The Ultimate Guide to the Aged Care Act

What is the Aged Care Act?

The Aged Care Act (AC Act) is the primary legislation that guides how government-funded aged care services are provided in Australia. Introduced in 1997, it lays out the rules for how providers are approved, how services are funded, and how fees, quality standards, and care expectations are managed. It also protects the rights of older people receiving care and ensures accountability, quality, and protection.

Importance

The AC Act is essential for ensuring aged individuals of society are properly cared for. It sets the standard for how care services should be provided across the country. However, following the findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety —which highlighted that the Aged Care Act 1997 was no longer adequate—a new legislative framework has been introduced. The Aged Care Act 2024 was passed by the Australian Parliament in November 2024 and is scheduled to come into effect in November 2025, replacing the 1997 Act and its related legislations.

The new AC Act marks an important shift in the aged care system, placing the rights, needs, and personal choices of older people at its core. Key reasons why the new Act is important include the following:

• It guarantees older people the ability to make their own decisions, have those decisions respected, express their preferences, feel safe, and have their culture and identity honoured.

• It improves quality and cultural safety standards, and mandates that providers implement effective systems for managing complaints.

• It provides easier access to restorative complaint outcomes and establishes a compensation pathway for cases where serious injury or illness results from a provider’s breach of duty.

Key Impacts in the Healthcare Industry

The AC Act 2024 brings major changes to the healthcare industry by revamping the Act to adhere to a more right-based, person-centred framework that transforms the delivery, regulation, and funding of aged care services. Key impacts include the following:

• Shift to Rights-Based, Person-centred Care: Places older people at the centre of the system, emphasizing their rights, dignity, and choice in care planning and delivery.

• New Regulatory and Funding Models: Imposes stronger financial and reporting requirements for providers, while rolling out a funding system where people pay based on their income for non-clinical care.

• Enhanced Safety and Quality Standards :Includes clinical care, food and nutrition, cultural safety, and governance in their Aged Care Quality Standards, increasing expectations for providers to offer safe, high-quality, and culturally appropriate care.

• Workforce and Staffing Changes: Mandates a skilled and qualified aged care workforce, including home health aides and a 24/7 registered nurse presence in aged care homes, and requires providers to implement robust safety measures, training, and support systems to protect them, especially when working alone .

• Improved Access and Support Services: Establishes a simplified, single-entry system for accessing aged care, featuring culturally safe assessment options specifically designed for First Nations people.

Penalties

The AC Act ensures providers meet their responsibilities by introducing a range of enforcement measures for non-compliance. These penalties are designed to uphold high standards and protect older people receiving care. According to the compliance and enforcement policy set by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC), depending on the severity of the breach, consequences can include:

• Infringement Notices (Fines): The ACQSC can issue fines for certain breaches without needing to prove guilt in court, with penalties calculated in penalty units—serious breaches such as victimizing a whistleblower can attract fines up to 500 penalty units.

• Civil Penalties: Civil penalties with fines up to 4,800 penalty units can be imposed for repeated or serious breaches of the AC Act done by both providers and workers, such as failing to uphold care standards or meet reporting requirements.

• Sanctions and Regulatory Actions: The Commission can impose sanctions against providers who repeatedly fail to meet care standards— including suspending or revoking their approval, cutting off government funding, stopping new care place allocations, or banning them from charging accommodation fees.

2024 vs 1997 Aged Care Act

The Act emphasizes modernization by prioritizing human rights, cultural safety, and higher-quality care compared to that of the 1997 version. With that said, it is important to also note the things being retained from the previous version of the Act.

For Older People

What the new Act offers:

1. New Statement of Rights: Provides a clear and accessible outline of the older people’s rights when engaging with or receiving aged care services.

2. Supporter Role: Provides the option to appoint a supporter in making and expressing decisions about their aged care.

3. Outlined Eligibility : Outlines clear criteria for who is eligible for an aged care program, providing age thresholds.

4. Support at Home Program: Combines home care and short-term restorative care into a single, streamlined Support at Home program, which includes extra funding for home modifications and assistive technologies.

5. Rights and Protections: Enhanced rights around end-of-life and palliative care, improved systems for handling complaints and whistleblowers, and a clear duty of care including compensation plans for older people.

6. Information and Privacy: Improved protections over personal information and new obligations to notify the government of any changes in financial circumstances.

What the new Act retains:

1. Assessment of income and assets, including family homes.

2. Maintain control over the planning and delivery of care, as well as the ability to make their own decisions over their own plans.

3. No re-assessment for those already in the system unless needs change.

For Providers

What the new Act offers:

1. Registration and Regulation: Approved providers will be registered under different categories depending on their skill type and level.

2. New Service Models: Introduces new services to provide more adequate programmes.

3. Payment and Reporting: Introduces updated payment claim processes depending on the services provided, along with enhanced reporting requirements.

4. Safety and Quality: Strengthened quality standards focusing on diversity, dementia and clinical care, governance, and nutrition.

What the new Act retains:

1. Financial management and workforce training.

2. Continued operation of the current approved providers while transitioning to the new regulatory framework.

3. Continued adherence to the Code of Conduct and mandatory reporting of serious incidents.

For Aged Care Workers

What the new Act offers:

1. Qualifications and Screening: Introduces new nationally consistent screening requirements with an Aged Care Worker Screening Check starting in 2026.

2. Training and Support: Access to updated training and learning modules, with wage increases gradually introduced throughout 2025 and 2026.

3. Quality Standards: Enhance standards designed to guarantee safe, high-quality, and culturally sensitive care.

What the new Act retains:

1. Keeps the definition of aged care worker unchanged, including volunteers.

2. Continue the same but improved training and education support.

3. Continue use of Police checks or NDIS Worker Checks until the new screening process is implemented.

4. Continue compliance with Code of Conduct and regulatory requirements.

How Technology Can Help

Technology plays a critical role in helping aged care providers meet the new standards set by the new Act. With modern compliance’s demands going far beyond checking boxes, digital features are rapidly becoming crucial. Now, it’s essential to consider features that support streamlined workflows and accurate data management, while providing care for lone workers, providers, and the elderly, as these enable providers to deliver safer, more transparent, and compliant care in line with evolving regulatory requirements.

Some examples of these features include:

• Incident Management System (IMS) Integration: Solutions such as SafetyCulture provide IMS tools that enable aged care providers to quickly report, manage, and investigate incidents, including those involving lone workers who face unique risks in isolated settings.

• Supporting Whistleblower Protections: With the new act implementations regarding the protection of whistleblowers, as well as allowing aged care workers and other involved parties to report concerns safely and without fear of retaliation, SafetyCulture’s confidential and easy-to-use reporting tools and panic button support facilitate this process, helping providers meet these new legal protections.

• Digital Checklists and Audits: SafetyCulture provides premade editable digital safety checklists, caregiver checklists, risk assessment forms, and audit forms that consider lone workers, providers, the aged population, and their common risks and concerns, helping providers easily and efficiently align with safety standards, care plans, and evaluation guides.

• Training Modules: SafetyCulture’s Training feature offers accessible, continuous, and customised mobile-ready modules that can help staff be up-to-date with policies, procedures, and legislative requirements essential for safe, high-quality care.