Who writes this, and who does not.

What this site is

First on the Books is a reference handbook for occupational therapists and small allied health practices taking a first scheme-funded participant. It exists because the clinical part of that job is the part you already know how to do, and everything around it — registration, payment paths, claiming deadlines — is documented across several separate official pages that nobody sends you a map of.

So this is the map. Seven stages, each with its own page, written to be read mid-question by somebody who has an enquiry sitting in their inbox right now.

What this site is not

It is not the agency. First on the Books is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the National Disability Insurance Agency, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, or the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Nothing published here has been reviewed or approved by any of them. Where this site describes an obligation, it links to the official page that states it, so you are never relying on this site's account of a rule when you could read the rule.

It is not an occupational-therapy practice, and it does not take referrals. There is no clinic behind this site, no clinician on staff, and no service to book. If you have landed here looking for a therapist, this is the wrong site and you will not find one listed anywhere on it.

It is not advice. Everything here is general information about how a public scheme works. It is not legal, financial, or clinical advice for your practice or for any particular participant, and it cannot account for the facts of your situation.

How it is written

Two kinds of statement appear on these pages and they are never mixed, because a reader must never mistake somebody's experience for a stated obligation.

A sourced statement describes something the official guidance establishes. It sits on a solid slate rule and carries a numbered link to the page it came from, next to the claim rather than in a list at the bottom.

A practitioner note describes what the work tends to feel like. It sits on a dashed ochre rule, it is set in italic, and it carries no figure and no link, because it is observation rather than obligation.

Where the gathered guidance does not settle something, the page says so plainly and points at the body that does settle it. It does not fill the gap with a guess.

Currency

Every factual statement was checked against its official source in August 2026. The agency has published a notice that it is updating its guidance to reflect new legislation, so some of what is described here will change. Check the source before you rely on it — the link is always at the claim.

Who pays for this

This site is published by AutoLeGen Pty Ltd, which builds Carely, software for small allied health and disability practices. That is the commercial interest, and naming it is the point: the handbook is free and useful on its own, and if it happens to be the first time you hear of us, the offer on each page is a one-page summary sent by email, not a signup.

Carely works around the claim — enquiries, reminders, invoices. It does not do your registration, it does not write your notes, and it does not submit your payment requests for you. Where a page here describes an obligation, that obligation stays yours regardless of what software you run.

Corrections

If a statement on this site does not match its source, or a source has moved or changed, that is a defect and it will be fixed. The contact page reaches the publisher.