Australia guides

What is an NDIS business worth in Australia?

Published Australian transaction data puts disability services (NDIS) businesses in a band of roughly 3.0x–7.0x EBITDA — one of the widest ranges of any local sector. Handle that band with care: it is an EBITDA band built from corporate acquisition evidence, so an owner-operated provider working from PEBITDA or SDE cannot apply it unadjusted, and the market evidence still has to match the size and character of the business in front of you. Beyond the earnings basis, two things move an NDIS number most: whether the provider is registered, and how the sale is structured — because an NDIS registration is linked to a single ABN and cannot be transferred to a different one. That last mechanism is specific to this sector, and it is a common reason an NDIS deal gets repriced late.

By the bizflip team · Published 30 August 2026 · Facts checked 30 August 2026 · Sources listed below

Why the published range is so wide

"Disability services" covers businesses with almost nothing in common commercially. A sole-operator support coordination practice, an allied health clinic billing therapy supports, and a supported independent living operator running 24-hour rosters across several houses all sit under the same heading. They carry different risk, so they attract different multiples, and a sector-wide band is the sum of all of them rather than a guide to any one of them.

The published band itself is specific in two ways that matter. It is an EV/EBITDA band — the earnings figure underneath it is EBITDA, not PEBITDA or SDE — so an owner-operator who has added their own wage back cannot multiply by it without first deducting a market salary for the role they fill; the publisher itself warns that PEBITDA multiples and EBITDA multiples are not interchangeable and that mixing them can significantly overstate value. And the transaction evidence behind the disability-services row is corporate acquisition activity, published with the caution to make sure market evidence is relevant to the size, location and characteristics of the business being assessed. A sole-operator practice and a corporate bolt-on are not the same market, and the band is indicative context rather than a valuation.

Four things separate the top of the range from the bottom.

• Registration status. Supports funded in an NDIA-managed plan can only be delivered by registered providers, while plan-managed participants can use registered or unregistered ones — so an unregistered provider has a narrower addressable market. Registration has also stopped being purely a commercial choice: from 1 July 2026 some supported independent living providers must be registered with the NDIS Commission, and every registered SIL provider needs certification audits.
• Owner-dependence. If the owner is also the roster coordinator, the on-call phone and the relationship with every participant family, a buyer is purchasing a job. A provider with a functioning service manager, documented rosters and a governance layer that survives the owner's exit prices materially higher.
• Revenue quality. Long-standing participants on stable, high-hours supports forecast far better than episodic therapy or short-term support coordination that ends when a plan is reviewed.
• Compliance history. The audit record follows the business: renewing a registration repeats the application steps, audit included, and a change-of-ownership condition audit re-tests any standard that previously needed a corrective action plan. An unresolved compliance issue gets priced as a liability, not discounted as noise.

The registration does not come with the business

This is the mechanism that makes an NDIS sale different from selling a café or a trades business. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission states plainly that a registration is linked to a single ABN and is not transferable to a different ABN. Once a registration is linked to an ABN, that ABN cannot be updated or amended — if the business needs to sit under a different ABN, a new registration application is required. The Commission also notes that some structures may not allow the ABN to move to a new owner at all; a sole trader is the clear case.

That pushes the deal down one of two paths, and the choice changes what is actually being sold.

• An asset sale — the buyer takes goodwill, staff and equipment, but the registration stays behind with the seller's ABN, and the participants are not part of the package either: the Commission requires that participants are informed of the change, are not automatically moved to the new owner, and are able to find a new provider if they want. The buyer needs their own registration, and the audit that goes with it, before they can bill for registered supports. Revenue is exposed for however long that takes, and for every participant who chooses not to follow.
• A sale of the entity itself — ownership of the company changes hands, the ABN and the registration continue, and billing does not stop. The Commission still has to be told: registered provider businesses that are bought and sold must report the details as soon as possible, and the Commission assesses whether the new business and its staff are suitable to deliver NDIS supports. For changes of ownership from 1 July 2026, the clean path also carries its own audit: where the provider delivers supports that require certification audits and the sale causes a significant change to the organisation or its governance, the buyer must complete a condition audit, started no later than three months after the day of purchase.

