Aged Care Quality Bulletin #10-2026 | Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission

Commissioner’s message

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of joining more than 1,400 sector representatives in Brisbane and online for our National Aged Care Provider Conference 2026. It was inspiring to see so many people come together with a shared commitment to improving the lives of older people and making rights and choice a reality every day.

Through honest conversations, thoughtful discussions and practical workshops, we reflected on the theme Rights and choice, every day: one year in, and explored what we have learned, achieved and continue to work towards as we approach the one-year anniversary of the rights-based Aged Care Act 2024 (Aged Care Act). A big thank you to our 70 presenters and panellists for your contributions and to Michael Rowland as our Master of Ceremony.

One of the most encouraging outcomes was hearing that 85% of delegates who responded to our survey felt more confident about their responsibilities after attending the conference, up from 76% in 2025. This highlights the importance of practical guidance in helping providers understand what good practice looks like. It also reminds us that there is still more to do to support those who remained unsure or did not feel more confident.

What stood out most were the conversations. Hearing people share their experiences, challenges and successes brought to life the changes that have taken place since 1 November last year.

Each conference is a rich opportunity to learn from each other about how we are upholding and improving rights-based aged care and outcomes for older people. The conference recordings and a photo gallery are now available on our website.

One of the topics that was discussed at the conference was the importance to safeguard older people’s rights to sexual expression and consensual sexual activity. Every older person has the right to consensual intimate and sexual relationships and to be safe from sexual harm. Sexual safety and sexual rights is one of our 2026–27 sector risk priorities. We will soon be releasing a Sexual Safety Framework and resources to help providers and workers support the sexual safety of older people. Read the full article below.

Last issue I advised our Annual Report 2025–26 will include information about the number and types of complaints we received about registered providers. Complaints give older people a voice, providing valuable insights into people’s experiences that can help identify opportunities for improvement.

A complaint, by itself, doesn’t mean a provider is not meeting their obligations. Similarly, a higher number of complaints don’t necessarily mean that quality and safety is declining. It may be a reflection that people are more aware about their rights and feel more confident to speak up.

Sharing information about complaints in our annual reports supports transparency, informed decision-making and continuous improvement across the sector. It will help us work towards our shared goal of better aged care outcomes for older people.

On 1 October, the Support at Home Program personal care service type changed from the Independence category to the Clinical Supports category. This means people receiving personal care services will no longer have to pay a contribution if they are approved for this care type, and have available Support at Home funding. Providers need to work with older people to tell them about the changes and make sure their service plans are up to date and meeting their needs and preferences.

In November 2026 we’ll be doing a targeted review of Support at Home providers, to check if they’re giving older people the information they need to make informed choices about their care. We might select you for this review if we’ve received complaints that you aren’t meeting your obligations, or if we think the review would help you.

Further in this Bulletin you can read more about our 2025–26 prudential review which found significant improvement in providers meeting their prudential and refundable deposit obligations. Providers can now use our associated provider notifications API to submit multiple notifications at once, making the process more efficient, and they are also reminded to keep their organisation details up to date. Round 3 of the Support at Home Thin Markets grant closes on 26 November and public submissions are open for the Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care’s review of the implementation of the Royal Commission recommendations.

The latest Clinical Insights blog from Dr Mandy Callary has now been published. This month she discusses how strong clinical governance can help older people live well and receive quality care. If you've missed any of her previous blogs, I encourage you to check them out on our website.

As we near the one-year anniversary of the start of the new Aged Care Act, I want to thank everyone across the sector for the commitment, care and professionalism you bring to work every day. The past year has been one of significant change and I know adapting to new ways of working while continuing to deliver quality care is not always easy. Yet through my conversations with providers, workers older people and their families and supporters, I have seen a genuine commitment to putting the rights and choice of older people at the centre of care. On 1 November, I hope you find time to reflect on how far we have come together and celebrate your achievements.

Liz Hefren-Webb
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner

Updates and insights

Strengthening sexual safety in aged care

Every older person has the right to consensual intimate and sexual relationships and to be safe from sexual harm.

Aged care providers have an important role in upholding these rights and creating safe, respectful environments for the older people in their care. A panel of experts discussed the importance to safeguard older people’s rights to sexual expression and consensual sexual activity at our NACPC 2026 with a recording of the session now available on our website.

As one of our 2026–27 sector risk priorities, we’ve published new web content about sexual rights and safety in aged care, with dedicated information for older people, aged care workers and providers. It covers:

what sexual safety means
the rights of older people in aged care
the role and responsibilities of providers and workers.

Coming soon: Sexual Safety Framework

We will soon publish a Sexual Safety Framework and supporting resources for residential aged care.

The framework will help providers strengthen their policies, practices and workforce capability to support older people’s sexual rights and safety. Practical resources will help providers and workers put the framework’s principles and pillars into practice.

You can find out more about sexual safety on our Upholding sexual safety in aged care webpage. The framework and supporting resources will be added to the website over the coming weeks.

