You need to apply to become registered before delivering funded aged care services. 

The application process assesses whether you meet the registration requirements and can deliver safe and high-quality aged care services. 

Registration usually lasts for 3 years.

• To prepare for the new Aged Care Act, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (Department) will transition all current government-funded providers to the new system as registered providers. This process is called deeming.
• Using existing data, the Department will deem current government-funded aged care providers into one or more registration categories. They will base this on the services providers already deliver, or those required in funding agreements.
• Deeming means they become a registered provider when the new Aged Care Act starts.
• Providers then need to apply to renew their registration at the end of their registration period.

You can find more information at: The deeming process

When you apply to become registered, you must meet:  

• general registration requirements
• registration category specific requirements.

In your application, you need to show you meet the general registration requirements. You also need to meet the registration requirements specific to each category you are applying to be registered in. You also need to attach supporting documents as evidence for some questions.

If you are applying for registration in categories 4 - 6, we do an audit against the Aged Care Quality Standards (Quality Standards). We will only do an audit once you have met the general requirements.

You also need to attach supporting documents as evidence for some questions.

You can learn more about the registration process, and applying for registration, at: 

How the new aged care regulatory model will work – overview of the registration process
 

We’ll audit providers against the Quality Standards  if you’re applying to become newly registered in categories 4, 5 and/or 6. This audit will help us make our decision about your registration. This is a category-specific requirement for categories 4, 5 and 6. 

The registration audit helps us to understand if you can comply with the Quality Standards. Different Quality Standards apply to different registration categories. 

We’ll arrange the audit after we receive your application form unless there are concerns with the general requirements. During the audit we’ll collect evidence to assess if you have good governance, systems and processes. 

The audit process uses a grading system. This helps us assess whether you have a rating of conformance, minor non-conformance or major non-conformance for each Outcome of the Quality Standards.

If you are registered as a provider, compliance with the Quality Standards is a condition of your registration. 

We have guidance available to help you prepare for an audit: 

• Draft Evidence Mapping Framework – detailed information on the audit approach and process, and audit gradings
• Provider Registration Policy – explains how audits affect the registration process
• Regulatory Strategy 2024–25 – explains the role of audits within our regulatory role.

We follow a decision-making process to help us make fair and consistent decisions about registration applications. 

When we receive your application, we’ll decide: 

• whether you should be registered
• which registration category you should be registered in, this may be all or some of the registration categories in your registration application
• the registration period, which is usually 3 years
• whether there are any conditions for registration
• the approval of residential care homes if registering to deliver residential care in category 6. 

Some decisions we make about registration are reviewable decisions. This means you can ask us to reconsider that decision. 

We have published guidance materials to help you understand what information we need as evidence to support our decisions. You should use these to help you gather your evidence when you apply for registration. 

You can learn more about the registration process in:

• Provider Registration Policy – detailed description of how we register providers
   

Once we have assessed your application for a new registration, we’ll decide either to: 

• register you as a provider
• refuse registration as a provider.

If you become registered as a provider

If we decide to register you as a registered provider, we set the categories you’re registered in. 

We also set the registration period, which is usually 3 years. It may be shorter if there’s a risk which we need to manage. 

We’ll add you to the Provider Register. The Provider Register records details of all registered providers in a transparent way. 

We give new registered providers a supervision status. This means we’ll monitor if you’re meeting your obligations and if there are any risks to older people. The level of supervision we use depends on the level of risk we identified in your application.

You need to continue to meet the obligations and conditions of your registration to continue being a registered provider. 

If we refuse your registration 

We’ll write to you if we’re considering refusing your application. You’ll then have an opportunity to respond. This process is called procedural fairness. 

If we then decide to refuse your registration, we’ll write to let you know. Our decision to refuse a provider’s registration is a reviewable decision. This means you can apply to have this decision reconsidered. 

You can learn more about the registration process in:

• Provider Registration Policy - detailed description of the process we use to reach and communicate registration decisions, and information on the Provider Register. 

To be registered in category 6, you must meet the approval requirements for at least one residential care home. You can apply for approval of residential care homes as part of the registration process.

You can also apply for approval of a new home at any time during your registration.

For us to approve a home it must meet the definition of a residential care home. The building or buildings of the home must:

• be permanent
• be suitable to be used as a home
• meet all related building codes, standards and laws
• not go over the maximum occupancy or any restrictions on the numbers of residents during the provider’s registration. 

If you do not own the building or buildings, the owner needs to agree for it to be used as a home. 

If we approve the home, we’ll decide the total number of beds that the approval will cover.

If we decide to refuse approval of a home, this is a reviewable decision. This means you can apply to have this decision reconsidered.