Sector Performance: Q1 FY25-26

In this article I share a few graphs made from the data used by the Sector Performance Report (July to October 2025), published by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (2026).

With the strengthened standards coming into effect from November 2025 it will be interesting to see how re-accreditation audits are affected. The accreditation rate has been fairly stable based on Figure 1, other than in Q2 FY24-25 when a number of high risk providers were audited. Data for Q4 FY24-25 is not available because the auditing was paused in preparation for the new Aged Care Act.

Figure 1: Compliance with Quality Standards based on reaccreditation audits.

Residential Care Complaints

The most common complaints in residential aged care concern staff numbers and medication administration and management. The top five complaints are listed in Table 1.

Table 1: The top 5 most common complaints in residential aged care for Q1 FY25-26.

Issue	Count	Proportion
Personnel - Number/Sufficiency	247	5.90%
Health Care - Medication administration and management	240	5.70%
Personnel - Behaviour/conduct	169	4.00%
Client Assessment and Service Implementation - Change of clinical status/deterioration	161	3.80%
Health Care - Falls prevention and post fall management	157	3.70%

The most common complaints are likely influenced by who is making them, with many complaints originating from a representative or family member, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: The source of complaints in residential aged care for Q1 FY25-26.

Group	Count	Proportion
Representative or family member	787	43.46%
Anonymous	634	35.01%
Others *	215	11.87%
Care recipient	175	9.66%

Home Care Complaints

The most common complaints in home care relate to a lack of consultation or communication and fees and charges. The top five complaints are listed in Table 3.

Table 3: The top 5 most common complaints in home care for Q1 FY25-26.

Issue	Count	Proportion
Consultation and Communication - Lack of consultation/communication	266	11.20%
Financial - Fees and charges	254	10.70%
Client Assessment and Service Implementation - Consistent client care and coordination	168	7.10%
Financial - Management of finances	130	5.50%
Goods and Equipment - Mobility aids	119	5.00%
Client Assessment and Service Implementation - Care planning	118	5.00%

Unlike residential care, the majority of complaints in home care are made by the care recipient directly, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4: The source of complaints in home care for Q1 FY25-26.

Group	Count	Proportion
Care recipient	597	46.79%
Representative or family member	522	40.91%
Others *	84	6.58%
Anonymous	73	5.72%

Physical Restraint

The use of physical restraint has been trending down over the medium term but has rebounded somewhat in recent quarters. It will be interesting to see whether the strengthened standards influence this indicator going forward.

Figure 2: Prevalence of physical restraint use over time, from the Quality Indicator Program. The Q1 FY25-26 data was extracted from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2026).

Home Services Provider Approvals

There has been an uptick in applications for new home services providers. However, most of these applications were either not approved or did not proceed, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Home services provider approval applications by outcome. Applications are grouped into approved (including taken to be approved) and not approved (including did not proceed).

References

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. 2026. “Data Tables Spreadsheet for July to October 2025 Sector Performance Report.” Australian Government. https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au/media/102315.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2026. “Residential Aged Care Quality Indicators – July to September 2025.” https://www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au/resources/publications/2026/february/residential-aged-care-quality-indicators-july-to-september-2025.