cannot complete independently due to their disability. It sits within the Core Supports budget category and is one of the most widely used support types across the Scheme.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) defines Assistance with Daily Life as supports that help participants with, or supervise, personal daily activities to develop their skills and live as independently as possible. This includes personal care, household tasks, meal preparation, and a range of other activities of daily living (ADLs) that most Australians perform without assistance.

For providers, this support category represents a significant opportunity — but also a significant compliance responsibility. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission scrutinises daily activities providers closely because these supports often involve intimate personal care, access to participants' homes, and high levels of trust between worker and participant.

Understanding what this support category covers, how to document it correctly, and how to meet the Practice Standards requirements is essential for any provider delivering — or considering delivering — Assistance with Daily Life supports.

Registration Group 0104 Explained

Registration group 0104 is the NDIS Commission's classification for Assistance with Daily Life providers. When you register under this group, you are authorised to deliver a defined set of supports that help participants with their daily personal activities.

The 0104 registration group falls under the broader support category of Core Supports — Assistance with Daily Life. It is distinct from other daily-related support categories such as:

• 0120 — Household Tasks: Cleaning, laundry, yard maintenance, and other domestic assistance
• 0115 — Assistance with Daily Life in a Group or Shared Living Arrangement: Specifically for SIL and other shared accommodation supports
• 0107 — Daily Personal Activities: A subset focusing on personal care tasks specifically

The distinction between these registration groups matters because your registration determines which support items you can claim against, which Practice Standards modules apply to your organisation, and what your auditors will assess during certification or verification audits.

Support Items Under 0104

The NDIS Support Catalogue lists numerous support items under the 0104 registration group. Key items include:

What Daily Activities Support Covers

Daily activities support encompasses a broad range of personal and domestic tasks. Understanding the full scope helps providers plan service delivery, train staff appropriately, and document supports correctly.

Personal Care Activities

Personal care is the most common type of daily activities support. It includes:

• Bathing and showering — assistance with washing, getting in and out of the bath or shower, drying, and applying skin care products
• Dressing and undressing — help with selecting appropriate clothing, putting on and removing garments, and managing fastenings
• Grooming and hygiene — support with hair care, dental care, nail care, shaving, and menstrual management
• Toileting — assistance with using the toilet, continence management, and catheter or stoma care
• Eating and drinking — help with meal consumption (distinct from meal preparation), including modified food textures and assisted feeding
• Mobility assistance — help with transfers, positioning, and moving around the home

Domestic and Household Activities

When delivered as part of a participant's daily activities support (rather than standalone household tasks), domestic support includes:

• Meal planning and preparation — menu planning, shopping lists, food preparation, cooking, and kitchen clean-up
• Laundry — washing, drying, ironing, folding, and putting away clothes
• Light household cleaning — vacuuming, mopping, surface cleaning, and tidying
• Budgeting and financial management assistance — help with bills, shopping, and managing household finances
• Home organisation — maintaining an orderly living environment

Health and Wellbeing Activities

Daily activities support also extends to health-related tasks that are part of everyday routines:

• Medication prompting and administration — reminding participants to take medication, preparing dosettes, administering medications (subject to state legislation and provider policies)
• Health monitoring — checking blood sugar levels, blood pressure, or other routine health measurements
• Appointment attendance — supporting participants to attend medical, dental, or allied health appointments
• Exercise and physical activity — assisting with prescribed exercise programs or general physical activity routines

Skill Building vs Maintenance Support

One of the most critical distinctions in NDIS daily activities support is the difference between skill building (capacity building) and maintenance (core) support. Getting this distinction right affects your pricing, your documentation requirements, and your claiming.

Maintenance Support (Core Supports)

Maintenance support involves assisting a participant with daily activities they cannot do independently, without the primary goal of teaching them to do it themselves. The support maintains their current level of functioning and quality of life.

Examples of maintenance support include:

• Assisting a participant with quadriplegia to shower and dress each morning
• Preparing meals for a participant with a severe intellectual disability who cannot safely use kitchen appliances
• Providing continence support to a participant with a neurological condition

Maintenance support is claimed under Core Supports budgets. Documentation requirements focus on recording what support was provided, how the participant directed the support, and any changes in the participant's needs or condition.

Skill Building Support (Capacity Building)

Skill building support focuses on teaching participants new skills or improving existing ones, with the goal of increasing their independence over time. This type of support requires a structured teaching approach, measurable goals, and documented progress.

