For NDIS Providers: Understanding Your Trust Index Score

The NDIS Trust Index measures publicly visible transparency signals from disability service providers. Transparency builds trust with participants and their families, and our index helps them identify providers with strong visibility and accountability. This guide explains how your score is calculated, why it matters, and how to improve it.

How Your Score Is Calculated

Your Trust Index score is out of 100, calculated from five components on a raw 135-point scale:

• Business Legitimacy (BL, 35 points): Active ABN, entity registration, ABN age, GST status, ASIC registration, and name stability.
• Public Transparency (PT, 30 points): Working website, HTTPS, NDIS-specific content on your site, visible contact information (email, phone, address).
• Regulatory Standing (RS, 20 points): Active NDIS registration, clean compliance record, stable address history, and quarterly operational presence.
• Market Signals (MS, 15 points): Independent operation (not co-located with many providers), proportionate registration groups, appropriate address type, unique contact details.
• Integrity Signals (IS, 35 points): Deduction-based. Starts at 35, with deductions for shared contacts, co-location density, shell indicators, name changes, phoenix address matches, and rapid registration group accumulation.

Scores fall into five bands: Excellent (95+), Good (85-94), Fair (58-84), Poor (below 58), and Not Operating (for inactive providers).

Sole Traders

If you operate as an individual (IND entity type), the Trust Index automatically credits you for the ASIC registration and entity type sub-components of Business Legitimacy. This adds 12 points to your BL score, ensuring you are not structurally disadvantaged compared to companies. Sole trading is a legitimate NDIS provider structure, and the scoring reflects this.

Common Reasons for a Low Score

• No working website, or a website that does not mention NDIS or disability services.
• Inactive or very recently registered ABN with limited business history.
• Compliance actions or regulatory concerns on file with the NDIS Commission.
• Sharing a phone number, email, or address with multiple other provider ABNs.
• Frequent business name changes or indicators of shell company activity.
• No Google Business Profile or searchable online presence.

How to Improve Your Score

1. Build or update your website: Include clear information about your NDIS services, target client groups, and service locations. Make sure it mentions disability support explicitly.
2. Use HTTPS: Ensure your website uses a secure connection. Most modern hosting providers offer this free.
3. Ensure your ABN is active: Verify with the Australian Business Register that your ABN status is current and in good standing.
4. List your services clearly: Detail the disabilities, age groups, and support types you offer on your website.
5. Add visible contact details: Include phone, email, and physical address on your website and business profiles.
6. Use unique contact information: If your phone number or email is shared with other provider ABNs, this can reduce your Integrity Signals score.
7. Maintain regulatory compliance: Ensure you meet NDIS Commission standards and promptly address any compliance concerns.

Understanding Hard Penalties

Certain conditions trigger automatic score adjustments that cannot be improved through other measures:

• No website: Public Transparency is set to 0. A provider with no online presence cannot demonstrate public transparency.
• Dead or irrelevant website: If your website does not load or has no disability content, your BL and PT scores are capped at reduced levels depending on severity.
• Cancelled ABN: Business Legitimacy is set to 0.
• Compliance action: Regulatory Standing is set to 0, plus a flat 10-point penalty on the raw score.
• Phoenix pattern: If your ABN was cancelled and reinstated, BL is capped at 15 with a 25-point flat penalty. Score is capped below Fair.
• Young ABN: If your business is less than 12 months old, your score is capped below the Fair threshold (57.9 max) until the business matures.

To recover from a hard penalty, address the underlying issue (renew your ABN, build a website, or resolve compliance concerns) and the score will update in the next data refresh.

What the Trust Index Does Not Measure

The Trust Index focuses on publicly verifiable transparency signals. It does not assess clinical quality, participant outcomes, value for money, staff qualifications, or the quality of care provided. It is not a quality or performance rating. For participant safeguarding and quality concerns, contact the NDIS Commission.

Disputing Your Score

If you believe your score is inaccurate or out of date, please contact RefDat with documentation of changes. Common disputes include recently updated websites, newly active ABNs, or resolved compliance issues. We review requests and recalculate scores when data is verified.

Useful Resources

• NDIS Provider Portal for registration, compliance updates, and official guidance.
• NDIS Commission for regulatory information and safeguarding advice.
• Trust Index Methodology for full scoring details.
• Your provider page on ndis.refdat.com for your current score and transparency profile.

Transparency strengthens the entire NDIS ecosystem. By maintaining clear, accurate, and accessible information about your services, you help participants and families make informed decisions and build confidence in your provider.