Our recent webinar 'Navigating the challenges: Balancing sexual rights and sexual safety in aged care' explored some of the complexities providers can face including consent, fluctuating cognition, family concerns, rights and dignity of risk. Using two practical scenarios, the panel shared different perspectives and practical advice to support decision-making in practice. The webinar recording is available on our YouTube channel.

Greater transparency through provider-level complaints reporting

For the first time, our Annual Report (2025–26) will include the number and types of complaints we have received about individual registered providers and residential care homes. This new provider- and home-level reporting is required under the Aged Care Act 2024 and Aged Care Rules 2025.

Publishing this data builds on our regular sector performance reporting which aims to give the sector visibility of the issues being raised about particular services.

The data covers complaints received and resolved from 1 November 2025 to 30 June 2026. The report also includes information about the types of complaints, outcomes, timeliness, and requests for reconsideration.

About the data

Our annual report will show that we received more complaints in 2025-26 than in 2024–25. We know that many things can affect the number of complaints, including:

the size of the provider
the number of people receiving services
the types of services
the settings in which care is provided.

The number of complaints increased during a period of significant change in aged care, including the start of the rights-based Aged Care Act and growing awareness among older people, their families and supporters of aged care rights and the pathways to raise concerns or make complaints.

It is important to note that the published data reflects complaints recorded in the Commission’s complaints management system for the relevant reporting period. This data may not always align directly with providers’ own records, as the Commission’s approach to recording, counting and attributing complaints may differ from providers’ internal processes.

Our 2025–26 annual report is now available on our website.

Change to the personal care contribution

From 1 October 2026, the Support at Home Program personal care service type has moved from the Independence category to the Clinical Supports category. This means older people receiving personal care services don’t need to pay a contribution if they:

are approved for the personal care service type and
have available Support at Home funding.

The definition of personal care services remains the same and includes support with:

showering
managing continence (non-clinical support)
dressing
eating
personal hygiene
assistance with taking medications.

Providers need to work with older people to make these personal care changes. They need to:

tell older people about the contribution changes to help them choose the services that best meet their needs and preferences
update care and services plans where needed
adjust their budgets
make sure invoices are correct
make sure personal care changes are reflected in the monthly statements.

This change only relates to the contribution category and must not affect the quality of the personal care services you provide. You must continue to meet all existing requirements for providing services, having a suitable workforce, claiming accurately and keeping records.

You can find more information about the changes to personal care on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s website.

API option for associated provider notifications

Our associated provider notifications application programming interface (API) is a new way to tell us about changes to your associated providers. You can use the API to send us your notifications all in one go instead of submitting them individually.

An API is a secure connection that lets approved systems share information directly with our systems. If you have high numbers of notifications, it makes your reporting more efficient by reducing the amount of data you need to enter manually.

Using the API doesn’t change your notification requirements. You still need to tell us about changes to your associated providers within the required timeframes.

You now have 3 ways to tell us about changes. You can use:

The API may be right for you if you have the technical capability, resources and system support you need to set up and maintain the connection.

You can find out more on our API webpages.

Prudential review: governance documents and prudential requirements

In 2025–26, we did a prudential review of 35 residential aged care providers. We do prudential reviews to check providers’ financial and prudential practices. We want to make sure they understand and comply with their prudential responsibilities. This review focused on how they were complying with:

the Aged Care Financial and Prudential Standards 2025 (Financial and Prudential Standards)
prudential obligations for refundable deposits, including:
- their refunding obligations
- having a refundable deposits register
- what they need to disclose.

Of the 35 providers, only 3 were fully complying at the time of the review.

The 2 main weaknesses were maintaining governance documents and applying prudential requirements.

The review found that providers who weren't complying:

didn’t document processes to recognise, record and respond to non-compliance in their financial and prudential management systems
weren’t calculating both the default minimum liquidity amount (MLA) and the evaluated MLA for each quarter
didn’t have enough evidence in their Investment Management Strategy of their process for monitoring how their investments were performing
were calculating incorrect interest amounts when refunding refundable deposits because of a software defect.

We referred 2 providers to our compliance team. With our guidance and education, the remaining 30 providers were complying by the end of the review.

You can see all of our findings and suggestions for providers in our insights report.

Targeted review: Are you giving older people the information they need?

In November 2026, we’ll start a targeted review with selected Support at Home providers to understand if they’re giving older people the information they need to make choices about their care.

Targeted reviews help us assess the sector’s understanding of their financial and prudential obligations. If we find a provider isn’t complying with their obligations, we work with them to fix the issues.

In this review, we’ll consider if category 4 and 5 Support at Home providers are giving older people information to help them choose the care that best meets their needs. This includes information about:

service agreements
care plans
budgets
monthly statements.

In line with the Aged Care Act 2024 (sections 148 and 155) and the Aged Care Rules 2025, providers must:

work with older people to develop service agreements (including agreeing to service prices), care plans and budgets
provide monthly statements on time.

We may select you for this review if:

we’ve received complaints that you aren’t meeting your obligations
we think the review would help you.

After the review, we’ll share a report that includes our findings, and common mistakes and issues for providers to think about.

