200,000 older Australians still waiting for aged care
Aged care waitlists fall as Support at Home packages increase
- Assessment demand: 98,606 waiting for an aged care assessment at 31 March 2026
- Home care queue: More than 100,000 waiting for their approved Support at Home level
- Wait times easing: Wait times for Standard priority packages have fallen to seven to eight months
- Package rollout: The Government had released 61,500 of 83,000 home care packages as of 31 March
Data released late Sunday night (31 May) has confirmed nearly 100,000 older Australians are still waiting for an aged care assessment, while more than 100,000 are waiting for their correct level of home care.
Data for the Single Assessment System, the first since the system was introduced in late 2024, shows there were 98,606 people waiting for an aged care assessment as of 31 March 2026. The number is a modest 4.7% decline on the 103,488 waiting as of 31 December 2025.
There were 100,191 people waiting for Support at Home at the level they have been assessed as needing as of 31 March 2026. This figure is a 24% drop on the 131,366 recorded waiting as of 31 December 2025.
Assessments are being completed slightly faster: 133,359 aged care assessments were completed in the March quarter, up from 127,649 or by 4.3% in the previous quarter.
The numbers were published in a statement two days out from a highly anticipated Senate Estimates hearing on Tuesday (2 June 2026) where the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is expected to be grilled on the Government’s aged care reforms.
Eight-month wait for home care
In the statement, Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae, said “wait times have started to fall” for Support at Home.
The data shows estimated wait times, which are published on consumer portal My Aged Care, have fallen to seven to eight months for a Standard priority package, down from 10 to 11 months as of 1 November 2025.
However, the data differs from the numbers quietly released on Budget Night (12 May) in the Aged Care Act 2024 Wait Times Report, which showed that as of 31 March 2026, older Australians are waiting on average 12 months for a Support at Home package (mean also 12 months). This data was for the period from applying for care through My Aged Care to commencement of care.
The Government has committed to achieving average wait times for Support at Home to three months by 1 July 2027.
On track to release 83,000 Packages
As of 31 March 2026, 61,500 Support at Home Packages had been released of the record 83,000 Packages that former Aged Care Minister Anika Wells had announced in November 2024. More than 6,000 Packages have been released on average per week.
In the March 2025 quarter, the number of people with a Support at Home Package rose by 17,830 to a record 364,723 places.
When all 83,000 Packages are in circulation, an estimated 388,000 people will be receiving Support at Home.
Minister Rae said: “While we know there’s much more to do, these numbers are encouraging signs our methodical work to secure more care for more older Australians than ever is shifting the dial.”
Attention now turns to Senate Estimates tomorrow where the Department will be in the hot seat.
