Aged care reforms update – July 2026

Aged Care Act changes in action

As at July 2026, it's been eight months since the commencement of the new Aged Care Act on 1 November 2025. The new Act introduced a number of changes for both providers and individuals receiving aged-care support, including the Support at Home program.

The new legislation was designed to place older people at the centre of a rights-based system to enable simplified access to services and increased transparency of the costs involved in each service.

For providers like integratedliving and our clients, the changes have meant:

• Strengthened Standards, enhancing the safety and quality of the care we provide.
• The introduction of a three-year registration cycle.
• Replacement of the Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care programs with the Support at Home model, including new processes for entry,assessment, funding and service delivery.
• Greater emphasis on how well providers manage feedback and complaints.
• The establishment of a Whistleblower protection process to enable clients and others to safely report misconduct without fear of reprisal.
• Increased accountability through regulatory monitoring, reporting and oversight of our compliance obligations.

Providers across the aged-care sector have reported some teething issues and are encouraging the Federal Government to have these ironed out prior to any future transition of the Commonwealth Home Support Program into Support at Home.

The team at integratedliving will continue to refine our processes and workflows to align with the new legislation to ensure the services we deliver to you demonstrate our commitment to safe and high-quality care.