You can find more information on targeted reviews on our website.

Have your details changed? Keep your information up to date

Providers need to keep information about their organisation up to date. This helps us:

contact the right people in your organisation
process applications and notifications efficiently
keep correct information on the Provider Register.

Under the Aged Care Act 2024, providers need to notify us when their information changes. You might also need to notify the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

Depending on the changes, you might need to:

apply to vary (change) your registration
report a change to the number of available beds
notify us about a change in circumstances
update your information in the Government Provider Management System (GPMS)
contact us to correct your information.

You can find out more about keeping your information up to date on our new Update your organisation details webpage.

Choice, dignity, respect – empowering older people to speak up on aged care rights

We continue to raise awareness of aged care rights through our ‘Choice, dignity, respect – your rights in aged care’ public information program. The program supports older people, their families and supporters to:

understand their rights under the new Aged Care Act 2024 and Statement of Rights
know how to raise a concern, provide feedback or make a complaint
access information and support when they need it

As more people engage with aged care services, our research shows that many older people are still unaware of their right to safe, respectful and high-quality care. Commission complaints data also shows that issues relating to communication, care quality and service delivery are common concerns.

Creating opportunities for older people to share feedback and raise concerns can help build a culture of open communication, trust and continuous improvement. Having a complaints process that is easy to understand and use helps ensure people feel heard and supported.

To support these conversations we have developed a range of resources for providers, workers, older people, families and supporters. They explain:

what aged care rights mean for older people
tips for raising a concern
best practice complaints advice for providers to support older people to be heard
how we can help.

We have also created a Provider and worker toolkit to support engagement with the older people in your care about rights and raising concerns. The kit includes key messaging and a conversation guide, information to share on social media and in your newsletter and links to further resources.

Alternatively, you can access the full suite of resources by visiting:

Inspector-General of Aged Care - Royal Commission Review

The Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care (OIGAC) has started a review of the Australian Government’s implementation of the Aged Care Royal Commission recommendations.

This review will assess if the government’s response is delivering – or is likely to be effective in delivering – meaningful improvements to the aged care system. It will focus on the key outcome areas of:

people-centred aged care: a rights-based system
leadership and government accountability
access and navigation
high quality and safe care and support
an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander aged care pathway
equitable aged care
regulation and provider accountability
workforce
sustainable aged care.

Have your say

The OIGAC invites you to share your views and experiences.

You can provide feedback on what’s working well, what’s not working well, and where more reform is needed in aged care.

You can find more information, including how to have your say, on the OIGAC website.

Closing soon: Support at Home Round 3 Thin Markets Grants

Funding is still available to eligible Support at Home providers delivering aged care services in thin markets. Round 3 of the Support at Home Thin Markets grants is open until 2pm (AEDT) on 26 November 2026.

You may be eligible if you provide:

rural and remote services in Modified Monash areas 3 to 7
specialised services in any region
culturally responsive services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

You can still apply if you received funding in earlier rounds of these grants.

There are 2 available funding streams:

Stream One: rural, remote and specialised services
Stream Two: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services.

Providers in Stream Two can take part in a detailed evaluation. It will look at how effective the grant is, and the outcomes and impact for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their Support at Home service providers. Each participating provider can claim a $50,000 payment.

You can find out more about the grants and apply on GrantConnect. You can send your questions to Grant.ATM@health.gov.au

Clinical update

Clinical Insights focuses on clinical governance

We have published the third post in our Clinical Insights blog, which features expert perspectives from senior clinical leaders on improving the quality and safety of aged care.

In the October edition, Dr Mandy Callary, Chief Clinical Advisor at the Commission, writes about how clinical governance is key to understanding risks and improving outcomes for older people.

The blog post covers:

what governance is
how everyone can contribute to strong governance
how strong clinical governance can help older people live well and receive quality care.

You can read the blog on our website.

Webinars

Culturally safe care

17 November 2026, 2.00 pm to 3.00 pm (AEDT)

The Aged Care Act, Rules, Standards and Code of Conduct include the right to culturally safe care, with particular regard to the care experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Our panel will explore the ‘why’ behind the cultural safety requirements including the person, community and legal perspectives. You’ll hear about lived experiences, practical resources and advice you can draw upon to deliver culturally safe care in home, community and residential settings.

Registrations will open 2 weeks before on our website.

Higher-risk weather season

10 November 2026, 2.00pm – 3.00pm AEDT

The National Emergency Management Agency is holding a webinar for the aged care sector. It will discuss higher-risk weather expected this summer and how to prepare.

The webinar will include:

a seasonal climate outlook
an overview of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission learning module
information on support and resources
an opportunity to ask questions.

Register your interest by emailing HRWS@nema.gov.au.

Training and resources

Recorded online learning

We have a range of recorded presentations adapted from past workshops. Topics for the recorded sessions include:

Strengthened Quality Standards – Providing quality aged care in home or community and residential settings
Investing in your reportable incident capability: Incident management and the Serious Incident Response Scheme.

You can view these recordings at any time through the Alis platform.