On 4 June 2025, the Australian Government announced a revised commencement date for the new Aged Care Act 2024. The Act, originally scheduled to begin on 1 July 2025, will now take effect from 1 November 2025, following sector-wide feedback calling for more time to prepare.
The government’s decision gives aged care providers an additional four months to finalise their transition. While this deferral provides welcome breathing room, it’s not a reason to delay your readiness planning. In fact, it’s an opportunity to strengthen it.
Organisations that use this extra time wisely will be in the best position to succeed under the new legislation, delivering better care, stronger governance, and clearer accountability.
Join Protecht's David Tattam and Law Compliance's Chris Martin on 17 June for our upcoming webinar on GRC in aged care. Learn how governance, risk and compliance can help you meet the demands of the Aged Care Act 2024:
What’s changed and what hasn’t
The deferred start date recognises that the scale of change under the Aged Care Act is substantial. It represents a complete regulatory reset, shifting the industry from a provider-centric model to one that is rights-based, consumer-focused, and outcomes-driven.
The 1 November 2025 commencement aligns with the introduction of the Support at Home program, revised provider registration categories, strengthened prudential standards, and updated compliance obligations, all of which are designed to raise the bar for care quality and safety.
But while the date has shifted, the direction remains clear. The government has reaffirmed that it’s working in close partnership with the Transition Taskforce, sector peak bodies, and advisory groups to finalise the Act and accompanying Aged Care Rules, compliance frameworks, and digital tools.
Guidance and training will continue to roll out in the coming months. Providers who begin implementing those resources now will find themselves ahead of the curve when the new regime comes into effect.
Turning the delay into an opportunity
The deferral gives aged care providers time to do three things that are difficult under deadline pressure:
Embed systems, not just tick boxes
Rapid compliance can lead to a focus on surface-level activities: policies uploaded, checklists ticked, boxes filled. Now, there’s space to go deeper: to make sure the systems that support compliance are actually embedded in daily operations.
A centralised GRC platform enables this by integrating compliance with risk management, incident tracking, obligations registers, and assurance workflows, so that compliance becomes part of how your organisation works, not an add-on.
Train your workforce and test your workflows
The extra time allows for more comprehensive and staged staff training, particularly around new requirements such as the Statement of Rights, incident reporting, digital system upgrades, and feedback handling.
Integrated GRC platforms support this by enabling role-based dashboards, automated workflows, and easy data capture, helping staff understand what’s expected of them and how to act.
Streamline reporting and reduce duplication
One of the challenges many providers face is the fragmented nature of their risk, compliance, and safety data. The deferral gives time to review and simplify reporting processes, reduce duplicated work, and align systems under a single source of truth.
With an integrated GRC platform, data from across compliance, incidents, risk assessments, and obligations is linked and surfaced in real-time through dashboards, helping executive teams, boards and auditors see where action is needed.
The core priorities remain
Even with the delayed start, the Australian Government is clear that providers should continue preparing against the previously published Provider Operational Readiness Priority Actions List. These include:
- Reviewing and aligning policies and systems with the Statement of Rights and Statement of Principles
- Updating provider information in GPMS and the Aged Care Gateway Service and Support Portal
- Establishing or refining complaints handling and whistleblower systems
- Ensuring readiness for the new financial and prudential standards
- Continuing to update, train and engage the workforce
Protecht ERM is purpose-built to support providers across all these areas, helping teams turn guidance into action and move from compliance to continuous improvement.
Conclusions and next steps for your organisation
The deferral of the Aged Care Act should be seen as a window, not a pause button. Providers who act now will be better prepared to deliver safe, compliant, and high-quality care under the new system.
At Protecht, we’ve worked with aged care providers across Australia to:
- Replace spreadsheet-based processes with structured registers
- Consolidate incident, risk and feedback data in a single platform
- Support ACQSC and SIRS compliance with real-time visibility
- Enable scalable, sustainable compliance that improves quality of care
To learn how Protecht can support your transition, explore our aged care solution or request a demo today:
