One year into the new Aged Care Act

The new Aged Care Act 2024 came into effect on 1 November 2025.

The reforms mark one of the most significant shifts in Australian aged care in decades, putting the rights, dignity and choice of older people at the centre of the system.

One year on, adapting operations to keep up with the new Act is proving to be both an opportunity and a significant undertaking for providers.

In this article, we look at how the Act came about, what’s changed under it, how providers are adapting and how can Loop IQ can help providers stay on top of it all.

How we got here

The Aged Care Act 2024 is the result of several years of review, reporting and gradual reform.

Here is a short timeline of how the sector got to where it is now.

2018: The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is established, following growing public concern about the standard of care in Australian aged care homes.
2021: The Royal Commission hands down its final report, recommending a rebuild of the system around the rights of older people rather than provider compliance alone.
2021 to 2022: A series of interim reforms begin, including the Serious Incident Response Scheme and a new Code of Conduct for aged care.
November 2024: The Aged Care Act 2024 is introduced into and passed by Federal Parliament, set to replace the Aged Care Act 1997. It is planned to take effect on 1 July 2025.
June 2025: The Government pushes back the planned start date, giving providers and their systems more time to prepare.
1 November 2025: The Act commences. Because of this timing, many in the sector refer to it informally as the Aged Care Act 2025.

New reporting requirements under the New Aged Care Act

Several reporting obligations have changed or been introduced since the Act commenced, giving providers more to track and more detail to get right.

Care minutes

New audited Care Minutes Performance Statement: Providers must now prepare an externally audited Care Minutes Performance Statement, covering direct care minutes delivered, associated labour hours and costs, occupied bed days and registered nurse (RN), Enrolled Nurse (EN), Assistant in Nursing (AIN) Personal Care Worker (PCW) coverage. The first statement was due as part of the 2025-26 Aged Care Financial Report on 31 October 2026.
Care minutes supplement introduced: Since 1 April 2026, a new care minutes supplement has tied AN-ACC funding to care minutes performance for non-specialised metropolitan (MM1) homes. It's worth up to $33.41 per resident per day on a sliding scale that falls to zero below 85 per cent of target.
Care minute data accuracy in the QFR now determines funding and rating eligibility: Unchecked or failed QFR data now makes a home ineligible for the care minutes supplement, even where its actual performance would otherwise qualify. The same data failure also means the home won’t receive a Staffing sub-category rating or, as a result, an Overall Star Rating, which requires all four sub-category ratings.
Allied health and apportionment guidance tightened: Allied health care minutes are also now reported through the QFR, alongside total and RN minutes. Later care minutes guide updates have tightened how allied health care minutes are reported and apportioned, in response to reporting accuracy issues the Department had identified.

24/7 registered nurse (RN) requirement

Formalised as a standing obligation: Monthly reporting of 24/7 registered nurse coverage through GPMS is now a formal obligation under the Act. Providers must lodge by the 7th day (11.59pm AEST) of the next month.
Supplement support scaled to home size: Homes with no more than 50 residents on average and at least 87.5 per cent RN coverage can receive the full 24/7 RN supplement. Smaller homes with no more than 30 residents providing between 50 and 87.5 per cent RN coverage can receive it at half the rate, to help them build toward full coverage. Both rates are paid automatically through Services Australia, provided the home reports on time and isn’t exempt.

Quarterly Financial Report (QFR)

Expanded regulatory weight: The QFR now carries more regulatory weight, feeding directly into Star Ratings and the care minutes supplement calculation rather than standing alone as a financial return.
New care time reporting assessments program: The Department now runs detailed, sampled checks on QFR and 24/7 RN data each quarter. Providers selected may be asked to produce payroll records, timesheets, an Ahpra-numbered employee listing, agency invoices and an explanation of how staff time is split between direct and non-direct care.

Quality Indicator (QI) Program

Now anchored in the new Act: Quarterly reporting of the 14 Quality Indicator Program measures continues largely unchanged; however, it now sits under the new Act rather than the previous framework.

Star Ratings

More formalised role: Under the new Act, Star Ratings aren’t a new report in themselves, but the Staffing sub-category rating is now calculated directly from QFR and 24/7 RN data. Data that fails the Department’s reasonableness checks can exclude a home from that sub-category rating and, as a result, from receiving an Overall Star Rating at all, an outcome families can see reflected on My Aged Care.

