How NDIS Restrictive Practices Are Regulated and Monitored

When supporting a person with a disability, safety matters but so do dignity, choice, and human rights. Because freedom and choice are so important, the use of NDIS restrictive practices is carefully regulated. These practices can limit a person’s rights or freedom of movement and should only be considered when other supportive approaches have not been effective. When a regulated restrictive practice is used, it must be carefully planned, authorized, and monitored with a clear goal to reduce or stop its use over time. For families, participants, and providers, understanding how restrictive practices are regulated makes it easier to navigate your safeguards and see why positive behavior support is so important.

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission recognizes five specific regulated restrictive practices. Each type has a legal definition designed to protect the rights and well-being of people with disabilities.

Chemical restraint is the use of medication to subdue, sedate, or restrict a person’s freedom of movement and behaviour when they pose an immediate threat to themselves or others. 

• Context matters: Not every medication is a restrictive practice. Giving someone medicine to treat a diagnosed medical illness or mental health condition is not a restraint. The context and purpose of the medication matter. 
• If medication is used to manage behaviour, it must be legally justified within a formal behaviour support plan. 

Environmental restraint involves restricting a person’s free access to certain places, items, or everyday activities.

• Examples: Common examples include a locked pantry or fridge to limit access to food, a keypad door to a laundry room, or staff holding onto a person’s phone.
• Environmental restraint isn’t just about locked dloors; it covers everyday choices too, like access to belongings or activities, which is why it is regulated as closely as other forms of restriction.

Mechanical restraint involves using a device or piece of equipment to prevent, limit, or reduce a behaviour.

• Examples: This includes using garments or straps that restrict movement or reduce the risk of self-injury, such as a seatbelt guard to stop someone from unbuckling during an episode, or bed rails to prevent night-time wandering. 
• The use of mechanical restraints can affect a person’s bodily autonomy and require appropriate authorization before use.

Physical restraint involves using physical force to stop, restrict, or subdue a person’s movement for behaviour control. 

• Examples: This includes physically holding a person’s hands or arms to prevent harm to themselves or others, or blocking a doorway to stop someone leaving during escalation. 
• This is considered high-risk and must be carefully managed according to the relevant behaviour support and reported directly to the NDIS Commission. 
• Certain techniques, including any that restrict breathing, are prohibited outright, not simply high-risk.

Seclusion occurs when a person is kept alone in a room or a physical space and is prevented from leaving. 

• Examples: This includes confining a participant to a room and preventing them from leaving, whether or not the door is physically locked. For example, telling someone they must stay in a room until they have calmed down. 
• Because seclusion limits a person’s freedom, its use is subject to strong safeguards and close monitoring.

The NDIS does not treat restrictive practices as ordinary behaviour management tools. Providers are required to follow specific steps before and after using a regulated restrictive practice.

Yes. Any regulated restrictive practice must be clearly written into an official Positive Behaviour Support Plan (PBSP). This plan must then be lodged directly with the NDIS Commission.

 The plan cannot just be a list of rules. It must be individualised and focused on improving the participant’s overall quality of life.

It must include positive steps to help reduce and eventually eliminate the need for restrictive practices.

The use of a regulated restrictive practice requires authorization from the relevant state or territory body. Once authorisation is granted, providers must upload the relevant evidence of authorization to the NDIS Commission Portal.

One of the core rules of the NDIS framework is that restrictive practices should not become a permanent solution. Where a restrictive practice is used, the focus should be on: 

• Using it only when necessary
• Keeping its use as brief as possible
• Choosing the least restrictive option that supports safety

The NDIS Commission requires implementing providers to work towards reducing and stopping regulated restrictive practices. 

Behaviour support plans should include strategies that support positive progress and aim to reduce and eventually eliminate restrictive practices where applicable.

Transparency is a core requirement under the NDIS. Providers are required to keep records and submit relevant reports through the NDIS Portal:

• Regulated Practices: You must submit a report every month. You have 5 business days after the month ends to submit it. Note: You must submit this report even if you did not use the restraint once during that month.
• Unauthorized Practices: If a restraint is used without the required plan or authorization, providers have specific reporting obligations. This must be reported as a serious incident within 5 business days (or within 24 hours if the participant was harmed).

When a participant shows behaviours of concern, the goal of behaviour support should never simply be to stop the behaviour. Instead, we need to ask a much bigger question: What is this person trying to communicate, and what support do they actually need?

