There are still 231 aged care homes - nearly 10% of all homes in Australia - that are more than 30 minutes short of complying with the Government's compulsory targets of 200 care minutes per resident per day, with 40 minutes delivered by a Registered Nurse (RN), according to the Department of Health, Disability, and Ageing's latest dashboard, which shows data for the March 2025 quarter.
Of those homes half an hour short of the target, two-thirds - 153 homes - are For Profit operators. Fewer than half of all homes in Australia - 49% - are meeting both the total care minute and RN targets.
Only 38% of For Profits homes are meeting both total and RN care minute targets, compared with 50% for Not For Profits.
In January, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) issued a statement listing 27 aged care homes and 11 providers that were hit with 'enforceable undertakings' from the regulator for failing to meet the care minute targets. Recent data shows 10 homes are still subject to the arrangement and ACQSC has stepped up assessments of aged care homes failing to meet care minute targets.
This week's Financial Report on the Aged Care Sector 2023-24 shows providers not meeting their care minute targets are likely to report higher care profits. Professor Mike Woods, Chair of the UTS Ageing Research Collaborative (UARC), also noted in UARC's 2025-26 mid-year report his "ongoing dismay" that "too many providers" are receiving substantially higher taxpayer funding for care minutes but failing to meet mandated care minutes targets.
From April 2025, financial penalties will apply to operators in the MM1 region that do not meet mandatory care minute targets, based on data for the December 2025 quarter.
In UARC's report, Mike said the Government’s plan to withhold funding for some homes that failed to meet care minute targets was insufficient: "there remain financial incentives for some providers to wear the penalty and still come out ahead financially", he said.
