Update for 1 July 2026
The rates on this page have been updated for 1 July 2026, reflecting the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review.
Teiro keeps Aged Care Award rates current automatically, so your rosters, quotes, and pay never run on last year’s figures.
The 7 standards
The Quality Standards apply to providers registered in categories 4, 5 and 6. Standards 1, 2, 3 and 4 apply to all three of those categories. Standard 5 (clinical care) applies to categories 5 and 6, and category 4 providers must also meet Outcome 5.1 (clinical governance) if they deliver care management or restorative care management. Standards 6 and 7 apply only to residential care homes.
Providers registered only in categories 1 to 3, which covers home and community services such as domestic assistance, meals, transport and home maintenance, are not assessed against the Quality Standards. They are still bound by the Aged Care Act 2024, the Statement of Rights and the Aged Care Code of Conduct.
The operational trap for category 4 providers
Every Support at Home provider must deliver care management. That means a category 4 personal care provider that assumes clinical care does not apply to it is still on the hook for Outcome 5.1, clinical governance.
Commencement date: the Strengthened Standards were originally set to commence 1 July 2024, then deferred to 1 July 2025, and ultimately commenced 1 November 2025 alongside the Aged Care Act 2024. Providers who planned and trained around the earlier dates were not wrong to prepare early -- the commencement date genuinely moved twice.
| Standard | Title |
|---|---|
| Standard 1 | The individual |
| Standard 2 | The organisation |
| Standard 3 | The care and services |
| Standard 4 | The environment |
| Standard 5 | Clinical care |
| Standard 6 | Food and nutrition |
| Standard 7 | The residential community |
The Strengthened Standards replaced the previous 8-standard framework that had been in place since 2019. The new framework is organised around the rights of older people rather than provider processes, which changes how assessment evidence needs to be structured.
Standard 2 in depth: workforce planning and human resource management
Workforce obligations sit under Standard 2 (The organisation), specifically Outcome 2.8 (workforce planning) and Outcome 2.9 (human resource management). These are the outcomes with the most direct operational implications for care providers managing a workforce. Outcomes 2.8 and 2.9 together require providers to demonstrate that their workforce is:
Appropriately qualified
Workers must hold the qualifications and credentials required for the work they perform. This is not a passive requirement -- it means actively verifying and recording credential currency, not just collecting documents at onboarding.
Adequately supervised
Workers must receive supervision appropriate to their role and experience level. Supervision arrangements must be documented. This is particularly relevant for newer workers and those delivering clinical support.
Supported to develop
Providers must support workers to develop their skills and knowledge. This typically means a documented approach to training and professional development, with records of what was provided to whom.
Sufficient in number
The workforce must be sufficient in number to deliver the services being provided. For rostering, this means gaps in coverage need to be identified and managed. An understaffed roster is not just an operational problem -- it is a quality standards issue.
Covers contractors and agency staff, not just employees
Outcome 2.9 requires providers to keep training records for every worker delivering care, including contractors and agency staff. Outcome 2.8 goes further: it requires providers to use direct employment wherever possible and to minimise reliance on independent contractors and agency staff. A workforce plan built around casual agency fill-in does not meet this outcome on its own.
What this means for your rostering system
Outcome 2.9 compliance requires that worker qualification status, screening currency, and coverage gaps are visible in real time. Rostering systems that do not surface this information make Standard 2 workforce compliance harder to demonstrate and harder to maintain. Outcome 2.9 is explicit that rostering must be informed by the workforce strategy set out in Outcome 2.8, and that providers must assign an appropriate number and mix of workers to specific shifts and tasks based on workers' skills, qualifications and competencies -- language that reads almost like a product specification for a scheduling system.
24/7 registered nurse requirement (residential care)
Most residential aged care facilities must have a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This requirement commenced 1 July 2023 under section 54-1A of the Aged Care Act 1997, and continues as a statutory provider responsibility under the Aged Care Act 2024. It is a legislated staffing responsibility, not a Quality Standards outcome -- it sits alongside the standards rather than inside them. It does not apply to home care providers.
For residential rostering, RN coverage is a significant constraint, but it is not absolute. Providers can apply to the Department for a 12-month exemption for a facility with 30 or fewer operational beds in Modified Monash Model (MMM) areas 5, 6 or 7. The exemption is granted only where the provider demonstrates adequate alternative clinical care arrangements, and it must be renewed -- it is not automatic or indefinite. Outside a held exemption, a roster that creates a gap in RN coverage is non-compliant regardless of how well it otherwise meets service delivery requirements.
Rostering implication: When building residential rosters, RN coverage must be verified before the roster is finalised. Gaps created by leave, sick calls, or short notice cancellations require immediate replacement with a qualified RN, not a downgrade to enrolled nurse or personal care worker coverage, unless the facility holds a current MMM 5-7 exemption for that arrangement.
Home care: The 24/7 RN requirement does not apply to Support at Home or other home-based programs. However, if a home care worker is delivering clinical services (nursing, wound care, medication administration), the worker must hold the appropriate clinical qualifications and these must be tracked under Standard 5 (clinical care).
What documentation the standards require
Across Standards 1, 2, 3 and 4, and Standard 5 where you deliver clinical care or care management, providers must be able to produce the following documentation in the event of an unannounced ACQSC assessment:
- 1Worker qualification records (certificates, credentials, licences)
- 2Screening compliance records (National Police Check currency)
- 3Supervision logs (for clinical and direct care workers)
- 4Shift and attendance records (evidence of the workforce mix actually rostered against your workforce plan)
- 5Continuity of care history (worker-client assignment patterns)
- 6Training and development records
- 7Incident records linked to the relevant shift
- 8Worker performance management records
The ACQSC conducts both announced and unannounced assessments. Being able to produce any of the above within a short timeframe is a practical necessity. Documentation held in multiple systems, or worse in paper files, creates retrieval risk under assessment conditions.
Standard 1 and continuity of care
Standard 1 (The individual) places explicit weight on person-centred care. In practice, this includes an expectation that providers support continuity in worker-client relationships where possible. Sending a different worker to every shift is not, on its own, a standards breach -- but a roster that shows no consideration of client preferences or established relationships will draw questions in an assessment.
Rostering systems that surface client-worker history and can flag preferred workers for a client make it easier to demonstrate Standard 1 compliance in practice, not just on paper.