A buyer paying for uninterrupted registered revenue is buying the entity. A buyer in an asset sale is buying something less certain and should be paying less for it. Two deals over the same business can be worth quite different amounts for this reason alone, so settle the structure before arguing about the multiple.

What a buyer will examine, and what each item costs

• Registration scope and remaining term. Registration expires, and renewing it repeats the application process, audit included; renewal can begin in the six months before the expiry date. A certificate close to expiry hands the buyer a cost and a risk, and they will subtract both.
• The audit pathway. Lower-risk supports are assessed by a verification audit; higher-risk or more complex supports require a certification audit against the NDIS Practice Standards, with an onsite stage that includes site visits and interviews with staff and participants, plus a mid-term audit eighteen months into the registration period. Providers pay the approved quality auditor themselves, and the cost depends on the size and scale of the organisation. Certification is a heavier ongoing overhead — and a real barrier to a new competitor, which cuts the other way.
• The change-of-ownership audit. For purchases from 1 July 2026, buying a provider of high-risk or complex supports brings a condition audit where the sale causes a significant change to the organisation or its governance. It must start within three months of the purchase and re-tests the governance and operational management standards along with anything that previously required a corrective action plan — price in the auditor's bill and the management time.
• Worker screening. People in risk-assessed roles need an NDIS worker screening clearance, and so do key personnel — the CEO, directors and board members among them; a sole-trader provider is both at once. Providers must identify their risk-assessed roles and keep records of them. Some states let a worker start under supervision while their application is decided, but a lasting unscreened gap is fixed at the seller's cost or it ends the deal.
• Participant mix by plan management type. Count the revenue sitting in NDIA-managed plans separately, because those supports can only be delivered by a registered provider and cannot follow the business into an unregistered structure.
• Concentration. A handful of high-hours participants can be most of the earnings, and any one of them can leave. In a change of ownership the Commission requires that participants are informed and free to choose another provider, so concentration risk peaks at exactly the moment of sale.
• Award compliance. In a rostered workforce with penalty rates, an underpayment exposure is a straight deduction from the price.

Prices are anchored to a government schedule

In most industries a business answers rising wages by lifting prices. An NDIS provider has far less room. The NDIA publishes the NDIS pricing schedule, which sets out what the agency considers the appropriate and reasonable maximum prices for NDIS supports, refreshed through an Annual Pricing Review — the current schedule took effect on 1 July 2026, the start of the financial year. The schedule is guidance rather than a hard cap: providers use it to inform their prices, and changing an existing service agreement needs the participant's agreement. A Bill introduced into Parliament on 14 May 2026 proposes to give the NDIS Minister the power to make a pricing determination — until that passes, guidance is what it stays.

Registration is also becoming a pricing variable. The 2026-27 Annual Pricing Review recommends that prices for Social, Community and Civic Participation supports delivered by unregistered providers be reduced by 10% from 1 January 2027, with indexation of those supports ceased, while prices and indexation for registered providers are maintained — the review's reasoning is that registration carries audit, practice-standards and worker-screening obligations whose costs unregistered providers do not incur. For other support categories the review establishes differentiation by registration status as a pricing principle without yet applying it, to be progressed as evidence matures. For a buyer, that shifts registration from a paperwork question towards a revenue-rate question.

The consequence for valuation is unchanged either way: margin in this sector is made in rostering, utilisation, travel and overhead, not in pricing power. A provider whose margin depends on the next pricing review going its way is a weaker asset than one whose margin comes from how it is run.

The staff are the asset, and they transfer on rules

In a labour business the workforce is most of what is being bought. Australia handles this as a transfer of business under the Fair Work Act. Where employees move across, the new employer has to recognise their service with the old employer when working out most entitlements — sick and carer's leave, requests for flexible working arrangements, parental leave. Five entitlements are treated differently: redundancy, annual leave, long service leave, unfair dismissal and notice of termination. The two with the biggest cash consequences run the same way: a new employer that is not an associated entity of the seller can decide not to recognise service for redundancy, in which case the seller pays redundancy on termination, and can decide the same for annual leave, in which case the seller pays out each employee's untaken accumulated leave. Either way the seller must give its own employees official notice in writing, tell the new owner about its contractual, leave, financial and legal obligations, and agree with the new owner which obligations transfer.

