Aged Care Quality Bulletin #2-2026

Commissioner’s message

Welcome to our second issue of the Quality Bulletin for 2026.

I understand there have been challenges as you work to meet your responsibilities under the new Aged Care Act 2024, Aged Care Rules 2025 and relevant standards. We’re on this journey together – we’ll continue to provide education and information, and work directly with providers where we may need to help you understand and comply. We welcome your questions and feedback, which help us improve our systems, processes and resources, so we’re better able to support you.

In January, we started working with some Support at Home providers to improve their compliance with the new legislation. Our prudential review program is finding that pricing transparency is one of the most common compliance issues. Pricing transparency is important for older people and their families as it helps them compare the prices of different providers more easily. Read further in this bulletin about resources put out by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and the Commission, to support you to comply.

We continue to create and update a range of resources to educate, guide and support providers and workers to meet their requirements and improve services.

We’ve recently published a Regulatory Bulletin on meal delivery requirements. Registered providers in categories 1 and 4 who deliver food and drink to an older person’s home or in community settings must comply with these meal requirements. They’re a condition of registration under the Aged Care Act and the Aged Care Rules.

To help providers notify us about a change in circumstances, we’ve developed new instructions. These instructions guide you step-by-step through the process, including answering the questions, providing supporting evidence and submitting the form.

Our suite of resources on the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards help providers and aged care workers understand their obligations. Resources include fact sheets, guidance tools and training.

And while you’re on our website, make sure you have a look at our First Nations Hub which includes fact sheets, posters, videos, translated resources and conversation tools. These help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander older people, their families and carers understand their rights and what good care should look like.

If you missed our first sector webinar for the year, you can now access a recording and the presentation slides. The webinar, ‘Rights-based complaints handling under the new Aged Care Act’, focused on delivering a best practice service that upholds the rights of older people. Thanks again to the panel (Aged Care Complaints Commissioner, Treasure Jennings; David Pezzanite, Assistant Commissioner, Intake and Complaints; Samantha Edwards from Older Persons Advocacy Network; and David Wright-Howie from Council on the Ageing Australia) for their insights.

I encourage you to access the many resources and tools available to you on our website and get involved in online learning and webinars.

Finally, a reminder to look out this month for an invitation to registered providers to register your interest to attend our upcoming National Aged Care Provider Conference targeted at CEOs, responsible persons and senior leaders.

The conference themed ‘Rights and choice, every day – one year in’ will be held 13–14 October in Brisbane. In-person registrations will be capped at 2 delegates per provider, so it’s worth deciding early who you will nominate. We anticipate that virtual attendance will be available subject to demand.

Liz Hefren-Webb
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner

Reports

July to October 2025 Sector Performance Report now available

Our latest Sector Performance Report is now available. This report includes an overview of aged care sector performance trends from July to October 2025. These were the final 4 months under the previous Aged Care Act 1997.

This report includes:

an assessment of residential care performance across our focus areas
the number of providers under active or heightened supervision
compliance rates for workforce responsibilities, such as care minutes and 24/7 registered nurse coverage
incidents reported under the Serious Incident Response Scheme
the number, rates and types of complaints we received.

Under the new Aged Care Act, the way we collect some data has changed. As part of our commitment to keep improving and be accountable to the sector, we’re reviewing the role of the Sector Performance Report under the new Aged Care Act.

We’ll consult with the sector to make sure we’re providing information, data and analysis that delivers real value to providers wanting to improve their aged care services.

While we do this review and consultation, we won’t publish any Sector Performance Reports. However, we’ll continue to make sector performance data available through quarterly downloadable spreadsheets on our website.

Download the Sector Performance Report (Jul–Oct 2025).

Reports from previous quarters are available on the Sector performance page.

Aged care reform update

Support at Home prudential review program

In February we started a prudential review program to work with selected Support at Home providers on their financial and prudential responsibilities. We selected providers with a history of late financial report submissions, or if we thought a review would benefit them.

We aim to proactively support providers by:

providing them with education and resources
working with them to strengthen their compliance with the new Aged Care Act, Aged Care Rules and Financial and Prudential Standards.

At this early stage, we’ve commonly seen providers having compliance issues with:

To comply with their responsibilities, providers must:

make sure they’ve entered into a compliant Support at Home Service Agreement with each older person who receives services. Where a provider uses a variation of the original Home Care Agreement, it must comply with the requirements in the Aged Care Rules
from 1 January 2026, publish the most common price for services on the My Aged Care website and their own website, using the correct billable units for services. They must review these prices every 2 months
if they’re in registration categories 4 and 5, use a compliant Financial and Prudential Management System.

You can find more resources and information about provider obligations on the Support at Home page on our website.

