Aged care assessments are used to assess older people’s needs and eligibility for Australian Government-funded aged care services.
Last updated: 28 August 2026
The aged care system offers a continuum of care under 3 main types of service:
- Commonwealth Home Support Program (home support) provides entry-level services focused on supporting individuals to undertake tasks of daily living to enable them to be more independent at home and in the community.
- Home Care Packages Program (home care) is a more structured, comprehensive package of home-based support, provided over 4 levels.
- Residential aged care (permanent residential care) provides 24-hour care and accommodation for older people who are unable to continue living independently in their own home and need assistance with everyday tasks.
There are also several types of short-term or flexible care, and services for specific population groups available that extend across the spectrum from home support to residential care, including:
- Residential respite care (or respite residential care) provides short-term care in an aged care home with the primary purpose of giving an individual or their carer a break from their usual care arrangements.
- Transition Care Program (transition care) provides short-term care to restore independent living after a hospital stay.
- Short-Term Restorative Care Programme (short-term restorative care) expands on transition care to include anyone whose capacity to live independently is at risk.
- Multi-Purpose Service Program offers aged care alongside health services in rural and remote areas.
- Innovative Care Programme includes a range of programs to support flexible ways of providing care to target population groups.
- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program provides culturally appropriate aged care at home and in the community for First Nations people.
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs community nursing and Veterans’ Home Care services provide support to help eligible veterans stay independent and in their own home.
From 1 November 2025, the new Support at Home program replaced the Home Care Packages Program and Short-Term Restorative Care Programme. The Commonwealth Home Support Program will transition to Support at Home no earlier than 1 July 2027.
For more information on aged care services in Australia see the Report on the Operation of the Aged Care Act, or visit the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.
Australia’s aged care system delivers services through different programs to cater for the diverse needs of the ageing population. Services range from in-home supports to remain living independently, through to full-time care in a residential setting.
Eligibility for government-subsidised aged care is based on a person’s age, needs and situation. To qualify for an aged care needs assessment, a person must be either:
- aged 65 or over, or
- an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person aged 50 or over, or
- homeless or at risk of homelessness and aged 50 or over.
My Aged Care is the starting point for information about and access to government-subsidised aged care. An older person can apply for an aged care needs assessment through My Aged Care, or an assessment may be requested by their carers, GP or other health professional. Following registration and screening, accepted referrals are triaged by assessment type and priority. There are 2 types of aged care needs assessments:
- home support assessments completed by non-clinical assessors for older people with entry-level care needs
- comprehensive assessments completed by clinical assessors (in community settings or in hospitals) for older people with more complex care needs and who may require higher level of care.
An aged care needs assessment determines an older person’s eligibility for government-subsidised aged care services, including home support, home care, short-term or flexible care (including residential respite care), and permanent residential care. Assessment organisations assess client needs, goals and preferences holistically, and refer clients to services that will help them achieve the best possible level of function and independence.
Aged care needs assessments are completed using the Integrated Assessment Tool.
A residential care funding assessment is conducted after an older person is found eligible for permanent residential care. This assessment determines the amount of Australian Government funding the approved residential care provider will receive based on the older person’s level of care need.
Residential care funding assessments are completed using the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) Assessment Tool.
For more information on aged care assessments, visit the My Aged Care website or see Single Assessment System for aged care on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.
New Aged Care Act
This page presents data for the 2024–25 financial year, before the Aged Care Act 2024 came into effect on 1 November 2025. Changes since the commencement of the new Act and the beginning of the Support at Home program, alongside a new regulatory model, will be reported when data become available. For more information on the new Act, see New Aged Care Act on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.
Aged care assessments
Aged care needs assessments under the new Aged Care Act
In May 2026, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing released its first quarterly report on the performance of aged care needs assessments under the Aged Care Act 2024.
The quarterly report includes information on the volume of assessments completed and the time taken to complete assessments during the quarter.
For more information, see Single Assessment System (SAS) quarterly needs assessment data report.
To access government-funded aged care services, older people undergo an assessment of need. These processes assess people’s circumstances and care needs and, where appropriate, approve them for appropriate aged care services.
The Single Assessment System workforce – established in December 2024 – brought together and replaced the Regional Assessment Service (RAS), Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT) and independent Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) assessment organisations.
This section reports home support and comprehensive assessments completed in 2024–25, combining assessments conducted by the RAS and ACAT up to 9 December 2024, and assessments conducted by the Single Assessment System workforce from 9 December 2024.
In 2024–25, there were 524,000 completed aged care assessments. Among these assessments:
- 291,000 (56%) were home support assessments and 233,000 (44%) were comprehensive asssesments
- 12,000 (2.3%) were for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people
- 119,000 (23%) were for people born in non-English-speaking countries.
Around 518,000 (99%) completed aged care assessments were for people aged 65 and over, equating to 105.6 assessments per 1,000 population in this age group:
- the rate of assessments for people aged 65 and over varied across states and territories – ranging from 76.6 per 1,000 population in Northern Territory to 146.4 per 1,000 population in Australian Capital Territory
- the rate of assessments for people aged 65 and over also varied across remoteness areas – the rates in Major cities, Inner regional and Outer regional, were higher than Remote and Very remote areas (around 100–115 per 1,000 compared with 65–90 per 1,000 population).
