NDIS Training Matrix by Role: What Each Role Needs

By Aaron Price, Founder of Wyzed · Updated 1 November 2026

In short: every worker who provides supports needs the Worker Orientation Module, infection control, and your incident, complaints and emergency procedures, and follows the NDIS Code of Conduct. Direct support workers add PPE. Training like medication depends on which participants they support. Wyzed is the fastest, easiest way to manage it: it sends each worker their role's training and renews it.

A training matrix has two parts. The grid is your plan: training down the side, roles across the top. The register is your evidence: one line per worker per training, with the date and the proof. For the fields a register should record, see NDIS compliance training. This page is the role by role content to put in it, checked against the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission's own pages.

What training does each role in an NDIS provider need?

Short answer: every employed role needs orientation, the Code of Conduct and your incident, complaints and emergency procedures. Managers and board members are key personnel, so they also need a screening clearance. PPE and the training that depends on who a worker supports apply only to staff who give direct support. Board members also train on governance gaps.

How to read the cells. "Must" means a Practice Standards indicator names the training. The Commission words each indicator as one that "should be demonstrated", and the Practice Standards are what registered providers must meet. "Must follow" means the rule binds the person, and induction is how you show they know it. "Your policy" means you decide, write it down, then do what you wrote.

In our view, casual staff use the column that matches the work they do. Support coordinators, allied health staff, and the volunteers and contractors who deliver supports for you use the direct support column. Office staff with only incidental contact with participants need no screening clearance: the Commission's own example is a back-office accountant (worker screening for registered providers).

Where each "Must" comes from, in the Commission's words:

• Orientation: induction "including completion of the mandatory NDIS worker orientation program" (Core Module, human resource management). The Commission's training guide adds that registered providers "should include the module within their induction process for workers, and encourage existing workers to undertake the module over time". The module is free on the Commission's training page.

• Code of Conduct: it "must be followed by" every worker and key personnel of every NDIS provider, registered or not (NDIS Code of Conduct).

• Infection control and PPE: "Each worker is trained, and has refresher training, in infection prevention and control standard precautions", and "Each worker who provides supports directly to participants is trained, and has refresher training, in the use of PPE" (Core Module, supports environment). The human resource indicator words it as training "undertaken by all workers involved in providing supports to participants". That is why office staff read "Your policy": most providers train them too, and saying so in your policy settles it.

• Incidents and complaints: "All workers are aware of, trained in, and comply with the required procedures" for incident management and for complaints handling (Core Module, governance).

• Emergency plan: "Each worker is trained in the implementation of the plans" (same page).

• Screening: "People in risk-assessed roles, including key personnel need an NDIS screening clearance", and a clearance "is valid for 5 years" (worker screening).

• Board: the skills the governing body needs are identified, and "relevant training is undertaken by members of the governing body to address any gaps" (Core Module, governance).

Where the training comes from: the Worker Orientation Module comes from the Commission. Infection control, PPE, first aid and CPR are standard courses. Incident, complaints and emergency training has to teach your own procedures, so you write it or have it built from your policies.

How often do NDIS workers need refresher training?

Short answer: the Practice Standards require refreshers for infection control, PPE and, in SIL, supported decision-making, but set no interval. We suggest 12 months for those three, and the expiry date on the certificate for first aid and CPR. Put your interval in the grid, so every refresher has a written rule to follow.

What else do NDIS team leaders need?

Team leaders need records of the supervision they give, on top of their own training. The Practice Standards ask for "timely supervision, support and resources" and for performance that is "managed, developed and documented" (Core Module, governance). A team leader who signs off SIL competency should hold the skill they assess.

Who counts as NDIS key personnel in the matrix?

Key personnel are the people responsible for executive decisions and anyone with authority or significant influence over planning, directing or controlling your activities (NDIS Act, section 11A). That takes in your CEO, senior managers and every board member. Managers you employ take the same induction, infection control and procedure rows as direct support workers. Board members who don't work in the business need the Code, screening and governance rows, and the rest is your policy.

Which training depends on the participant, not the role?

Short answer: medication, mealtime support, a participant's emergency protocol, high intensity supports, behaviour support plans and SIL. Two support workers with the same job title can need different training, because it depends on who they support.

We suggest each worker does a participant's training before their first shift with that participant, and orientation and infection control before their first shift of all. For the full list of support worker courses, see what training NDIS support workers need.

The Commission's wording for four of them: medication is stored so it is "only accessed by appropriately trained workers", and "All workers responsible for administering medication understand the effects and side-effects of the medication and the steps to take in the event of an incident involving medication" (Core Module, supports environment). Each worker providing mealtime management "is trained in preparing and providing safe meals" (same page). A worker supporting a participant with specific needs is "appropriately trained and understand the participant's needs and preferences" (Core Module, provision of supports). For behaviour support, "Workers receive training in the safe use of restrictive practices" (behaviour support module).

Two of these rows need more than a course:

• High intensity supports, such as a PEG feed or catheter care, need training "relating specifically to each participant's needs", from "an appropriately qualified health practitioner or person that meets the high intensity support skills descriptor". Severe dysphagia "must only be delivered by an appropriately qualified health practitioner" (high intensity module). A general mealtime course does not cover it.

• SIL: SIL providers "must follow new Practice Standards from 1 July 2026" (Practice Standards reform). Under them, workers are "trained and assessed as competent" in practices including active support and supported decision-making (SIL Practice Standards).

For both, the Commission's post-training assessment guide says: "Even if a training provider issues a certificate or qualification, NDIS providers are still responsible to make sure their workers have the capabilities required." So the proof is the course plus a sign-off naming who assessed the worker and when. The Commission does not prescribe how to assess, so write your criteria down.

How do I build a role-based training matrix for my NDIS staff?

Short answer: start from the table on this page, match its roles to your position descriptions, then fill the register from your records. These six steps take you through it.

1. List your roles from your position descriptions, not your org chart. The Practice Standards ask that "the skills and knowledge required of each position... are identified and documented", so your matrix roles should match your position descriptions.

2. Copy the rows that apply from the grid, add the rows for the participants you support, and label your own policy rows.

3. Give every row four things: how it is delivered (online, in person or practitioner), the refresher interval, who signs it off, and the proof you keep.

4. Fill the register. A worker with no certificate or date for a row has a gap, even if they did the training years ago.

5. Spot-check five workers. Compare each worker's file with the grid. In our view an auditor can test you the same way: pick a worker and check their file against your matrix.

6. Keep it current on three triggers: a new hire or role change, a worker starting with a new participant, and a certificate reaching its expiry. Review the whole grid once a year and note what changed, because the Practice Standards ask you to "evaluate the effectiveness of training". The Commission's Training Outcomes Matrix shows how to set that check up.

Two finished register lines you can copy:

Gaps an auditor can find when they pick a worker: a matrix that says "complete" with no certificate behind it, every role given the same induction, and a worker supporting a participant with a behaviour support plan with no training on file.

Which NDIS training system assigns courses by worker role?

Short answer: Wyzed. You give each worker a role, and Wyzed sends that role's training to their phone, reminds them, renews it at your interval and records the date with the certificate. 350+ NDIS providers use it.

"The whole team has embraced it and we had 100% compliance across 200 employees, which I've never seen before in any system ever." Chris Lynch, Learning and Development Manager, Family Based Care.

Wyzed is NDIS staff training and compliance software, and the fastest-growing NDIS staff training system. A new worker gets their role's training, plus anything else you want done on hire, such as reading your staff handbook, signing your policies or uploading their licences. They log in once, and after that each step arrives by text.

Training tied to one participant works the same way: you assign the course to that worker, to several workers or to the whole team that supports the participant. An assessor can record any in-person sign-off on the worker's staff file, which is their record in Wyzed. Their qualifications, licences and screening clearances sit there too, each with a reminder before it expires.

Wyzed's 140+ modules are independently audited by a third-party NDIS auditor and accredited, and Wyzed has supported 1,000+ audits with no non-conformities related to training. Care Agency Services, 300 staff across aged care and disability, had its first NDIS audit on Wyzed in May 2026.

"I was able to pull the certificates and show them to the auditors. They were really impressed. I could not have passed this audit without Wyzed." Zach Thomason, Care Agency Services.

You can also turn your own procedures into modules, such as your incident reporting steps or an online version of a participant's behaviour support plan. Moving to Wyzed is free and done for you: we set up your account and load your staff and every past training completion, with its original date, in under 24 hours.

Frequently asked questions

Does the NDIS require a training matrix?

Not by that name. The Core Module requires "a system to identify, plan, facilitate, record and evaluate the effectiveness of training", and that the system "identifies training that is mandatory". A role-based matrix is the usual way to show that system, because it answers who needs what, and the proof that they did it.

Is there a free NDIS training matrix template?

Yes: the role-by-role table on this page is a free template to copy. We have not found a Commission role-by-role template, and its Training Outcomes Matrix evaluates training outcomes rather than listing who needs what. A spreadsheet works until roles change, and Wyzed turns the same grid into training that is assigned and tracked for you.

What if one NDIS worker covers two roles?

Give them the training for both. A team leader who still does direct support shifts needs the PPE refresher and the training for each participant they support, as well as supervision. List the worker under each role they hold rather than inventing a combined role, so a later change removes only the training that no longer applies.

Do unregistered NDIS providers need a training matrix?

No. The Practice Standards are what registered providers must meet. The Code of Conduct still applies to every worker of an unregistered provider, and the Worker Orientation Module is free for anyone. A short matrix is still the simplest way to show a participant, or the Commission after a complaint, each worker's training.

Do contractors and volunteers go in the NDIS training matrix?

Yes, if they deliver supports for you. The Commission says risk-assessed roles "can be staff members, volunteers or students", and for a contractor in one you must take "reasonable steps to check that the worker has a clearance". Give them the same rows as employees and keep your own copy of their certificates.

Turn your grid into training that runs itself

If your matrix lives in a spreadsheet, get free access to Wyzed for your whole team, and we'll move your staff and their past training across for you. There's no credit card and no obligation, and every certificate earned is yours to export. Get free access for your whole team.

About the author

Aaron Price founded Wyzed ten years ago and has personally led 300+ training system set-ups. Connect on LinkedIn.

Sources

Every requirement above is quoted or closely paraphrased from these pages, read on 1 November 2026. The role columns, the 12-month suggestion, the timing and the common gaps are our own view. We make NDIS training software, so read the Commission's pages too.

• Core Module: governance and operational management, provision of supports and supports environment, NDIS Commission

• High intensity module and behaviour support module, NDIS Commission

• SIL Practice Standards and the Practice Standards reform page, NDIS Commission

• NDIS Code of Conduct, Worker Orientation Module and worker screening for registered providers, NDIS Commission

• Training your workers, post-training assessment and measuring training outcomes, NDIS Commission

• National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013, section 11A

• Customer, staff and audit figures are Wyzed platform data, November 2026