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) focuses on understanding the individual, their unique environment, and the underlying reasons for their actions.

Rather than using force or control, PBS uses evidence-based, person-centered strategies that protect a person’s dignity. Excellent behaviour support works to reduce the need for restrictive practices by focusing on:

• Environmental Changes: Making a space calmer, quieter, or safer so the person feels secure.
• Skill Building: Teaching new ways to communicate frustration, choices, or pain.
• Quality of Life: Ensuring the person has access to activities, friends, and hobbies that bring them joy.

Behaviour does not happen in a vacuum. Often, a person with a disability is using their actions to communicate an unmet need that they cannot express in words. When a participant shows behaviours that others find challenging, they might actually be trying to communicate:

• Physical Discomfort: Feeling too hot, too cold, or being in physical pain.
• Emotional Distress: Experiencing high anxiety, fear, or confusion about what is happening around them.
• Frustration: Lacking a way to make choices or express their independence.

Taking the time to look beneath the surface helps support workers and behaviour support practitioners build much safer, more effective strategies.

Rather than asking, “How do we stop this behaviour?”, positive behaviour support pushes us to ask a much more useful question: “What does this person need right now, and how can we support them?”

Behaviour does not happen in a vacuum. Often, a person with a disability is using their actions to communicate an unmet need that they cannot express in words. When a participant shows behaviours that others find challenging, they might actually be trying to communicate:

• Physical Discomfort: Feeling too hot, too cold, or being in physical pain.
• Emotional Distress: Experiencing high anxiety, fear, or confusion about what is happening around them.
• Frustration: Lacking a way to make choices or express their independence.

Taking the time to look beneath the surface helps support workers and behaviour support practitioners build much safer, more effective strategies.

Rather than asking, “How do we stop this behaviour?”, positive behaviour support pushes us to ask a much more useful question: “What does this person need right now, and how can we support them?”

Sometimes, making a very small change to a person’s surroundings can make a massive difference in their daily life.Instead of waiting for a crisis to happen, we can use proactive steps to reduce distress before it starts. In a formal Positive Behaviour Support Plan, these changes might include:

• Adjusting Routines: Slowing down a daily schedule so a participant does not feel rushed or overwhelmed.
• Reducing Triggers: Dimming bright lights, lowering loud noises, or avoiding crowded spaces that cause anxiety.
• Offering Meaningful Choices: Letting the person choose what to wear, eat, or do to build their independence.
• Adapting the Space: Setting up a room so their favourite items are safe and easy to reach without frustration.

These proactive approaches are an important part of behaviour support. By focusing on the person’s comfort and dignity, we can create safer, more supportive environments while reducing the need for restrictive practices.

There is no single behaviour support strategy that works for everyone. True, high-quality positive behaviour support must reflect a participant’s individual strengths, preferences, and daily needs. To make it work, it takes a team effort. Success depends on active collaboration between:

• The NDIS participant and their close family or guardians.
• Certified behaviour support practitioners who write the official plans.
• Dedicated implementing providers and frontline support workers.

Remember: The true goal is never just to control or manage a behaviour. The goal is to lift the person’s quality of life, open up new opportunities, and give them greater independent choice.

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission provides safeguards around restrictive practices to protect the dignity, respect, and freedom of people with disability. 

When a restraint is deemed necessary as a last resort, it must follow the strict legal loop:

1. Formally written into an active behaviour support plan.
2. Formally authorized by the proper state or territory body.
3. Implemented safely and reported transparently to the NDIS Commission every month.
4. Frequently reviewed to reduce and eventually eliminate its use

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission provides safeguards around restrictive practices to protect the dignity, respect, and freedom of people with disability. 

When a restraint is deemed necessary as a last resort, it must follow the strict legal loop:

1. Formally written into an active behaviour support plan.
2. Formally authorized by the proper state or territory body.
3. Implemented safely and reported transparently to the NDIS Commission every month.
4. Frequently reviewed to reduce and eventually eliminate its use

Outstanding disability support always starts by seeing the unique human being—never just the behaviour. With the right environment and thoughtful, person-centered strategies, we can help participants live safer, happier, and more meaningful lives.

At My Life Accommodation and Care, we are deeply committed to delivering participant-first support that respects your rights, protects your choices, and builds real independence.

Want to learn more about how we support families? Contact our friendly team today to talk about our safe, person-centered disability services.