How aged care providers have adapted

Investing in stronger systems

Many providers are investing in stronger governance, updated systems and new reporting processes to meet the new Aged Care Act.

For some, that means new software for reporting and funding assessments. For others, it means strengthening leadership and oversight so decisions can be made with confidence.

Bringing staff up to speed

Staff also need to understand what has changed and why. The new Act introduces a Statement of Rights and new quality standards that have to be translated into everyday practice.

Training takes time, especially across large, multi-site organisations, and many providers are treating it as an ongoing program rather than a one-off briefing.

Balancing funding and rising costs

Alongside new requirements, many providers are also managing rising costs across workforce, insurance and day-to-day operations.

Matching funding levels to these pressures is an ongoing conversation across the sector. A recent analysis of government data found residential aged care operating costs rose by around 12% in the year to December 2025, outpacing an 8.5% rise in revenue and driven largely by higher wage costs.

How is your organisation making space for compliance and care?

Balancing compliance with care is one of the biggest challenges that providers face under the new Act.

New reporting, assessment and registration requirements now sit alongside the care delivered every day, and finding time for both isn't always straightforward.

A few questions worth asking inside your organisation:

Is reporting pulling staff time away from direct care?
Are staff confident with the new requirements, or still catching up?
Would clearer systems free up more time for residents?
Is the load shared evenly across the team, or falling on a few people?
Does leadership have clear visibility of where compliance time goes?
Are processes reviewed and improved, or just repeated each cycle?

Working through questions like these can help pinpoint exactly where time and resources are being stretched. From there, it may be easier to make practical changes that protect both compliance and the quality of care residents receive.

How Loop IQ can help

The team at Loop IQ builds reporting and analytics software for Australian residential aged care providers, helping organisations stay on top of these changing obligations and turn compliance data into daily care insights.

Loop IQ’s platform helps providers:

Track care minutes against targets every day: Care Minutes by Loop IQ monitors delivery against your home’s total and RN care minutes targets every day of the quarter, so your team can spot and address workforce gaps before they affect funding or your Star Rating.
Automate QI Program submission: Our QI Program software pulls data from your existing clinical, pharmacy and workforce systems, automatically pre-fills your QI submissions and, once validated by your team, lodges this directly to the Department.
Automate 24/7 RN reporting: By connecting to your workforce system, our 24/7 RN software builds the monthly RN coverage report using your workforce data, flags coverage gaps for your attention and, with an extra click, lodges reports to the Department.
Know your facility’s occupancy at a glance: Our free-forever Occupancy Dashboard shows the current state of every bed across your organisation, supporting resourcing and planning decisions with up-to-date numbers.

The intent behind the new Act, putting older people and their rights at the centre of care, is one the sector broadly supports.

At the same time, the last twelve months have shown how quickly these obligations can shift, and the next twelve are unlikely to be any quieter.

Book a demo of Loop IQ or call us on 1300 381 010 to see how we can automate and streamline aged care reporting for your organisation.

Key takeaways

The Aged Care Act 2024 commenced on 1 November 2025, marking one of the most significant shifts in Australian aged care in decades.
Several reporting obligations have changed since commencement, including a new audited Care Minutes Performance Statement, the care minutes supplement introduced from 1 April 2026, formalised monthly 24/7 RN reporting with an 87.5 per cent coverage floor, and tighter links between QFR data accuracy and Star Ratings.
Providers are adapting through stronger systems and governance, ongoing staff training and managing rising operational costs alongside the new requirements.
Balancing compliance with care is one of the biggest challenges providers face under the Act, and the organisations managing it best tend to have clearer systems and more evenly shared workloads.
The next twelve months are likely to bring further regulatory guidance rather than another full overhaul, making now a practical time for providers to review their own reporting processes.

Sources

Aged Care Act, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Care minutes and 24/7 registered nurse requirements guide for registered providers of residential care homes, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Statement of Rights, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
24/7 registered nurse supplement for residential aged care, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Costs continue to outpace revenue, The Ageing Agenda, 11 September 2026