Aged Care Sector Performance Trends (2023-2025) and Q4 Highlights

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has released its special edition Sector Performance Report for Quarter 4, 2024–25, which includes a comprehensive review of aged care sector performance from 2023 to 2025. This report provides a benchmark as the sector prepares for the new Aged Care Act, which will come into effect on November 1, 2025.

✨ LinkedIn Post from Commission

📥 Download Full Sector Performance Report – Quarter 4 (April – June 2025)

📈 Key Findings at a Glance (Q4, April-June 2025):

• Complaints: The rate of complaints was stable across both residential care and home services. Complaints about falls prevention and management, along with medication administration and management, are now the most common issues in residential aged care. In-home services, the most frequently reported issues were a lack of communication or consultation and problems with fees and charges. Since Quarter 2, 2024-25, there has been an increase in complaints about falls prevention and post-fall management in residential services and a rise in complaints about case management in home services.
• Serious Incident Reporting Scheme (SIRS): The rate of serious incident notifications in residential care went down for the first time since Q1 2022–23. In-home services, the number of notifications also decreased. The Commission cautioned that this decrease might mean not all incidents are being reported. Neglect is the most reported incident type in home services.
• Workforce Responsibilities: The number of services with the largest gaps in meeting their care minutes targets dropped by almost 82% between Q2 2023–24 and Q3 2024–25. Additionally, 37% of providers that previously had gaps of more than 4 hours in their 24/7 registered nurse coverage have now reported lower or no gaps.
• Worker Regulation: The Commission issued 34 banning orders—21 of which were permanent—and investigated 130 providers and workers for potential breaches of the Code of Conduct for Aged Care. This represents an almost 75% increase in investigations compared to the previous quarter due to an increase in external reports.
• Financial and Prudential Compliance: The Commission audited 54 Home Care Package providers and 97 residential providers, finding a high level of compliance with financial and prudential standards. However, some non-compliance was found in home care providers, particularly regarding consent and expired agreements.

📊 Performance Trends (2023-2025):

• Aged Care Quality Standards: Compliance rates across the sector improved significantly towards the end of 2023 and have remained consistent since. However, compliance rates for home services have been consistently about 20 percentage points lower than for residential care. While compliance with Quality Standard 8 (Organisational governance) has improved, it continues to have the lowest compliance rates in both residential and home services.
• SIRS: Since its introduction, the total number of SIRS notifications has increased, largely due to a rise in Priority 2 notifications. While home services notifications have levelled off in 2024-25, the reporting rates are still much lower than in residential care.
• Complaints: In residential care, complaints have increased over time, with medication management being the most common issue over the past three years. For home services, a lack of communication or consultation has been the top complaint issue for the last three years, followed by fees and charges.
• Regulatory Notices: The number of non-compliance notices and directions issued has decreased substantially over the past three years. The Commission attributes this to a shift towards a risk-based engagement approach that encourages providers to fix problems and manage risks without the need for formal regulatory actions.

At Anchor Excellence, we are proactively collaborating with aged care providers to navigate the evolving regulatory landscape and prepare for the new Aged Care Act commenced at 1st November. We’ve created the Anchor Policy suite, featuring over 700 expertly designed documents to streamline your organisation’s processes and systems. These documents are customised to meet the strengthened standards and reflect your branding, ensuring a smooth implementation. Whether you’re a large or small provider, we offer tailored solutions to fit your needs.

Contact us for the full list of aged care policies and procedures. Don’t risk falling short of the new requirements and new trends. Our templated, expert-reviewed documents give you the compliant foundation you need.

Ready to Secure Your Compliance? The window for comprehensive governance review and policy implementation is closing fast.

➡️ Click Here to Explore Our List of Policy Solutions and Download Free Examples.