None of that is a formality where the roster is the product. It is a cash number that lands on one side of the deal or the other, and it belongs in the negotiation rather than in settlement.

Working out a number for your own business

Take it in order. Normalise the last full financial year and the current year to date. Decide which earnings basis applies — PEBITDA or SDE if the buyer will work in the business, EBITDA carrying a real management wage if it will run without them — because applying an EBITDA-style multiple to an owner-adjusted earnings figure inflates the answer more than any argument about the multiple ever will, and the published 3.0x–7.0x band is an EBITDA band. The guides library covers that distinction in general terms. There is no one set valuation method, either: business.gov.au lists current market values, return on investment, asset value, cost of starting from scratch and future profit as standard approaches, and suggests professional advice from an accountant, business adviser or business broker. Then adjust for the transfer path, since an entity sale and an asset sale are not selling the same thing. Looking at what comparable businesses are currently listed at is a useful sanity check on the result, though asking prices are not sale prices.

Sources

Every load-bearing claim in this guide, and where it comes from:

• Verbatim: "An NDIS registration is linked to a single ABN and is NOT transferrable to a different ABN. Once a registration is linked to an ABN, the ABN can't be updated or amended." A different ABN requires "a new registration application"; "Some business structures may not allow the ABN to be transferred to the new owner, such as a sole trader." Also: "Registered provider businesses that are bought and sold need to report the details to the NDIS Commission" ("as soon as possible") and "We assess if the new business and staff are suitable to deliver NDIS supports and services"; and "Participants must not be automatically moved to the new owner. They need to be able to find a new provider if they want" (participants and families "need to be informed about the change"). — NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (Australian Government)
• Change-of-ownership audit, same page: "From 1 July 2026… if you buy an NDIS provider business that delivers high-risk or complex supports, you must complete an audit within 3 months of the change in ownership." The condition audit applies when the provider has "a registration group that requires a Certification audit" and "the change of ownership causes a significant change to the organisation or it's governance"; "You must start the audit no later than 3 months after the day you bought the provider business"; it assesses the Practice Standards on "provider governance and operational management" plus "any other standard that was previously assessed as requiring a corrective action plan." — NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (Australian Government)
• "Registered NDIS providers must notify the NDIS Commission of significant changes and events," including changes to "ownership, including the sale, merger or transfer of all or part of your business" and to key personnel. — NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (Australian Government)
• "People in risk-assessed roles, including key personnel need an NDIS screening clearance"; key personnel "includes the CEO, directors listed in ASIC, executive staff, managers or board members"; "Registered NDIS providers are responsible for identifying and keeping records of their risk-assessed roles"; "Self-employed or sole trader registered providers are both key personnel and working in risk-assessed roles"; and "Some states or territories allow a NDIS worker to begin working in a risk-assessed role after they've applied" (working on application), supervised by someone with a clearance under a written risk management plan. — NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (Australian Government)
• "A verification audit applies to NDIS providers who only deliver lower risk or lower complexity supports and services"; "A certification audit applies to NDIS providers who deliver one or more higher risk or more complex NDIS supports and services," assessed against the NDIS Practice Standards with an onsite stage "visiting your sites and interviewing staff and participants"; "a mid-term audit… is completed 18 months into your registration period"; and "providers will need to pay for an approved quality auditor to complete an audit," the cost being "dependent on the size and scale of your organisation." — NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (Australian Government)
• Registration expires and renewal "has the same steps as your initial application, including… getting an audit"; renewal can start "any time in the 6 months before your registration expiry date"; and "Your previous registration is associated with a single Australian Business Number (ABN)." — NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (Australian Government)
• "The NDIS Practice Standards specify the quality standards that need to be met by registered NDIS providers," with a core module covering "provider governance and operational management" and a supplementary module for supported independent living. — NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (Australian Government)
