Aged Care Code of Conduct: The Eight Behaviours Explained

The Aged Care Code of Conduct sets expectations for how people delivering funded aged care behave. For a provider, putting it into practice means more than collecting signatures: workers need to understand the expectations, concerns need a clear response, and the records should show what happened.

This guide summarises the eight behaviours and offers practical questions for reviewing your process and software. Guidance checked 25 September 2026.

The Code covers registered providers, their responsible persons and aged care workers, including volunteers and relevant contractors. The Commission’s worker guidance explains the coverage and exceptions, including health professionals and tradespeople not engaged by the provider.

Identify who falls within your workforce and responsible-person arrangements. Make the Code part of induction, supervision and the handling of concerns, using examples relevant to the services people actually deliver.

The following summaries follow the Commission’s eight behaviours; use its published wording for the full requirements.

1. Respect a person’s expression, choices and decisions.
2. Treat people with dignity and value their differences.
3. Protect each person’s privacy.
4. Deliver services competently and safely, using appropriate skill.
5. Be truthful, open and act with integrity.
6. Raise concerns affecting care quality or safety promptly, and act on them.
7. Deliver care without violence, discrimination, exploitation, neglect, abuse or sexual misconduct.
8. Take reasonable preventive and responsive action against those harms.

The last two points are distinct: refraining from harmful conduct is not the same as taking steps to prevent and respond to it. Use practical situations in team discussions to explore both.

An acknowledgement records one action. It is not proof that a worker understands every situation, has completed associated training or has consistently met the Code.

A practical review should establish which version was provided, who was assigned it, what acknowledgement is recorded and whether any linked learning remains due. Keep the steps separate so an outstanding training task is not hidden by a completed acknowledgement.

Use supervision and case discussion to examine how expectations apply in practice. Record and follow up questions workers raise. Decide when your organisation needs refreshers or a new acknowledgement; base that decision on the current requirements and your organisation’s procedure.

Give staff a clear route to raise concerns. Your response should consider immediate safety, appropriate handling of the allegation, fair investigation and any necessary external reporting. Record the people responsible and what remains to be done.

For investigation planning, consider how the allegation will be documented, who can investigate without a conflict, what information is needed and how the person concerned can respond. Retain the reasoning for findings and subsequent action. Set out these steps in your organisation’s procedure and make responsibilities clear.

A concern may also be a SIRS-reportable incident. Assess reportability and the reporting clock separately. Opening an internal case does not notify the Commission or restart a statutory deadline.

In a Statura Care demonstration, start with the currently published Code and a worker who has acknowledged it but still has linked training due. Ask the presenter to show the separate states and the underlying assignment.

Then inspect a conduct case: allegation, investigator, notes, findings, corrective actions and outcome. Investigator selection excludes the accused worker; your team still owns investigation fairness and the response. Where a SIRS incident is already linked, inspect the separate incident record.

Agree how your team will handle documents, interviews, external notifications and follow-up alongside the system. The policy management workflow provides further context for publication and assignment.