Restrictive practices are where good intentions and bad records collide. A locked medicine cupboard, a PRN sedative, a door a participant can't open — used to keep someone safe, but unauthorised on paper. This is a plain walk through what counts, what makes a use lawful, and the trail an auditor follows.
Who this is for
You run SIL houses where one or more participants have behaviours of concern. Restrictive practices sit at the centre of the new Safeguarding outcome, and the unauthorised use of one is a reportable incident — so this is two compliance obligations in a single topic.
What counts as a restrictive practice
A restrictive practice is anything that restricts the rights or freedom of movement of a person with disability. The NDIS regulates five types:
- Chemical restraint — medication or a chemical substance used primarily to influence behaviour, not to treat a diagnosed condition
- Environmental restraint — restricting free access to parts of a person's environment (a locked kitchen, a fridge they can't open, a gated yard)
- Mechanical restraint — a device or equipment used to restrict movement for behavioural reasons (not a therapeutic aid or safe transport)
- Physical restraint — using body contact to restrict a person's movement
- Seclusion — confining a person alone in a room or space they can't freely leave
The everyday ones — a locked cupboard, a routine PRN — are the ones most often missed, precisely because they don't look dramatic.
What makes a use authorised
A restrictive practice is only lawful when four things are true at once:
- It's a last resort to prevent harm — least restrictive option, for the shortest time
- It's named in a current behaviour support plan for that participant
- It's authorised under your state or territory's process (the rules differ by jurisdiction)
- Its use is reported to the NDIS Commission
Miss any one of those and it's an unauthorised restrictive practice — which is both an audit failure and a reportable incident.
The behaviour support plan behind it
The plan is the document that makes a practice defensible. It has to be written by an NDIS behaviour support practitioner (through a specialist behaviour support provider), and it runs to a clock:
- An interim behaviour support plan within 1 month of engaging the specialist provider.
- A comprehensive plan — with a functional behavioural assessment — within 6 months of engagement.
- Any plan that includes a regulated restrictive practice is lodged in the NDIS Commission portal, and must set out how the practice will be reduced and eliminated over time.
That last point is where auditors press: a plan isn't a permission slip to keep a practice forever. It has to show the practice coming down.
Reporting: monthly, and the unauthorised-use trap
Two reporting paths, and providers mix them up:
- Authorised use of a regulated restrictive practice → routine monthly reporting to the Commission through the portal.
- Unauthorised use — no current plan, no authorisation, or used outside the plan → a reportable incident, notified within 5 business days (24 hours if it caused serious injury or death).
If your monthly reports stop while a practice is still in use, that gap is visible to the Commission — and it's one of the first things checked.
Where it goes wrong at audit
The practice isn't recognised as one. A locked fridge is described as 'household management', a PRN sedative as 'medication' — so it never gets a plan, an authorisation, or a report.
The plan and the practice don't match. Chemical restraint in use for three participants, but only two have a current authorised plan. The third is unauthorised, full stop.
The plan has lapsed. A behaviour support plan written eighteen months ago, never reviewed, the practice unchanged — no evidence of the reduction the plan promised.
Common questions
What are the five regulated restrictive practices?
Chemical, environmental, mechanical and physical restraint, and seclusion.
What makes a restrictive practice authorised?
It's a last resort, named in a current behaviour support plan, authorised under your state or territory's process, and reported to the NDIS Commission.
How often are restrictive practices reported?
Authorised use is reported monthly; unauthorised use is a reportable incident, notified within 5 business days (24 hours if it caused serious injury or death).
Where Clearline fits — honestly
Aura OS by Clearline Health keeps a restrictive practices register linked to the participant and their current behaviour support plan, flags a use that has no authorised plan behind it, and keeps your monthly reporting and the evidence in one place. When the auditor asks, the 60-second audit test packages it — pick a participant, a date and a Practice Standard, and a branded PDF is in their inbox in two clicks.
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Honest about the limit: software can't write a behaviour support plan or grant an authorisation — those are clinical and state decisions. What it can do is make sure every use is linked to a current plan, reported on time, and findable on audit day.
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This is general information drawn from the NDIS behaviour support and restrictive practices rules and the Commission's published guidance, not clinical or legal advice. Authorisation processes differ by state and territory, and the rules can change — check the current requirements with the NDIS Commission, your state or territory authorising body, and your behaviour support practitioner before you act.