Author: Arjun Asothan – Immigration Lawyer
A once-in-a-generation shift is about to redefine aged care in Australia. From 1 November 2025, the new Aged Care Act will reset the rules by raising staffing levels, enforcing round-the-clock registered nurse coverage, and demanding culturally safe, tailored care.
Whilst these changes aim to ensure safer, more accountable, and higher-quality care for consumers, employers will need to think outside the square to develop robust attraction and retention strategies to not only fill existing vacancies, but also to meet new demand to satisfy mandatory care hours.
Providers that fail to meet the new standards may face penalties, reputational harm, or loss of registration.
Higher care minutes, greater workforce demand
Residential aged care providers will be required to deliver an average of 215 minutes of direct care per resident per day, up from 200 minutes. Of this, 44 minutes must be delivered by Registered Nurses (RNs), with the remainder provided by Enrolled Nurses (ENs), Personal Care Workers (PCWs), or Assistants in Nursing (AINs).
This requirement is non-negotiable. Care minutes will be tracked, reported, and audited, with government funding tied directly to compliance. Providers will need to carefully balance their workforce mix to protect RN time while maintaining sufficient EN and PCW coverage.
Alongside higher care benchmarks, providers will also face tougher registration conditions and expanded workforce obligations. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) will strengthen its oversight, requiring providers to demonstrate:
- Mandatory reporting on staffing, service delivery, and quality outcomes
- Quality standards that embed cultural safety, respectful care, and tailored services
- Accountability systems showing practices align with each resident’s identity, culture, and preferences
- Transparent resource management, proving funding is directed to safe, consistent, high-quality care.
Failure to comply will bring serious consequences, with risks including sanctions, financial penalties, reputational harm, or deregistration.
24/7 registered nurse requirement
Every residential aged care facility must have an RN onsite and on duty at all times. To help meet this obligation, the government has introduced a 24/7 RN supplement, aimed particularly at smaller facilities with fewer than 50 residents.
To qualify, providers must demonstrate at least 21 hours of RN coverage per day (averaged monthly) or 87.5% of the time, up from the previous 50%, and submit compliance reports on time. Facilities must also comply fully with the 24/7 requirement to remain eligible.
For many providers, this mandate will be one of the most challenging to sustain. The financial burden is significant, especially in regional and remote areas, and the shortage of qualified RNs is likely to drive reliance on agency staff or international recruitment. As workforce supply improves, coverage expectations are expected to increase further, intensifying both cost and compliance pressure on providers.
Support at Home: workforce readiness for in-home providers
From 1 November 2025, the new Aged Care Act will also align with the launch of the Support at Home program, which replaces the current Home Care Packages (HCP) Program and the Short-Term Restorative Care (STRC) Programme. The Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) will transition at a later stage, no earlier than 1 July 2027.
While Support at Home does not set mandatory “care minutes” or 24/7 RN coverage, it introduces new workforce requirements that providers must prepare for. To deliver services under the program, businesses will need to:
- Employ or contract staff with relevant health qualifications
- Ensure teams are trained in new care pathways, compliance, and reporting obligations
- Prepare administrative staff for new financial and payment systems
- Embed culturally safe and tailored practices across service delivery
- Strengthen workforce planning to manage both operational and compliance demands.
The Support at Home Program Provider Transition Guide sets out priority workforce and operational steps that providers should complete before 1 November 2025.
Business implications
For businesses, the stakes are high. The new Aged Care Act represents a transformational shift in the way aged care is delivered, reshaping workforce and compliance obligations. Providers will need to:
- Build reliable recruitment pipelines in a skills-short market
- Invest in staff retention through career pathways, training, and incentives
- Embed cultural safety and person-centred practices into daily care
- Reinforce compliance frameworks to withstand regulator scrutiny.
These obligations also bring significant financial and operational pressures, from the cost of additional staffing and training to the systems needed for compliance and reporting. Providers must also carefully plan their human capital investment and consider where best to source workers to meet the increased demand created by these reforms.
Those that adapt quickly will strengthen their market position, while those that fall behind risk losing both government funding and community trust. The challenge is to move fast, innovate in workforce planning, and adapt business strategies to meet these new demands without compromising viability.
For more details, refer to: Aged Care Act – What is new or changing?
Secure your workforce with confidence
The new Aged Care Act marks a transformational shift in the way aged care is delivered in Australia. By centring on the rights of older people, strengthening regulatory oversight, and raising workforce and care standards, the reforms aim to create a safer, fairer, and more consumer-driven system. For providers, this means adapting to stricter compliance requirements and workforce obligations, while embracing transparency and accountability.
Whilst the Act is both well-intended and needed, providers need to carefully consider the human capital investment and where best to source the workers to meet the increased demand caused by these changes.
At Absolute Immigration Legal we specialise in developing attraction and retention strategies for overseas workers. While we acknowledge that a local workforce needs to be the backbone of any organisation, we also understand that having overseas workers as part of a companies’ recruitment toolkit is critical, especially in industries that face significant resourcing issues.
If you would like to consider an alternative approach to your attraction and retention strategies for overseas workers, feel free to contact one of our Lawyers on +61 3 9070 5521 or via email at admin@absoluteimmigrationlegal.com
*This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For guidance tailored to your situation, please contact one of our qualified legal practitioners.