This page sets out what the indicator behind this actually asks for, what a Support Observation in CORA captures, and where that evidence sits today.
What the indicator asks for
The requirement sits in the NDIS Practice Standards' Core Module, in the commentary the Commission publishes around worker competency rather than the separate list of eleven Human Resource Management indicators most providers know better. It's a smaller, less-quoted line, worth reading exactly as written:
"Workers have the skills and knowledge to deliver the supports they are assigned."
The artefact the Commission names against it is specific: a competency assessment recording what was observed, the assessor's name and signature, the date, and evidence the assessor was themselves competent to assess it. That's a real record, watched and signed, not a self-report and not a certificate.
This applies whichever audit you're facing. It sits inside both Verification and Certification, which makes it one of the more broadly relevant lines in the whole Standard.
Reported practice and observed practice are different evidence
Almost every provider can produce the first kind of evidence about a worker's skill. An appraisal where someone describes their own practice. A supervisor's general impression from working alongside them occasionally. A course completed and a certificate to show for it. All useful, and none of it is someone watching the actual task happen and writing down what they saw.
Observed evidence is rarer because it takes more. A second person has to actually be there, at the point of practice, not reconstructing it from memory in a meeting room afterwards. That's exactly the gap a Support Observation is built to close.
What a Support Observation actually captures
A Support Observation happens on shift, on a phone, at the point of practice. The observer names what they watched, records it against that worker's file, signs it, and dates it. It's captured in the moment rather than written up from memory later, which is what makes it observed evidence rather than a recollection of one.
Many observations check practice against what Person-Centred Active Support already trains for, engagement and participation rather than just task completion, so the observation and the training point at the same standard of practice.
Every Support Observation sits on the worker's own record, alongside their training history and their supervision sessions, so an assessor looking for evidence of skill has one place to look rather than a folder assembled specially for the visit.
Being exact about what this is, and what the fuller artefact expects
Here's the distinction worth being exact about, because precision is what makes this evidence trustworthy instead of inflated. A Support Observation gives you an observed record: on a phone, signed by a named observer, dated, and captured at the point of practice rather than reconstructed from memory afterwards. It's the same shape as the Standard's competency assessment, an observed record rather than a self-report, which is the harder half of this evidence to produce and the half that actually matters to an assessor.
The fuller artefact the Commission describes also expects a judgement recorded against a defined standard, evidence that the observer was themselves competent to make that judgement, and a date set for reassessment. CORA names a Support Observation for exactly what it already is: real, signed, observed evidence of practice. Building the fuller artefact on top of it is next.
Where it sits inside supervision
A Support Observation is one of the combinable parts a supervision session can be built from, alongside a conversation and a performance review. Run one on its own when a specific task needs watching, or fold it into a quarterly supervision session alongside everything else that session covers. Either way, it lands on the same worker record, dated and signed, ready for the evidence pack.
The same question an assessor asks at interview
Skills and knowledge to deliver the supports assigned is the same requirement behind what an assessor asks a worker directly at interview. A Support Observation is the proactive version of that same question, watched on shift, on record, before anyone from the Commission ever walks in the door.
Every claim on this page is about a record that already exists on a worker's file, checkable in a demo. See the standard we hold every claim on the site to.
Common questions
What is a Support Observation?
A record of a worker's practice watched on shift, at the point it happened, by a named observer who signs and dates it. It sits on the worker's own file alongside their training and supervision history.
Is a Support Observation the same as a competency assessment?
It's the same shape, an observed record rather than a self-report, which is the harder and more valuable half to produce. The fuller competency assessment the Commission describes also expects a formal judgement against a defined standard, and that's next on CORA's build list.
Does a Support Observation apply to Verification or Certification audits?
Both. The requirement that workers have the skills and knowledge to deliver the supports they're assigned sits inside Verification and Certification alike.
Who can run a Support Observation?
Any named person watching the practice, on shift, at the point it happens, recorded from their phone against the worker's file.