Last week’s Ageing Australia QLD State Conference brought two of the sector’s biggest pressures into sharp focus: keeping pace with new legislative obligations, and keeping the books balanced while doing it. Two sessions in particular stood out for the practical detail they offered boards and providers. Here is our wrap-up of both.
Governance and compliance under the new aged care legislation
A legal update session gave board members and governance representatives a detailed rundown of what the new aged care legislation means in practice. The session covered a lot of ground, but a few areas deserve particular attention.
Resident agreement transitions. Providers have until 31 October 2026 to review and vary agreements signed before 1 November 2025 so they comply with the new legislation, a timeframe confirmed by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s transition guidance. For providers managing large resident cohorts, a deed of variation is likely to be a more efficient path than reviewing each agreement individually.
Higher Everyday Living arrangements. Boards need a clear understanding of the difference between standing and ad hoc services under Higher Everyday Living, along with the pricing mechanisms and limits on annual price increases. One risk flagged repeatedly: services that were previously provided free of charge cannot simply be reclassified and charged for under the new arrangements.
Governance structure. Boards must be able to confirm their governing body actually complies with the legislation. That includes membership composition, such as having a majority of independent non-executive members and appropriate clinical expertise, and understanding that committees support the governing body rather than replace it. This is a particular challenge for providers with more historical or complex structures, including faith-based and charitable organisations.
Registration renewal. Governing body members should expect to participate directly in interviews as part of the renewal process, and should be prepared to demonstrate genuine knowledge of their organisation’s compliance systems.
Accommodation pricing. Lapses in pricing approvals were flagged as a common and costly mistake, potentially triggering refund obligations. Boards need assurance that approvals, renewals, and published pricing across My Aged Care and provider websites are consistent and up to date.
Financial and prudential standards. The new legislation asks more of providers here too. Off-the-shelf financial systems are unlikely to be sufficient; boards should expect to need tailored financial management systems and regular liquidity assessments.
Other areas covered included Care Minutes compliance, the commencement of anti-money laundering legislation (which is unlikely to apply to aged care providers directly but may capture retirement village operators, per AUSTRAC’s guidance on newly regulated entities from 1 July 2026), and the need for whistleblower arrangements that satisfy both the aged care legislation and, where relevant, the Corporations Act.
The overarching message for boards: understand your statutory duties, and make sure you can demonstrate the processes and systems behind your compliance, not just the outcome.
Financial performance: the numbers behind the pressure
A second session, drawing on data from the StewartBrown Financial Performance Survey, put hard numbers behind what many providers are already feeling.
Residential aged care is under real strain. Sixty one per cent of homes are currently losing money, and thirty five per cent are experiencing negative cash flow, a decline in sector-wide financial health since 2020.
The care minutes funding gap is widening. The average care margin, the difference between AN-ACC funding and the cost of delivering mandated care minutes, has fallen from nineteen dollars to six dollars per bed day over the past year. Around forty per cent of the sector is now operating at a care margin deficit.
Accommodation pricing is being left on the table. Many providers have not increased prices to the capped limit of $750, despite median property values suggesting higher pricing is achievable. Getting this right matters not just for day to day sustainability, but for funding refurbishments and new builds.
Support at Home utilisation is softening. Consumer concern about increased pricing and co-contributions is leading to lower package utilisation, which flows directly into lower margins. Providers were encouraged to revisit pricing against actual unit costs, and to pay close attention to workforce productivity, specifically the gap between paid hours and billable hours.
Scale matters in Support at Home. Providers managing somewhere between 250 and 500 packages or more are generally the ones achieving positive operating results, which raises real questions for smaller programs about long term viability.
Granular analysis over dashboards. A recurring theme was the need for detailed, home by home and program by program financial analysis, rather than relying on high level dashboards that can mask underperformance in specific areas.
Updated financial performance data for the nine months to March 2026 is expected soon, and providers were encouraged to use it to sharpen their pricing and margin strategies.
The common thread
Taken together, these two sessions point to the same underlying challenge. Boards and providers are being asked to demonstrate compliance and manage margins with a level of precision that many current systems and processes were not built for. Whether it is proving a governing body meets legislative requirements, tracking Care Minutes against AN-ACC funding, or understanding true unit costs in Support at Home, the answer increasingly comes back to having accurate, granular, and accessible data.
If your organisation is reviewing how it tracks Care Minutes compliance, accommodation pricing, or financial performance ahead of these deadlines, our team would be glad to talk through how Care Systems’ reporting tools can help.
Further reading
For providers wanting to go deeper on any of the areas covered above, these government and industry sources are a good starting point:
- Transitioning to the new Act – Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission overview of transition arrangements and obligations that continue from the old law
- Aged Care Act 2024 now in force – MinterEllison technical update on resident and service agreement requirements
- Protection for whistleblowers – Commission and Department of Health, Disability and Ageing guidance on the new whistleblower framework
- Whistleblowing under the new Aged Care Act: what boards and executives need to know – Hall & Wilcox comparison of the Aged Care Act and Corporations Act regimes
- About the AML/CTF reforms and Real estate designated services – AUSTRAC guidance on Tranche 2 obligations from 1 July 2026, including where retirement village arrangements may be captured
- StewartBrown Aged Care Financial Performance Survey – the quarterly benchmarking survey behind the financial performance data referenced in this article
- 61% of aged care homes operating at a loss – The Weekly Source coverage of the StewartBrown December 2025 results
- 2026 QLD State Conference – Ageing Australia’s conference page, for anyone wanting the full program or to follow up with speakers
This article summarises discussion at two conference sessions and is general information only. It is not legal or financial advice, and providers should seek independent advice specific to their circumstances before acting on any of the compliance or financial matters raised.
