Workers compensation does not cover you
As a sole trader you are not your own worker. Workers compensation covers the people you employ. If you are hurt lifting a participant, it is not there for you.
NDIS PROVIDER INSURANCE
Disability Support Worker Insurance
If you work for yourself rather than for an agency, nobody else's policy is covering you. Here is what an independent support worker actually needs, which part of it people miss, and what makes an insurer price the risk differently.
PLThe one everyone asks for
PINamed in the same standard
AccidentThe one that gets missed
MotorIf you drive participants
Premiums and outcomes described are specific to this client and indicative only. Your own terms will depend on your circumstances and the insurer.
THE SHORT ANSWER
What insurance does an independent disability support worker need?
Public liability, professional indemnity and accident insurance. Those are the three named in the risk management quality indicator under the NDIS Practice Standards, which reads: appropriate insurance is in place, including professional indemnity, public liability and accident insurance. No minimum dollar limit is set, so the limit comes from your service agreements instead. Add commercial motor if you transport participants, and cyber once you are holding participant information on a phone or laptop.
The accident cover is the one independent workers most often go without. Workers compensation covers people you employ, not you, and public liability covers injury to other people, not to you. If an injury stops you working, nothing replaces your income unless you have arranged it separately.
- Named covers
- PI, public liability, accident
- Minimum limit
- None set by the Commission
- Limit driver
- Your service agreements
- Biggest rating factor
- Activities with participants
| Cover | What it responds to | Why it comes up |
|---|---|---|
| Public liability | Injury to a participant or the public, or damage to their property, arising from your work | This is the one your service agreement will name, and usually the one with a limit written into it |
| Professional indemnity | Allegations that your service delivery or the way you followed a support plan was negligent | Named alongside public liability in the same quality indicator under the NDIS Practice Standards |
| Personal accident and illness | Your own income if an injury or illness stops you working | As a sole trader you have no workers compensation entitlement covering yourself. Nothing replaces your income unless you arrange this |
| Commercial motor | Your vehicle when it is used to transport participants as part of a paid service | A private-use policy may not respond to a business use. Tell the insurer what the car is used for |
| Cyber | A breach involving the participant information you hold | Relevant once you are keeping notes, plans or health information on a phone or laptop |
Public liability does not cover you either
Public liability responds to injury you cause to someone else. Your own broken wrist is not a third-party claim.
It is named in the standard
The risk management quality indicator lists accident insurance alongside professional indemnity and public liability. It is not an optional extra bolted onto the requirement, it is part of it.
Personal accident and illness cover is not expensive relative to what it does, and it is the difference between an injury being a bad month and an injury being the end of your income. If you are a sole trader with no other household income, raise it with us before you worry about the difference between a $10 million and a $20 million liability limit.
How your work is described
Personal care, community access, plan management and allied health are separate occupations to an insurer. Some markets decline disability support at the occupation stage before pricing anything at all.
What you do with participants
In-home personal care prices differently to bike riding, bushwalking, swimming or gym sessions. Physical community access is the thing most likely to get a support worker submission declined or loaded.
What you turn over
Liability is usually rated on turnover. A sole trader on $80,000 and a small team on $600,000 are different risks, and the step between them is not linear.
What your agreements demand
Read the insurance clause in your service agreement or host agency contract before you buy. Both $10 million and $20 million public liability turn up in those documents, and a certificate showing the wrong limit is a certificate you cannot use.
Whether anyone works for you
The moment you take on an employee, workers compensation is a separate legal obligation in your state, and the liability policy needs to contemplate the people working under you.
Registered or not
Registered providers are audited against the Practice Standards. Unregistered workers are not, but the plan manager or agency paying them can still set insurance conditions in the service agreement.
Read the insurance clause in your service agreement. The limit you need is almost always written down somewhere you have already signed. Buying a $5 million policy when the agreement says $20 million means buying twice.
Write down your activity mix honestly. Every physical activity you do with participants goes in the proposal. An insurer that knows about the bushwalking and prices for it is worth more than a cheaper insurer that finds out at claim time.
Check the insured name. If you trade through a company or a partnership, the certificate has to name the entity that holds the service agreement. A certificate in your personal name will not satisfy an auditor looking at a company registration. See what your auditor asks for.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Disability Support Worker Insurance FAQs
If you are a registered provider, the risk management quality indicator under the NDIS Practice Standards expects professional indemnity, public liability and accident insurance to be in place, and your auditor checks it. If you are unregistered you are not audited against the Practice Standards, but the plan manager, host agency or participant paying you can require cover in the service agreement, and for an unregistered worker that is usually where the obligation comes from instead.
There is no figure set by the NDIS Commission. The limit comes from your service agreements. Read the insurance clause before you buy, because both $10 million and $20 million turn up in those clauses and a certificate at the wrong limit will not satisfy the party asking for it.
For a sole trader it usually means personal accident and illness cover. It pays you a benefit if an injury or illness stops you working. It is the cover we most often find missing when we look at a support worker's arrangements, because workers compensation covers your employees rather than you, and public liability covers injury to other people rather than to you.
Not necessarily. A policy issued for private use may not respond when the vehicle is being used to deliver a paid service. If transport is part of your supports, tell your motor insurer what the car is actually used for and get the use noted, or arrange a commercial motor policy.
Usually as a split rather than one occupation. Where a worker combines disability support with allied health, the better markets rate the two proportions separately. Give us the actual revenue split, because a policy issued under the wrong occupation is the thing most likely to be argued at claim time.
Often yes, but it needs to be disclosed at the proposal stage. Bike riding, bushwalking, swimming and gym sessions change the rating, and some insurers will decline the risk on the activity alone. On one submission for a provider doing community access with physical activity, most of the markets approached declined at the occupation stage and one wrote it. Every risk is different, which is why the activity mix goes in the submission up front.
QUOTE REQUEST
Get a support worker insurance quote
Tell us your support mix, whether you do physical activities with participants, your expected turnover and the limits your service agreements ask for. We will come back with the terms.
Specialist broker review Australian business insurance
Cover for the Work You Actually Do
Occupation described properly, activities disclosed up front, certificates issued in the name that matches your agreements.