Aged Care Workforce Compliance: A Complete Guide

Workforce compliance is one of the most complex and consequential areas of aged care regulation. Under the Aged Care Act 2024, providers face a web of interconnected obligations covering who can work in aged care, what qualifications and screening they need, how many staff must be on duty, what they must be paid, and how they must conduct themselves. Getting workforce compliance wrong can result in regulatory action, financial penalties, and — most importantly — harm to the people in your care.

Every person who works in aged care — including employees, contractors, volunteers, and agency staff — must undergo worker screening before commencing work. Under the Aged Care Act 2024 (s 120), providers must not allow an unscreened person to deliver care or services to aged care consumers.

The screening requirements include:

National Police Check — a criminal history check conducted through the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC). This must be completed before the worker commences and renewed every 3 years. A police check that reveals relevant criminal history does not automatically disqualify a person, but the provider must conduct a risk assessment to determine whether the person is suitable for the role.

NDIS Worker Screening Check — in jurisdictions where this is accepted for aged care, an NDIS Worker Screening Check may satisfy the aged care screening requirement. This is a more comprehensive check that includes an assessment of whether the person poses an unacceptable risk to people with disability or older people.

Ongoing monitoring — screening is not a one-off obligation. Providers must have processes to monitor whether a worker's circumstances have changed (for example, new criminal charges) between screening renewals. Many providers require workers to self-declare any changes and conduct periodic re-screening.

Record-keeping — providers must maintain records of all screening checks, including the date of the check, the outcome, the expiry date, and any risk assessments conducted. These records must be available for inspection during ACQSC assessment contacts.

For a detailed guide to screening requirements and timelines, see our dedicated worker screening guide.

Aged care workers must complete mandatory training to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to deliver safe, quality care. While the Aged Care Act 2024 does not prescribe a specific training curriculum, the ACQSC expects providers to ensure their workforce is competent in key areas:

Dementia care — all workers who deliver direct care must have training in understanding and responding to dementia, including communication strategies, behavioural support, and person-centred approaches.

Infection prevention and control — particularly important since the COVID-19 pandemic, all workers must understand standard precautions, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE), and outbreak management.

Manual handling — workers involved in personal care and mobility support must be trained in safe manual handling techniques to prevent injury to themselves and consumers.

Medication awareness — workers who assist with medications must understand medication safety, the difference between assisting and administering, and when to escalate concerns.

Abuse recognition and reporting — all workers must be trained to recognise signs of abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and understand their obligation to report through SIRS and internal reporting channels.

First aid and CPR — clinical and personal care staff typically require current first aid and CPR certification.

Providers must track training completion and expiry for all workers and ensure refresher training is completed on schedule. Training records are a key evidence source for Standard 2 (The Organisation) during assessment contacts.

Residential aged care providers must meet the 215 care minutes per resident per day target, which includes a 44-minute registered nurse (RN) component. This target has applied since 1 October 2024 (the previous 200/40 target applied from October 2023 to September 2024). It is mandated under the Aged Care Act 2024 and monitored by the Department of Health and Aged Care.

What counts as care minutes: direct care delivered by registered nurses, enrolled nurses, personal care workers, and allied health professionals. Care minutes include clinical care, personal care, medication administration, wound care, allied health interventions, and direct supervision of care activities.

What does not count: administrative time, travel time, training time, meal breaks, and care management activities. The care minutes target measures only the time spent in direct care delivery.

How it is calculated: total direct care hours delivered across all qualifying staff, divided by the number of occupied resident places, multiplied by 60 to convert to minutes. The target must be met on a quarterly average basis — individual days may vary, but the quarterly average must meet or exceed 215 minutes (including 44 RN minutes).

Reporting requirements: providers must report care minutes data to the Department through the quarterly reporting process. The Department publishes care minutes data publicly, creating transparency about staffing levels across the sector.

Providers who consistently fail to meet care minutes targets may face regulatory consequences including funding adjustments and, in serious cases, sanctions. For detailed guidance, see our care minutes compliance guide.

