Aged Care Quality Bulletin #9-2026 | Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission

Commissioner’s message

We're on the countdown to the National Aged Care Provider Conference (NACPC26). I look forward to welcoming more 1,200 provider representatives in Brisbane in less than 2 weeks!

Our conference will explore ‘Rights and choice, every day: one year in’ through plenary and parallel sessions with contributions from 70 speakers and panellists. It’s a valuable opportunity to share what we’ve learnt over the past year and talk about how we can continue to embed and regulate rights-based aged care in the years ahead.

At the conference you will also hear more about our sector risk priorities for the year ahead:

aged care rights in practice
sexual safety and sexual rights
reducing and responding to changed behaviours
culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander older people.

Our latest webinar 'Navigating the challenges: Balancing sexual rights and sexual safety in aged care' unpacked 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 well worth watching and now available on our website.

We will have a webinar on 17 November on culturally safe care, where you will also be able to hear more about our approach to this sector risk priority.

Next month our annual report for 2025-26 will be published on our website, and for the first time it will include the number and types of complaints we received about registered providers. This requirement of the new legislation promotes transparency and acknowledges the important role complaints play in improving aged care. Further information is available in this issue.

On 1 November 2026, new Higher Everyday Living Fee (HELF) rules come into effect. Under these rules, providers must make sure they don’t charge residents a HELF for services they were receiving at no extra cost before 1 November 2025. We have published a Regulatory Bulletin on HELF last week.

We have published updated fees and fee waiver criteria as part of the 2026–27 Cost Recovery Implementation Statement. I’m pleased to report that after our work with the government, the fee waiver criteria have been expanded to include Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs). This means it’s now free for ACCOs to become registered providers and to vary and renew their registration. The updated fee waiver criteria and fees now apply.

We’ve recently updated forms to include automatic checks for errors. Checks highlight possible errors or gaps so providers can correct them before they submit a form. It should save time and effort and make application processes more efficient. A new step-by-step guide will help providers complete the Audit Evidence Collection Tool when renewing their registration. Please let us know what you think about these tools and resources – your feedback will help us keep improving the support we give you.

We’re also planning a targeted review with selected Support at Home providers. The review will check how well they understand and are complying with the Financial and Prudential Management Standard. We’ve included an article here about a recent prudential review of Support at Home providers that focused on how providers were setting and communicating prices. Reviews help us support providers to comply. During reviews, we work with providers to fix issues and common mistakes.

I also want to draw your attention to the second edition of a Clinical insights blog that was published earlier this week, sharing perspectives from the Commission's clinical leaders on improving the quality and safety of aged care. In this issue, Dr Mandy Callary, Chief Clinical Advisor, writes about how person-centred care can help can providers manage frailty.

In addition, Dr Callary recently issued a clinical alert about the tragic deaths of 3 aged care residents. The residents died after receiving another person’s medicines by mistake. The coroner found that these deaths were preventable and showed serious failures in the way providers administered medicines.

I also remind you of the ongoing support available through our website and Alis, our online learning platform. You can find recordings of past webinars, workshops and presentations. We’ve recently added recordings on sexual safety in aged care, using data in regulatory practice, the strengthened Quality Standards, and building reportable incident capabilities.

Liz Hefren-Webb
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner

Updates and insights

Regulatory Bulletin: Higher Everyday Living Fee

We have published a regulatory bulletin on provider obligations and our regulatory approach.

From 1 November 2026, providers must not charge a Higher Everyday Living Fee (HELF) for services that residents were receiving at no extra cost before 1 November 2025.

Providers must continue to provide these services free of charge, if they are available to other residents in the home. We can take regulatory action against providers who don’t meet their HELF responsibilities.

You can find out more about your HELF responsibilities in:

Updates to provider fees and fee waiver criteria now apply

Updates to fees and fee waiver criteria for providers now apply, after changes were made to the Aged Care Rules 2025 on 20 September 2026.

Each year we review and update our fees to make sure they reflect our costs. For example, we apply indexation (change for the rate of inflation), in line with the Australian Government Cost Recovery Policy.

We worked with government to expand the fee waiver criteria for providers renewing their registration to include Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs). This means it’s now free for ACCOs to become a registered provider, vary their registration or renew their registration.

ACCOs play an important role in providing culturally safe care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities across the country. Expanding the fee waiver criteria will help ACCOs be sustainable in the aged care market.

You can find the updated fees and fee waiver criteria on our website at Registration fees and in our 2026–27 Cost Recovery Implementation Statement.

Provider forms now include automatic error checks

Provider forms now include automatic checks to identify possible errors. You can correct these errors before you submit the form.

When you’re completing a form:

check the error messages – these highlight information that may be missing or incorrect
use a compatible PDF reader, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, to access all form features and see error messages
correct errors before you submit it, where you can.

When you submit a form, our system will validate (check) the information to make sure it’s complete.

If information is missing or incorrect, we may ask you to correct and resubmit your forms.

You can download provider forms from applications, requests and notifications.

New guide to help providers complete the Audit Evidence Collection Tool

We’ve published a step-by-step guide to help providers complete the Audit Evidence Collection Tool (AECT) for registration renewal.

The guide explains how to complete each section of the AECT and what information to provide.

You must complete and submit the AECT as part of a renewal of registration audit in categories 4, 5 and 6.

We use the AECT to collect evidence about:

your systems and processes
how you provide safe, quality care to older people
how you meet your registration requirements.

We’ll send you the AECT and guide in your ‘audit initiation request for information’ email. We encourage you to use the guide when you complete the AECT.

Have your say

We want to know if the guide helps you to complete the AECT. Please share any feedback you have about the guide by completing the AECT Registration renewal - guide for providers survey. It will help us improve the guide.

About audits

Audits help us understand if providers can conform to (meet) the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards and provide safe and quality care.

You can find more information about the audit process and preparing for an audit on our website.

Findings from the Support at Home prudential review

We conducted a Support at Home prudential review in January to June 2026, which found only 4 out of 25 providers as being fully compliant.

We reviewed 25 providers and focused on how they were setting prices and communicating them to older people. This included making sure providers:

weren’t charging separately for package management and travel costs
had clear, written consent to charge different prices to those agreed to with older people in their service agreement
were submitting the Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR) and Quarterly Financial Report (QFR) on time
were complying with the Financial and Prudential Management Standard (providers in registration categories 4 and 5).

The 4 fully compliant providers had:

strong governance and financial management
effective monitoring and reporting processes
older people at the centre of their decision-making.

Some examples of non-compliance we found included:

pricing information that was incorrect or missing
service agreements that didn’t have information on agreed prices, funding classification, service names, associated provider names and mandatory participant details
monthly statements that were incorrect, incomplete or issued late
ACFR and QFR that were submitted late due to weak governance
Undocumented and out of date financial and prudential management systems.

We worked with providers to achieve compliance in these areas.

Future reviews may:

include a larger number of providers
identify new issues
use education, guidance and regulatory engagement to help providers comply.

You can find the full insights report on our website.

Targeted review on Support at Home providers’ financial and prudential responsibilities

In November 2026, we’ll do a targeted review with selected Support at Home providers.

We do targeted reviews to help providers understand and comply with their financial and prudential responsibilities. This review will assess:

how well providers understand the Financial and Prudential Management Standard
if they’re complying with the requirements of the:
if they need more support or information.

Who we select for targeted reviews

We may select you for this review if you:

are a registered provider in category 4 or 5
provide Support at Home services.

During the review, if we find that you’re not complying, we’ll work with you to fix any issues.

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

We’ll contact selected providers in November 2026.

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

Researching rights-informed aged care

We're doing research to understand how providers apply rights-based care and how older people experience it.

We’ve engaged research agency WhereTo to do the research. They’ll have interviews and group discussions with providers, workers, older people and supporters. They’ll ask people who take part to talk about scenarios that explore how to balance rights, risks and other considerations when making decisions.

The research will help identify opportunities and challenges in providing rights-based care. It will improve our understanding of older people's experiences of aged care. The findings will help us decide how best to guide, engage and regulate aged care providers, services and workers.

Annual report to include provider-level complaints data

Our annual report for 2025-26 will for the first time include the number and types of complaints we received about registered providers. This is a reporting requirement under the new Aged Care Act and Aged Care Rules 2025.

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, how complex they are and the settings in which care is provided can all influence complaint volumes.

The number of complaints increased during a period of significant change in aged care, including the start of the Aged Care Act 2024 and growing awareness among older people, their families and supporters of aged care rights and the pathways to raise concerns or make complaints.

Complaints play an important role in improving aged care. They give older people a voice, give 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. And higher complaint numbers don’t mean that quality and safety is declining. Complaints can show that people know about their rights and feel more confident to speak up.

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

Our 2025-26 annual report will be available on our website from XX October.

Support for aged care projects and quality improvement initiatives

Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation Australia (ARIIA) have a free Project Support Program open to providers. The program helps providers plan, run and evaluate projects and quality improvements initiatives that address challenges in aged care.

Projects can be at any stage, from early planning through to implementation, evaluation or scaling.

The program supports organisations to decide on outcomes and assess if a project or initiative has met its objectives. This can help you understand what worked, what you can improve and what's worth continuing.

You can express your interest in the program by emailing aci@ariia.org.au or find out more information on ARIIA's website.

Changes to who can complete quality indicator surveys

The Aged Care Rules have been updated. This affects who can complete National Aged Care Quality Indicator Program surveys.

From 1 October 2026, only an authorised proxy (a person acting for another) can complete the Consumer Experience and Quality of Life surveys on behalf of a person living in residential aged care (resident).

An authorised proxy must be a resident’s:

legal guardian
court- or tribunal-appointed decision-maker
power of attorney or person granted similar power.

Informal (unpaid) carers, family members and residential aged care workers can no longer complete the surveys if they’re not an authorised proxy.

You can find more information by:

reading the updated Quality Indicator Manual - Part A
reading the Aged Care Rules amendment
emailing QPSec@health.gov.au

Clinical update

New clinical alert: The tragic consequences of preventable medication administration errors

We’ve published a clinical alert in response to recent findings by the coroner. The coroner investigated the tragic deaths of 3 aged care residents who received another person’s medications by mistake.

The deaths happened at different residential services between August 2024 and September 2025.

The coroner found that the 3 deaths:

were preventable
showed serious failures in medication administration practices.

We extend our deepest sympathies to the people’s families and loved ones.

The findings highlight the importance of safe medication management and effective clinical governance in aged care.

Under the Aged Care Act, providers must:

make sure the care they provide doesn’t harm an older person’s health or safety
understand possible risks to older people
have systems to prevent harm.

You can do this by:

responding immediately to medication concerns
reporting incidents promptly
understanding risks for frail older people
training and supporting workers
having processes, systems and supports to prevent harm
making sure electronic National Residential Medication Charts (eNRMCs) are secure.

You can find more information and support in:

Clinical Insights on treating frailty

We recently launched Clinical Insights, a new blog sharing perspectives from clinical leaders on improving the quality and safety of aged care.

In the latest edition, Dr Mandy Callary, Chief Clinical Advisor, writes about how person-centred care can help can providers manage frailty. She encourages providers to consider the connected factors that affect a person's health and wellbeing, not just treat their chronic conditions in isolation.

The blog post discusses:

why frailty is often misunderstood as a normal part of ageing, rather than as a well-defined clinical condition
ways to prevent and manage frailty
research showing how different care choices can affect a person’s safety and quality of life.

You can read the blog on our website.

Webinars

Culturally safe care

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

Registrations will open 2 weeks before on our website.

Watch past webinars

You can watch recordings of our past webinars and access webinar Q&As and presentations on our Commission webinars webpage.

22 September – Navigating the challenges: balancing sexual rights and sexual safety in aged care
15 September – Data and analysis in regulatory practice

Training and resources

Recorded online learning

We now 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.

Free Alis access

Alis is free for registered providers and their associated providers, workers and responsible people. If your organisation needs an Alis account, please complete this registration request form.