NDIS Branding Rules: What Providers Are Legally Allowed to Say (And What Gets You Fined)

If you run a registered or unregistered NDIS provider, the words on your website are not just a marketing decision. They are a legal one. And the law trumps sweet websites every time.

Since 2024 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission have ramped up enforcement against providers making false or misleading claims in their advertising. Fines have already been issued. Federal Court proceedings have already been filed. The NDIA has referred over 600 cases of concerning advertising practices to the ACCC and more than 100 likely breaches of the Provider Code of Conduct to the NDIS Commission.

This post sets out exactly what you can and cannot say in your branding, marketing, and advertising as an NDIS provider, based on current regulatory guidance. Use it as a working reference before your next website update, social post, or print brochure goes live. If in doubt, talk to a compliance expert (or give us a call).

Who this applies to

Every claim in this post applies whether you are a registered NDIS provider, an unregistered provider, or a provider still going through registration. The Australian Consumer Law applies to all businesses operating in Australia regardless of NDIS registration status, and the NDIS Code of Conduct applies to anyone delivering supports to NDIS participants.

This also applies to every channel. Website copy, social media posts, brochures, signage, business cards, email signatures, vehicle branding. If it represents your business to a current or prospective participant, it falls under these rules.

Rule 1: Only call yourself a "registered provider" if you actually are one

This is the single most common compliance breach in NDIS marketing.

You may only advertise your business as a registered provider if you are registered with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission under section 73E of the NDIS Act. If you are not registered, or you are still going through the registration process, you must not advertise or imply that you are a registered provider. This includes using language like "official NDIS provider" that falsely implies registration status, even if the words "registered provider" are never used directly. 

The NDIS Code of Conduct explicitly prohibits providers from falsely claiming or inferring, through words or logos, that they are registered when they are not. This applies even to providers actively going through the assessment process. If your registration has not been finalised, you cannot use language suggesting it has.

Rule 2: Never use the NDIS logo without written permission

The NDIS logo and the NDIS acronym are registered trade marks owned by the National Disability Insurance Agency. No provider, person, or business may use the NDIS logo on any publicity material, advertising, vehicle signage, building signage, email, stationery, or business card without written consent from the NDIA. I know you see it everywhere, doesn't make it legal. Also, it's ugly. Don't do it. 

Only registered providers are permitted to use the "I/we heart NDIS" or "I/we support NDIS" logos alongside the tagline "Registered Provider." If you are not registered, none of these logos or taglines are available to you under any circumstance.

The NDIA actively monitors the provider marketplace for trade mark infringement and refers breaches to the ACCC. Enforcement action has included cease-and-desist letters and further legal proceedings.

Rule 3: Never suggest NDIS approval, funding, or endorsement that doesn't exist

This is the rule generating the most ACCC enforcement activity right now, and it catches providers who think they are simply being persuasive rather than misleading.

The NDIS does not approve specific products or services. It does not endorse providers beyond registration status. Phrases like "NDIS approved," "100% NDIS funded," and "NDIS endorsed" are almost always going to be considered misleading because no such approval or endorsement regime exists in the way these phrases imply.

In one Federal Court matter, a provider was found to have described items as "NDIS approved" between November 2022 and July 2024. The reality is that the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission registers providers, not individual products, which made the claim misleading regardless of intent. Another well known case involved a national retailer fined $39,600 after its advertising suggested NDIS approval or evaluation of its products. The ACCC has been explicit that this enforcement focus will continue, having already referred over 600 instances of concerning advertising to investigation.

This extends to suggesting NDIS funding covers something it does not. Examples the ACCC has specifically flagged as misleading include advertising that suggests NDIS funds cover all-inclusive holidays, meal delivery services implying the cost of meals is covered, and any guidance on using NDIS funding codes to cover recreational activities not actually covered under a participant's plan.

Rule 4: Don't claim affiliation with the NDIS in your business name or service description

Using "NDIS" within your business name or service description in a way that implies official affiliation or endorsement is a specific concern the ACCC has called out. An example regulators have flagged is a service description like "NDIS therapies," which implies an official relationship with the scheme that does not exist for any private provider.

You can describe yourself accurately as an NDIS provider or as delivering NDIS-funded supports. What you cannot do is phrase this in a way that implies the NDIS itself has branded, endorsed, or partnered with your specific service.

Rule 5: Be accurate and honest in every representation, full stop

Beyond the specific NDIS-related rules above, your marketing must comply with the general protections under the Australian Consumer Law. This means:

Treating participants fairly and never engaging in unconscionable conduct, defined as conduct that fails to meet standards of conscience accepted by the broader community.

Providing accurate information about your products and services across every advertising, packaging, and selling channel you use.

Avoiding price differentiation that charges NDIS participants more than other customers for the same or substantially the same service without reasonable justification. This has become a specific enforcement priority through the Fair Pricing Taskforce, established in December 2023 and chaired by the ACCC in partnership with the NDIA and NDIS Commission.

Not using misleading pricing tactics such as fake "was/now" strikethrough pricing, false urgency banners, or countdown clocks that don't reflect genuine, time-limited discounts. One recent Federal Court matter specifically targeted a provider's use of these tactics across thousands of product listings.

Not embedding unfair contract terms into service agreements, such as automatic timesheet approval if not challenged within an unreasonably short window, or one-sided fee variation clauses that allow you to change pricing without reasonable notice.

The test the ACCC applies for whether something is misleading is objective: would an ordinary, reasonable person, including NDIS participants or their families, likely be misled by the representation? Given that this audience is recognised as a particularly vulnerable consumer group, the bar for what counts as misleading is applied carefully and the consequences for getting it wrong are significant.

What the penalties actually look like

This is not a hypothetical risk. Breaches of the Australian Consumer Law can result in financial penalties of up to $50 million, or three times the value of the benefit obtained from the conduct, whichever is greater. Beyond financial penalties, providers under registration assessment risk having their suitability questioned by the NDIS Commission, and existing breaches of the Code of Conduct can trigger provider education requirements, additional compliance oversight, banning orders, and in serious cases, criminal charges.

The NDIA's targeted advertising crackdown has already resulted in more than $100,000 in fines paid by providers found in breach, alongside 604 referrals to the ACCC and 112 referrals to the NDIS Commission for likely Code of Conduct breaches.

What to do before your next campaign goes live

Review your current website, social profiles, and printed materials specifically for the phrases flagged above. Search your own site for "NDIS approved," "NDIS funded," "registered provider," and any use of the NDIS logo.

Confirm your actual registration status is represented accurately everywhere your business appears, including older content and legacy pages that may not have been touched in years.

If you are unsure whether specific wording crosses the line, the ACCC publishes a dedicated guide for businesses selling to and supplying consumers with disability, and the NDIS Commission's website maintains current logo and language guidelines. When genuine doubt remains, specialist legal advice is worth the cost relative to the financial and reputational risk of getting it wrong.

The bigger picture

None of this is about restricting good marketing. It is about making sure the words providers use are true. Given that NDIS participants and their families are recognised by regulators as a vulnerable consumer group making high-stakes decisions, the rules exist to protect the same trust that good brand strategy is built on in the first place.

Getting your compliance right is not separate from getting your brand right. They are the same job, done properly.