Instructional video on Support at Home pricing

Under the Aged Care Act, all Support at Home providers must publish their pricing and service information. This is so older people can see information about aged care services and what they cost.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (department) has released an instructional video to help Support at Home providers to set up their organisation’s pricing in the My Aged Care Service and Support Portal.

In December, in a joint letter with the department we reminded providers of their service information and pricing requirements under the legislation.

Our Regulatory Bulletin on Support at Home pricing requirements details what providers must do to meet the new pricing requirements and the actions we can take when these requirements aren’t met.

You can find more information on how to publish your pricing on the department’s webpage.

New audits process for providers

We’ve started auditing providers with a new process that is more efficient, consistent and transparent (open and honest). It provides opportunities for providers to respond to our findings and includes:

announced visits
clear communication about concerns and potential non-conformance.

We conduct audits when a provider applies to register, renew or vary (change) their registration to provide services in categories 4, 5 or 6. Our audits assess if they conform with the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards.

The new audit process aligns with provider registration requirements under the new Aged Care Act. Our new approach makes sure:

providers are suitable and capable of delivering safe, quality aged care
that older people are at the centre of the system.

You can find out more about our audit process on our website. You can also find audit guides and resources to help you prepare for, and take part in, an audit.

Step-by-step instructions to help you find and submit new forms

We’ve developed new instructions to help providers find and submit our new forms to notify us of a change in circumstances.

Under the Aged Care Act, an organisation or person must be registered with us to provide funded aged care services. Once registered, providers must notify us of specific changes to their circumstances.

Our new instructions include screenshots to guide you through the steps to find, download and submit change in circumstances forms on our website.

You can find the instructions on the Change in circumstance form instructions page.

These instructions don’t replace the registration guidance material. The guidance will help you answer questions in the forms and tell you what evidence you need to support your answers.

You can learn more about our forms on Applications, requests and notifications.

Supporting providers to understand the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards

Under the new Aged Care Act, the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards set the standard for safe, quality aged care. They:

improve outcomes for older people
set clear expectations for providers to deliver quality aged care.

They’re thorough, easier to measure and more detailed than the previous Quality Standards.

Government-funded aged care providers must meet the strengthened Quality Standards for each of their registration categories and the type of services they deliver.

Providers are reminded that a suite of resources is available to help you understand and apply the strengthened Quality Standards. These include:

You can find out more on the Quality Standards Guidance and resources page on our website.

Food and nutrition

Is your menu up to standard?

Government-funded residential care providers must make sure they meet their obligations for food and nutrition. Providers risk the health and wellbeing of older people, and not complying with the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards (strengthened Quality Standards), when they:

don’t provide (or they charge extra for) food and drink options that people need to meet their nutritional requirements
don’t provide food and drink that meets people’s clinical needs and dietary requirements
don’t partner with older people to understand their needs, goals and preferences.

This can also lead to a breakdown of trust between the older person and their provider.

A standard menu should offer:

different meal options that the provider clearly communicates
enough protein and calcium sources, including meat and dairy alternatives when needed
access to nourishing snacks and drinks at all times.

These aren’t premium features, they’re baseline parts of safe, quality, person-centred care.

The Aged Care Act, Aged Care Rules and the strengthened Quality Standards all have clear expectations on how providers deliver food, nutrition and dining. Providers should understand what’s an obligation and what’s an optional extra.

You can read the full article on our website.

Meal delivery requirements – Regulatory Bulletin

We’ve recently published a Regulatory Bulletin on meal delivery requirements.

Registered providers that deliver food and drink to an older person’s home or in community settings must comply with meal requirements.

These requirements are a condition of registration under the new Aged Care Act and the Aged Care Rules. They apply to providers registered in:

If a provider supplies food, snacks and drinks to people as part of a funded aged care service, then:

The food must be nutritious and appetising and consider the person’s needs and preferences.
A dietitian must assess meal services at least once a year to make sure that food and drinks are appetising, meet the needs of older people, and follow evidence-based guidelines and practice.
They must use a quality assurance framework to continuously improve their meal services.

Providers are responsible for meeting these requirements, even if they use an associated provider to deliver meal services.

Providers must also make sure that their meal services uphold the:

You can find more information in our latest Regulatory Bulletin.

Clinical update

Supporting safe and high-quality management of indwelling urinary catheters

We’ve published new clinical advice on supporting safe and high-quality management of indwelling urinary catheters (IDCs).

Safe, high-quality urinary catheter care is vital to protect the health and wellbeing of older people. It helps prevent serious health complications such as urine blockages and infections.

Under the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, providers must have a strong clinical governance system that supports the health of the people they care for. This includes having guidelines, processes, education and clinical monitoring for managing IDCs.

