Standards v4 takes effect for all certified establishments from 1 July 2026. The headline change is cadence: on-site audits move from every three years to every year, and the registry gains the right to conduct unannounced spot checks at any point in between.
What is new in v4
- Annual on-site audit, replacing the previous three-year cycle.
- Unannounced spot checks, with no advance notice and no right to reschedule.
- Therapist licence records must be verifiable at the premises, on paper or on screen, at the moment an auditor asks.
- The Zero-Tolerance Pledge must be displayed in the reception area in the local language as well as English.
- Complaint records retained for 24 months and made available to auditors on request.
The reasoning
A three-year cycle meant an establishment could drift a long way from the standard it was certified against before anyone looked. Two suspensions in 2025 involved premises that had passed audit comfortably and then changed hands, changed staff, and changed practice within eighteen months. Nothing in the old cadence would have caught either case.
Certification is a claim about what happens on an ordinary Tuesday, not about what an establishment can arrange for a scheduled visit.
Registry audit team
What owners need to do
Most compliant establishments will find v4 costs them preparation time rather than money. Keep therapist licences current and retrievable, keep the pledge posted where clients see it, and keep complaint records for the full 24 months. Owners can review their own status from the owner console at any time.
Establishments certified before 1 July 2026 keep their existing certificate until its expiry date and transition to v4 at their next audit. No certificate is revoked by the change itself.