Examples of skill building support include:

• Teaching a participant with an acquired brain injury to follow a visual recipe card to prepare simple meals
• Gradually reducing prompts as a participant with autism learns to shower independently using a task sequence
• Practising money handling skills with a participant who has an intellectual disability to build budgeting independence

Skill building is claimed under Capacity Building budgets (specifically under Increased Social and Community Participation or other relevant capacity building categories). Documentation requirements are more intensive — you need baseline assessments, SMART goals, teaching strategies, prompt hierarchies, and regular progress measurements.

Documentation Differences

Provider Registration Requirements

To deliver Assistance with Daily Life to NDIA-managed participants, you must be registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission under registration group 0104. Here is what the registration process involves for daily activities providers.

Audit Type

Registration group 0104 requires a certification audit (not a verification audit). This is because daily activities support involves direct personal care, which the NDIS Commission classifies as a higher-risk support type. A certification audit is more comprehensive than a verification audit and assesses your organisation against the full NDIS Practice Standards Core Module.

Practice Standards That Apply

Daily activities providers must demonstrate compliance with the NDIS Practice Standards Core Module, which includes four outcome areas:

• Outcome 1 — Rights and Responsibilities: Person-centred supports, individual values and beliefs, privacy and dignity, independence and informed choice, violence abuse neglect exploitation and discrimination
• Outcome 2 — Provider Governance and Operational Management: Governance and operational management, risk management, quality management, information management, feedback and complaints management, incident management, human resource management
• Outcome 3 — Provision of Supports: Access to supports, support planning, service agreements with participants, safe environment, participant money and property
• Outcome 4 — Support Provision Environment: Safe environment, participant money and property, management of medication, mealtime management (if applicable)

Key Personnel Requirements

As part of registration, the NDIS Commission assesses the suitability of your organisation's key personnel. Key personnel include:

• Directors and board members
• Chief executive officer or equivalent
• Operational managers responsible for service delivery
• Any person who has significant influence over the management or operations of the organisation

Key personnel must be assessed as suitable by the NDIS Commission, which considers criminal history, bankruptcy history, professional conduct history, and any prior adverse findings by regulatory bodies.

Documentation Requirements for Daily Activities

Robust documentation is the foundation of compliance for daily activities providers. The NDIS Commission expects providers to maintain comprehensive records that demonstrate person-centred support delivery, worker competency, and continuous improvement.

Participant-Level Documentation

For each participant receiving daily activities support, you should maintain:

• Individual support plan that details the participant's goals, preferences, and support requirements
• Service agreement signed by the participant (or their nominee/guardian) outlining supports, pricing, and cancellation terms
• Consent forms for collecting and sharing personal information
• Risk assessments specific to the participant's support needs and environment
• Progress notes for every support session or shift
• Incident reports for any incidents, near-misses, or changes in the participant's condition
• Regular review documentation showing support plan reviews and updates
• Participant feedback records demonstrating you actively seek and respond to feedback

Organisational Documentation

At the organisational level, daily activities providers need:

• Policies and procedures covering all NDIS Practice Standards Core Module outcomes
• Worker screening records (NDIS Worker Screening Checks for all workers)
• Staff training records and competency assessments
• Incident register tracking all incidents and their outcomes
• Complaints register with evidence of resolution and systemic improvement
• Continuous improvement register documenting improvement actions and their effectiveness
• Risk register identifying and managing organisational and participant risks
• Document control register ensuring all policies and procedures are current

Writing Progress Notes for ADLs

Progress notes are arguably the most important piece of daily documentation for daily activities providers. They create the evidentiary trail that demonstrates you are delivering person-centred, goal-linked, quality support. Poor progress notes are one of the most common reasons providers receive non-conformances during audits.

What NDIS-Compliant Progress Notes Must Include

Every progress note for daily activities support should include the following elements:

1. Date, time, and duration — when the support started and finished
2. Specific activities supported — what daily activities were addressed (e.g., "morning personal care routine including shower, dressing, and breakfast preparation")
3. Level of assistance provided — what the participant did independently and where they needed help (e.g., "Participant independently selected clothing. Required physical assistance to fasten buttons due to reduced fine motor control.")
4. Participant's response and engagement — how the participant participated, their mood, any preferences they expressed
5. Link to NDIS goals — how the support connects to the participant's stated NDIS plan goals
6. Any strategies or approaches used — prompting techniques, assistive equipment, communication methods
7. Changes or concerns — any changes in the participant's condition, abilities, behaviour, or expressed needs
8. Worker name and signature — who delivered the support

Common Progress Note Mistakes

These are the most frequent issues auditors identify in daily activities progress notes:

• Vague descriptions: Writing "assisted with morning routine" instead of specifying which activities were supported and how
• Subjective language: Using terms like "had a good day" or "was happy" instead of observable descriptions like "smiled and initiated conversation during breakfast preparation"
• Missing goal links: Failing to connect the daily activity to the participant's NDIS plan goals
• Task-focused rather than participant-focused: Describing what the worker did rather than what the participant did and how they responded
• Missing times: Not recording start and finish times for the support session
• Copy-paste notes: Using identical wording across multiple shifts, suggesting notes are not being written contemporaneously

Progress Note Formats for Daily Activities

Several documentation formats work well for daily activities progress notes:

Standard Narrative Notes

A chronological description of the support session. Best for straightforward daily activities support where a simple narrative captures the key information. Most support workers find this format easiest to use.

SOAP Notes

Structured under Subjective (participant's perspective), Objective (observable facts), Assessment (worker's clinical or professional assessment), and Plan (next steps). Best suited for complex participants or where allied health professionals are involved in daily activities support.

DAP Notes

Data (what happened), Assessment (analysis), and Plan (next steps). A simplified version of SOAP that works well for daily activities providers who want more structure than narrative notes but less complexity than SOAP.

Goal-Linked Notes

Organised around the participant's NDIS goals rather than chronologically. Each note entry references a specific goal and documents progress toward it. This format is excellent for skill building support where tracking progress against goals is essential.

Staffing and Qualification Requirements

The NDIS Practice Standards require providers to ensure their workers are competent, supervised, and appropriately qualified for the supports they deliver. For daily activities providers, this translates into several specific requirements.

Mandatory Requirements for All Workers

• NDIS Worker Screening Check — all workers delivering NDIS supports must hold a valid NDIS Worker Screening Check (or equivalent state/territory check during transition periods). This is a legal requirement, not optional.
• NDIS Worker Orientation Module — all workers must complete the free online NDIS Worker Orientation Module (Quality, Safety and You) before delivering supports.
• First Aid and CPR certification — while not explicitly mandated by the Practice Standards, it is considered best practice and most audit bodies expect to see current first aid and CPR certificates for all direct support workers.

Recommended Qualifications

The NDIS does not mandate a specific qualification for standard daily activities support workers. However, the industry standard is:

• Certificate III in Individual Support (Disability) — CHC33021 or its predecessor CHC33015. This qualification covers personal care, supporting independence, and working within the disability sector framework.
• Certificate IV in Disability — CHC43121 for senior support workers, team leaders, or those providing more complex daily activities support.

High Intensity Daily Activities

If your workers deliver high intensity daily activities — such as complex bowel care, tracheostomy management, ventilator support, enteral (PEG) feeding, subcutaneous injections, or complex wound management — additional requirements apply:

• Workers must have documented competency assessments for each high intensity task they perform
• Competency must be verified by an appropriately qualified health professional (e.g., registered nurse)
• Your organisation must have specific policies and procedures for each high intensity support type
• You may need to register under the High Intensity Daily Personal Activities supplementary module in addition to the Core Module

Supervision Framework

The Practice Standards require providers to have a documented supervision framework that includes:

• Regular formal supervision sessions (typically monthly or quarterly) for all support workers
• Informal supervision through shift observations and check-ins
• Documentation of supervision discussions and agreed actions
• Performance review processes linked to worker competency and development
• Escalation pathways for workers who identify concerns during daily activities support

Pricing and Claiming Rules

The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (commonly called the "Price Guide") sets maximum hourly rates for Assistance with Daily Life supports. Understanding these rules is essential for compliant claiming.

Rate Structure

Daily activities support rates vary by several factors:

Key Claiming Rules

• Price limits are maximums — registered providers claiming from NDIA-managed participants must not exceed the published price limits. You can charge less but never more.
• Travel claiming — provider travel time and distance can be claimed under specific rules. Travel time between participants is claimable up to defined limits. Travel to and from a worker's home is generally not claimable.
• Cancellation charges — you can charge for short-notice cancellations (less than 7 clear days for non-SIL; less than 14 clear days for SIL) up to 90% of the agreed support amount.
• Non-face-to-face — some non-face-to-face activities (e.g., support coordination, report writing) can be claimed, but standard daily activities support is predominantly face-to-face.
• Plan-managed and self-managed participants — price limits only apply to NDIA-managed participants. Plan-managed and self-managed participants can negotiate different rates.