In this clinical advice, Dr Mandy Callary, the Commission’s Chief Clinical Advisor, talks about:

IDCs and the increased risk of urinary tract infection
a case study
providing the best IDC care, including:
guidelines and practice
supporting staff to safely manage and monitor IDCs
continuous quality improvement.

To read the full clinical advice visit: Supporting safe and high-quality management of indwelling urinary catheters

Webinars

Varying and renewing provider registration; your questions answered

Tuesday 17 March 2026, 2.00pm – 3.00pm AEDT

Join us at our next webinar where we will discuss the process of varying and renewing provider registration.

Under the new Aged Care Act, all providers of Australian Government-funded aged care services must be registered with the Commission. Under the new Act, providers:

have new obligations and registration requirements
must comply with registration conditions
must renew their registration to keep delivering aged care services.

With the new Aged Care Act now in operation, we have invited the first group of providers to renew their registration and we are getting a lot of questions about the process.

In this webinar, we will cover:

the different types of variations
how to submit a variation and the supporting documents we might ask for
the renewal process and related fees and audits.

We will also answer your most frequently asked questions.

You can find more information and register on our webinar page.

Upcoming webinars

You can view our forward plan of topics we will be discussing in our monthly sector webinars for 2026.

The forward plan is available on our website webinar page.

Recording available – Rights-based complaints handling

You can find the recording and slides from our recent webinar, Rights-based complaints handling under the new Aged Care Act, on our website.

Hosted by Commissioner Liz Hefren-Webb, our panel included:

Treasure Jennings, Aged Care Complaints Commissioner
David Pezzanite, Assistant Commissioner, Intake and Complaints
Samantha Edwards, Director Policy, Older Persons Advocacy Network
David Wright-Howie, Senior Policy Officer, Council on the Ageing Australia.

Complaints Commissioner, Treasure Jennings, explained how our complaints service upholds the rights of older people. The panel discussed best practice complaints handling for providers and what older people can expect when they make a complaint to the Commission.

Good complaints handling leads to better care for older people by:

fixing problems quickly and early, and stopping them from happening again
improving quality of care
putting the needs of older people at the centre of aged care
strengthening trust in a provider’s service
making sure providers respect older people’s rights.

Resources for older people and providers

We have resources that explain feedback and complaints handling for:

providers – to help them understand their obligations and best practice complaints handling: Good complaints practice for providers
older people – to support them in understanding their rights and options when they have a concern: How to make a complaint or give feedback.

First Nations resources

First Nations aged care rights and resources

Aged care is not just about care and support. It’s about respect, culture, choice and connection. Everyone has the right to receive safe, respectful and culturally appropriate aged care.

At the heart of aged care is the Statement of Rights. The First Nations Statement of Rights information sheet was developed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander older people. It explains what every older person can expect when receiving funded aged care services.

The Statement of Rights says older people have the right to:

be treated with dignity and respect
feel safe and free from neglect or abuse
make their own choices about their life and care
get information in a way they understand
have their culture, identity and connection to Country respected
stay connected with family, community and culture
speak up or make a complaint without fear.

To support First Nations communities, we’ve created culturally appropriate resources, including:

easy-to-read fact sheets
posters and visual guides
videos and translated materials
conversation tools to help families yarn (talk) about aged care.

They help older people, families and carers understand their rights and what good care should look like. You can find these resources on our First Nations Hub.

Get involved

Join our panels to have your say

Are you interested in taking part in consultations, workshops and other opportunities to give your feedback?

Provider and workers engagement register

The Provider and workers engagement register is a way for providers and workers to share their expertise and experience to help improve aged care.

You can take part as a provider representative, aged care staff member, or both.

As a member of the engagement register, you can:

share your views
help shape processes and resources
contribute to improving how we regulate aged care.

If you would like to join this panel, you can register online.

For more information about how to get involved visit our Consultation and Engagement Hub or email engagement@agedcarequality.gov.au.

Consumers and Families Panel

The Consumers and Families Panel help improve aged care through feedback. Members include people who currently use, or are thinking about using, aged care services, their carers and family members.

As a member of the panel, you can:

share what matters to you
provide feedback on aged care projects, resources and services
help improve how we regulate aged care.

Panel members can take part in different ways, including by email, over the phone, or in meetings (online or in person). If you want to join the panel, you can register online or complete a form.

Training and resources

Online live learning

Places are available for our upcoming live learning sessions in March. Each month, we deliver live learning for people working in the aged care sector. These sessions offer practical tips to support learners to understand how to meet their obligations in their service. Commission facilitators deliver our live learning sessions.

Our workshop topic for March is:

The strengthened Quality Standards: preparing for the changes in residential and home services – learn about the strengthened Quality Standards and how you can apply them in your workplace.

Places are limited, so head to our Live learning page to learn more or register today.