• "From 1 July 2026 some supported independent living (SIL) providers must register with the NDIS Commission"; the new registration group is "0138 – Assistance with supported independent living"; and "All registered supported independent living providers need to… have certification audits." — NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (Australian Government)
• "You can choose the providers of your NDIS supports, but they must be registered providers. You can't use unregistered providers for NDIS supports you have NDIA-managed funding for." — National Disability Insurance Agency (Australian Government)
• "You can still choose the providers you want to deliver your NDIS supports when you have plan-managed funding. You can choose providers who are registered or unregistered." — National Disability Insurance Agency (Australian Government)
• "The NDIS pricing schedule sets out information about what we consider to be the appropriate and reasonable maximum prices for all NDIS supports. You can use the pricing schedule to inform your prices from 1 July 2026. You must discuss proposed changes to existing service agreements with participants. Participants must agree to the changes before they are made." The schedule lists "recommended maximum prices" per support item and is effective 1 July 2026. — National Disability Insurance Agency (Australian Government)
• "We've released the annual pricing review (APR). It provides guidance on what we consider appropriate NDIS prices for 2026-27"; and "On 14 May 2026 the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 (Bill) was introduced into Parliament. The Bill proposes to provide the Minister for the NDIS with the power to make a pricing determination." — National Disability Insurance Agency (Australian Government)
• The NDIA released the Annual Pricing Review report for 2026-27 prices (22 June 2026), described as guidance on appropriate NDIS prices, alongside the NDIS Pricing Schedule. — National Disability Insurance Agency (Australian Government)
• APR for 2026-27 prices report, Recommendation 16: "The prices for Social, Community and Civic Participation supports delivered by unregistered providers, including high intensity supports should be reduced by 10% from 1 January 2027. Indexation of these supports should be ceased. The prices and indexation for Social, Community and Civic Participation supports delivered by registered providers should be maintained." Section 5.3: registration's "regulatory and governance obligations… impose costs unregistered providers do not incur," including "initial and ongoing audit and certification," Practice Standards compliance and "maintaining worker screening and training records." Section 5.4: differentiation applies to "one support category" in this APR, and "Differentiation for other support categories will be progressed as evidence matures." — National Disability Insurance Agency (Australian Government)
• "A new employer has to recognise an employee's service with the old employer when working out most of their entitlements, including: sick and carer's leave, requests for flexible working arrangements, parental leave." Entitlements the new employer "might not have to recognise" are "redundancy, annual leave, long service leave, unfair dismissal, notice of termination." A new employer that is not an associated entity "can choose to not recognise an employee's service… for redundancy entitlements. The old employer will then need to pay redundancy to the employee upon termination"; for annual leave, "where the employers are not associated entities, the new employer can decide not to recognise an employee's service… In this case, the old employer has to pay out the employee's untaken accumulated annual leave." — Fair Work Ombudsman (Australian Government)
• When selling: "the law requires you to give them official notice in writing"; the seller must "notify the new owner of any contractual, leave, financial and legal obligations you have with your employees" and "work out with the new owner what obligations you'll be responsible for and what obligations will be transferred to the new owner." — business.gov.au (Australian Government)
• "There is no one set valuation method"; common methods listed are "current market values, return on investment, business asset value, cost of starting a business from scratch, future profit of a business"; and it suggests "getting professional advice on how to value your business through your accountant, a business adviser or a business broker." — business.gov.au (Australian Government)
• Industry multiples table row: "Disability Services (NDIS) | 3.0x – 7.0x | EV/EBITDA | Zenitas Healthcare acquisitions | Compliance, participant retention." The page warns: "ensure the market evidence is relevant to the size, location, and characteristics of the business being assessed"; states "Multiples are indicative only and should not be relied upon as a valuation"; and that "PEBITDA multiples and EBITDA multiples are not interchangeable" — mixing them "can significantly overstate value." — Expert Business Valuations
• Defines EBITDA (businesses run under management), PEBITDA (proprietor remuneration added back, for owner-operated businesses) and SDE (total benefit to one owner-operator), and states: "The earnings base and the multiple must be aligned. Applying an EBITDA multiple to an owner-earnings figure is one of the fastest ways to overstate value." — Expert Business Valuations

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