Between 2017–18 and 2024–25:
- overall, the number of home support assessments increased gradually by 24% (235,000 to 291,000), except for an 8.1% decrease (264,000 to 243,000) between 2018–19 and 2019–20 and a 10% decrease (325,000 to 291,000) between 2023–24 and 2024–25
- the number of comprehensive assessments also increased steadily by 25% (186,000 to 233,000), except for a 3.4% decrease (186,000 to 180,000) between 2017–18 and 2018–19 and a relatively stable period between 2019–20 and 2020–21 (187,000–188,000).
Aged care approvals
Support at Home approvals under the new Aged Care Act
In May 2026, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing released its first quarterly report on the operation of the Support at Home program under the Aged Care Act 2024.
The quarterly report includes information on the volume of Support at Home classification approvals and the Support at Home Priority System.
For more information, see Support at Home program data report.
Comprehensive assessments determine an older people’s eligibility for entry into home care, permanent residential care, and short-term or flexible care (including residential respite care). One assessment may result in approvals for multiple care types.
In 2024–25, the 524,000 completed aged care assessments resulted in 501,000 approvals.
Among the 501,000 aged care assessment approvals in 2024–25:
- 173,000 (34%) were approvals of eligibility for home care – almost 3 in 5 (58% or 100,000) were for people aged 80 and over
- 135,000 (27%) were approvals of eligibility for permanent residential care – over 3 in 5 (62% or 84,200) were for people aged 80 and over
- 194,000 (39%) included approvals of eligibility for short-term and flexible care (including residential respite care).
Around 497,000 (99%) aged care approvals were for people aged 65 and over, equating to 101.2 approvals per 1,000 population in this age group:
- the rate of approvals for people aged 65 and over varied across states and territories – ranging from 80.7 approvals per 1,000 population in Northern Territory to 134.5 approvals per 1,000 population in Australian Capital Territory
- the rate of approvals for people aged 65 and over also varied across remoteness areas – the rates in Major cities, Inner regional and Outer regional were higher than Remote and Very remote areas (around 100 per 1,000 compared with 65–90 per 1,000 population).
Between 2017–18 and 2024–25:
- the number of approvals of eligibility for home care decreased by 12% (122,000 to 107,000) between 2017–18 and 2018–19 and then increased by 61% (107,000 to 173,000) between 2018–19 and 2024–25
- the number of approvals of eligibility for permanent residential care decreased by 22% between 2017–18 and 2020–21 (120,000 to 93,000) and then increased by 45% in the following 4 years to 2024–25 at 135,000.
Note: there are no published data on recommendations for Commonwealth Home Support Program services.
Elapsed time
Elapsed time under the new Aged Care Act
In May 2026, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing released its first quarterly report on waiting periods for certain funded aged care services under the Aged Care Act 2024.
The quarterly report presents elapsed time from application for an assessment (before an assessment) to service commencement. This differs from elapsed time from aged care approval (after an assessment) to service commencement as reported elsewhere.
For more information, see Aged Care Act 2024 – Wait Times Report on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.
The time between an individual’s aged care approval and their entry into care can be influenced by a range of factors, including availability of places and packages, and a person’s individual preferences.
In 2024–25, 143,000 home care packages were assigned and 70,100 people entered into home care service agreements (excluding care recipients who had their home care packages upgraded or with multiple priorities and who had opted back in after being offered a home care package but not taking it up):
- the median elapsed time between approval and service commencement date was 245 days – 204 days between approval and assignment of a home care package and 28 days between assignment and service commencement date.
In 2024–25, among the 66,700 people who entered permanent residential care for the first time (with a valid assessment date and elapsed time, as well as an approval before admission date):
- the median elapsed time between approval and entry into permanent residential care was 162 days
- 39% of new entrants to permanent residential care entered care within 3 months of their approval – 3.2% within 7 days and 13% within 1 month
- 41% of new entrants to permanent residential care entered care more than 9 months after their approval.
Between 2017–18 and 2024–25:
- the median elapsed time between approval and service commencement date for home care increased from 281 days in 2017–18 to 447 days in 2018–19, and then reduced to 118 days in 2023–24. Between 2023–24 and 2024–25, the median elapsed time more than doubled (from 118 days to 245 days)
- the median elapsed time between approval and entry into permanent residential care fluctuated – three increases between 2017–18 and 2018–19 (from 121 days to 152 days), between 2019–20 and 2020–21 (from 148 days to 163 days) and between 2023–24 and 2024–25 (from 136 days to 162 days). Between other financial years, the median elapsed time declined, except for a relative stable period between 2022–23 and 2023–24.
Where can I find out more?
Related information can be found on other GEN topic pages:
For data on aged care assessments and approvals, view the Aged care data snapshot, the Report on Government Services, the Single Assessment System (SAS) quarterly needs assessment data report and the Support at Home program data report.
For data on aged care wait times, view the Timeliness of access to aged care services in Australia and the Aged Care Act 2024 – Wait Times Report on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.
