Every government-funded aged care home in Australia must now give residents a set amount of hands-on care each day. These are called Care Minutes and getting them right affects your funding, your Star Rating and how the Department – and families – see you.
This guide explains what care minutes are, why the government brought them in, and how Loop IQ helps providers report them with confidence.
What are Care Minutes?
Care minutes are the minimum amount of direct care each resident must receive per day, on average. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing sets a sector-wide average of 215 minutes per resident per day, including 44 minutes from a Registered Nurse (RN).
Each home has its own target. It goes up or down based on how much care its residents need, using their AN-ACC funding classifications. A home with residents who need more care gets a higher target.
Care minutes can be delivered by:
- Registered Nurses (RNs)
- Enrolled Nurses (ENs)
- Personal Care Workers (PCWs) and Assistants in Nursing (AINs)
What counts and what doesn’t
Only time spent on direct clinical and personal care counts. Support work, however important, does not.
Counts towards Care Minutes
- Showering, dressing and toileting
- Wound care and medication
- Help with moving and walking
- Clinical checks and assessments
- Updating care plans
Does not count towards Care Minutes
- Rostering and recruitment
- Cooking and food preparation
- Cleaning and laundry
- Lifestyle and group activities
- General admin
Why the government brought care minutes in:
Care minutes were introduced to fix understaffing and make sure older Australians get safe, respectful care.
- The Royal Commission. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found that inadequate staffing was the principal cause of substandard care. It recommended legally required minimum staffing.
- More time with residents. Staff were often stretched too thin. A set minimum means homes must roster enough people to actually do the work.
- Rebuilding trust. Clear, measurable targets, together with the 24/7 Registered Nurse rule, give families confidence their loved ones are being looked after.
How it’s reported and enforced
Care minutes are measured every quarter, and for some homes they now affect funding.
- Quarterly reporting. Care minutes come from the RN, EN, PCW and AIN hours you report in the Quarterly Financial Report (QFR). Results are published every quarter. The QFR for the July to September 2026 quarter is due on 4 November 2026. The due dates are set in law, so no extensions are available.
- Star Ratings. Your staffing performance feeds into your public Star Rating, which families use to choose a home. Since 1 October 2025, a home must meet both its total and RN targets to get a Staffing rating of 3 stars or more.
- Funding. From 1 April 2026, some funding for non-specialised metropolitan (MM1) homes is linked to care minutes delivered, through the care minutes supplement.
- Audited statement. For 2025–26, providers must lodge a new Care Minutes Performance Statement in their Aged Care Financial Report, and it must be externally audited.
- Checks and compliance. The department runs assurance checks on the data, and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission can take action against homes that fall short.
Where providers get stuck
Most care minutes problems are data problems, not care problems.
- Data in too many places. Rosters, timesheets and payroll often sit in separate systems that don’t match.
- Wrong hours counted. Staff who split time between care and other duties make it easy to over- or under-count.
- Late visibility. Many homes only find out they missed a target after the quarter has closed.
- Multi-site groups. Rolling up accurate numbers across many homes takes days of spreadsheet work.
- Audit pressure. With an audited performance statement now required, every number needs a clear trail back to its source.
How Loop IQ helps
While the complexity of Care Minutes reporting is growing, the team here at Loop IQ have been working hard to help providers get on top of this requirement – and gain daily care insights while doing it.
This month, we’re launching Care Minutes by Loop IQ, the latest addition to our aged care reporting and analytics software, purpose-built by our team in South Melbourne for Australian aged care providers.
In the first version of Care Minutes, providers will be able to:
- Track care delivered by role: Monitor daily delivery of Care Minutes for RN, EN, PCW and AIN hours through structured data capture in line with Department’s logic.
- Address workforce gaps earlier: Track total and RN Care Minutes against your official target throughout the quarter, so you can act on staffing gaps before they affect your Star Rating or funding.
- Get a headstart on next quarter: Access predictions of your target for the next quarter – and the one after – to improve resource planning.
- Maintain data confidence: Loop IQ connects securely to your workforce system and to Services Australia, so you’re always looking at the latest numbers.
- Track multiple facilities in the one platform: Monitor care delivery across the whole portfolio from a single log-in.
- Keep an accurate record of care: See every action or change logged in the platform, giving auditors a clear trail any day of the year.
- Get started in hours, not months: Speak to us today, use the platform tomorrow. Loop IQ sits across your existing systems, so implementation is fast and supported by our team.
To start tracking your care delivery throughout the quarter, book a demo or contact our team – we’d love to walk you through the platform.
And watch this space: we’re busy building future versions of Care Minutes that will automate reporting to support your QFR and the Care Minutes Performance Statement in your ACFR.
Key takeaways
- The sector average is 215 care minutes per resident per day, including 44 RN minutes. Your home’s own target depends on your resident mixs’ needs.
- Only direct clinical and personal care counts.
- Care minutes affect your Star Rating, your funding and your standing with the regulator.
- Accurate, audit-ready data is now essential.