Residential aged care providers must have at least one registered nurse on duty and on site at all times — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This requirement is mandated under section 95 of the Aged Care Act 2024.

What this means in practice: at no point should a residential aged care facility be without a registered nurse physically present and available to respond to clinical needs. This applies overnight, on weekends, on public holidays, and during periods of leave or absence.

Demonstrating compliance: providers must be able to show through rosters and time-and-attendance records that an RN was on site for every hour of every day. Gaps in coverage — even short ones — constitute non-compliance.

Common compliance challenges: small or regional facilities with limited RN availability; managing planned and unplanned RN absences; overnight shifts where agency RNs may be used; and ensuring that the RN on duty is genuinely available (not assigned to administrative tasks that prevent them from responding to clinical needs).

Contingency planning: providers should have documented contingency plans for RN absences, including on-call arrangements, agreements with agency providers, and escalation procedures. The ACQSC does not accept that RN unavailability in rural or regional areas is a valid reason for non-compliance — providers must plan for this.

The Code of Conduct for Aged Care applies to all aged care workers (ss 173–174 of the Aged Care Act 2024). The Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of anyone working in aged care, including employees, contractors, volunteers, and governing body members.

The Code requires workers to: act with respect for consumers' rights, dignity, and autonomy; provide care and services safely and competently; act with integrity and honesty; promptly report concerns about the safety or wellbeing of consumers; comply with the provider's policies and procedures; and not engage in conduct that could bring the aged care sector into disrepute.

Provider obligations around the Code of Conduct:

Worker acknowledgement — providers must ensure all workers acknowledge the Code of Conduct and understand their obligations under it. This should be documented and refreshed annually.

Breach investigation — when a potential Code of Conduct breach is identified, the provider must investigate promptly and fairly. The investigation should be proportionate to the seriousness of the alleged breach and should protect the rights of both the consumer and the worker.

ACQSC reporting — serious Code of Conduct breaches must be reported to the ACQSC, particularly where the breach involves harm or risk of harm to a consumer. This intersects with SIRS reporting obligations — a Code of Conduct breach that involves abuse, neglect, or use of restrictive practices is likely also a reportable incident.

Consequences — providers must have a clear disciplinary framework for Code of Conduct breaches, ranging from counselling and retraining for minor breaches to termination and reporting for serious breaches. The framework should be documented in the provider's HR policies and communicated to all workers.

Home care workers and many community-based aged care workers are employed under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) Industry Award. While the SCHADS Award is a Fair Work instrument rather than an aged care-specific regulation, non-compliance creates both industrial and aged care regulatory risk.

Key aspects of the SCHADS Award that aged care providers must understand:

Pay levels — the SCHADS Award has 8 pay levels (Level 1 through Level 8), each with multiple pay points. Workers must be classified at the correct level based on their qualifications, responsibilities, and experience. Incorrect classification is a common source of underpayment claims.

Penalty rates — the SCHADS Award includes penalty rates for evening work (after 8pm), night work (after midnight), Saturday work, Sunday work, and public holiday work. Penalty rates are calculated on the worker's base hourly rate and can significantly increase labour costs for services delivered outside standard business hours.

Overtime — workers who exceed their ordinary hours in a day or week are entitled to overtime rates. For full-time workers, this is generally 38 hours per week. Overtime must be authorised and recorded.

Travel time and allowances — home care workers who travel between clients during a shift are entitled to payment for travel time and reimbursement of travel costs. This is a frequently audited area and a common source of non-compliance.

Minimum engagement — part-time and casual workers have minimum engagement periods under the SCHADS Award. Providers cannot roster a worker for less than the minimum engagement period without incurring additional obligations.

Statura Care's Workforce module includes SCHADS Award pay calculation, penalty rate automation, and roster compliance checking to help providers meet their industrial obligations alongside their aged care regulatory requirements. Workforce compliance is one of 35 modules in Statura Care's aged care compliance software — purpose-built for the Aged Care Act 2024.