Common Claiming Errors

The NDIA and NDIS Commission regularly identify these claiming errors among daily activities providers:

• Claiming for time the worker was not actively supporting the participant (e.g., extended breaks during a shift)
• Claiming higher intensity rates when the support delivered was standard level
• Double-claiming travel time when visiting multiple participants in sequence
• Claiming for supports that were cancelled without following the short-notice cancellation rules
• Claiming under incorrect support items (e.g., claiming household tasks under personal care item numbers)

Audit Evidence for Daily Activities Providers

When your certification audit arrives, the auditor will look for specific evidence that you are meeting the Practice Standards in your daily activities service delivery. Being prepared with organised, accessible evidence saves time and reduces stress during the audit.

Evidence Categories

Auditors typically request evidence across three categories:

1. Documentary evidence — your policies, procedures, forms, registers, and templates
2. Implementation evidence — completed forms, progress notes, incident reports, meeting minutes, and other records showing your policies are actually being followed
3. Outcome evidence — participant satisfaction surveys, feedback records, improvement actions, and measurable outcomes that demonstrate your supports are effective

What Auditors Specifically Look For

• Participant support plans that are current, person-centred, and linked to NDIS goals
• Service agreements signed by participants (or nominees) before supports commence
• Progress notes that are contemporaneous, goal-linked, and free of subjective language
• Incident reports that are complete, timely, and show follow-up actions
• Worker screening clearances for all current and recent workers
• Staff training records showing induction, ongoing training, and competency verification
• Supervision records demonstrating regular, documented supervision
• Complaints records showing complaints are received, investigated, and resolved
• Continuous improvement evidence showing a functioning quality improvement cycle
• Participant feedback showing you actively seek and act on participant input

Common Compliance Gaps

Based on NDIS Commission audit findings and compliance action data, these are the most common compliance gaps found among daily activities providers:

1. Inadequate Support Planning

Many providers fail to develop individual support plans that are sufficiently detailed and person-centred. A compliant support plan for daily activities should describe the participant's specific daily activities needs, their preferences for how support is delivered (e.g., preferred shower time, clothing choices, meal preferences), measurable goals, and the strategies workers will use.

2. Poor Progress Note Quality

As discussed earlier, progress notes are a major area of non-conformance. Common issues include notes that are too brief, use subjective language, fail to link to goals, or are not written contemporaneously (i.e., they are written at the end of the week rather than at the end of each shift).

3. Incomplete Worker Screening Records

Some providers allow workers to commence duties before their NDIS Worker Screening Check has been processed, or fail to maintain records of screening clearances. Every worker must have a valid clearance before they deliver supports, and your register must be up to date.

4. Missing Consent Documentation

Providers sometimes deliver daily activities support without obtaining proper consent from participants for the collection, use, and disclosure of their personal information. Consent forms should be signed at the start of the service relationship and renewed when circumstances change.

5. No Evidence of Participant Choice

The NDIS is built on the principle of participant choice and control. Auditors look for evidence that participants are actively involved in decisions about their daily activities support — from choosing their support workers to directing how tasks are completed. If your documentation shows the provider making all decisions without participant input, this is a compliance gap.

6. Inconsistent Incident Reporting

Daily activities providers sometimes fail to report incidents that should be reported — particularly incidents involving dignity breaches, minor injuries, or near-misses. Your incident reporting threshold should be set low: if in doubt, report it.

7. Lack of Continuous Improvement Evidence

The Practice Standards require a functioning continuous improvement system. This means not just having a continuous improvement register, but showing evidence that you identify areas for improvement, take action, measure the effectiveness of those actions, and embed changes into your ongoing practice.

Putting It All Together

Delivering NDIS Assistance with Daily Life is rewarding work that directly impacts participants' independence and quality of life. But it comes with significant compliance responsibilities that small providers sometimes underestimate.

The key to getting daily activities compliance right is to build good systems from the start: clear policies, structured documentation templates, trained and supervised staff, and a genuine commitment to person-centred practice. When your systems are strong, compliance becomes a natural byproduct of good service delivery rather than an additional administrative burden.

If you are preparing for your first certification audit as a daily activities provider, start by mapping your existing documentation against the NDIS Practice Standards Core Module outcomes listed above. Identify gaps early, address them systematically, and ensure every worker understands their documentation responsibilities.

For providers already delivering daily activities support, regular internal audits — checking a sample of progress notes, reviewing incident reports, and verifying worker screening records — will keep you audit-ready at all times rather than scrambling when your audit date arrives.

The SIL Rescue Kit from NDISCompliant provides a complete set of 65 audit-ready documents covering every NDIS Practice Standard Core Module outcome, including all the daily activities documentation templates, forms, and registers discussed in this guide. It is designed specifically for small providers who need to get audit-ready quickly without engaging expensive consultants.