The two regimes, side by side
| Support at Home (home care) | Aged Care Act 2024 + Strengthened Standards (residential and all funded care) |
|---|---|
| The program manual (v4.2, December 2025) mandates at least one direct care management activity per participant per month, minimum 15 minutes — a real call, check-in or meeting, not administration. | No contact-time rule at all. Section 23 (Statement of Rights) and Standard 1 frame connection and wellbeing qualitatively. |
| Applies to all participants, including self-managed; may be delivered to the participant or a registered supporter; funded by a 10 per cent deduction from each participant's quarterly budget. | The only quantified time targets are workforce care minutes (an average of 215 minutes per resident per day, including 44 registered nurse minutes) and 24/7 registered nurse coverage — staffing averages that explicitly exclude social-connection activities. |
| Program guidance, not the Act — but records are a condition of registration, so each month needs a defensible per-participant record. | Enforceability sits in the outcome statements of each Standard and in registration conditions, tested at audit. |
The Statement of Rights and the positive duty
Section 23 sets out the Statement of Rights. The provisions most relevant to connection and wellbeing are s 23(12) — the right to opportunities and assistance to stay connected, if the individual so chooses — alongside s 23(3) on dignity, identity and culture, s 23(7)–(9) on being heard and accessible complaints, and s 23(10)–(11) on advocates and supporters.
Section 24(2) places a positive duty on providers to take all reasonable and proportionate steps to act compatibly with those rights. Section 24(3) provides that the Statement of Rights is not directly enforceable in court. The practical consequence: what a provider needs is evidence of reasonable and proportionate steps, because that is what registration conditions and audits test.
The Strengthened Quality Standards: what is binding
Within each Strengthened Standard, only the outcome statements are enforceable; supporting actions and expectation statements are guidance. The hooks most providers ask about:
- Standard 1, Action 1.1.2(f) — support individuals to cultivate relationships and social connections. Together with s 23(12), this is the strongest fit for structured wellbeing check-in programs.
- Standard 3, Outcome 3.1 — assessment and planning, including mental health and quality of life. Validated instruments (WHO-5, PHQ-2, GAD-2, UCLA loneliness) feed this.
- Standard 5, Outcomes 5.4 and 5.5 — recognising and responding to deterioration, including psychological and cognitive change, with escalation and care-plan review.
- Standard 2, Outcomes 2.6a and 2.6b — complaints management as a registration condition.
SIRS continues, and expands
The Serious Incident Response Scheme continues from 1 November 2025 and extends across residential and home services: Priority 1 incidents must be reported within 24 hours of provider awareness, Priority 2 within 30 days (Act ss 16, 164, 165A; Rules 165A-25 and 165A-30). Detection and the awareness timestamp are where technology can help; classification and the reporting duty itself remain with the provider.
Where careplans fits
careplans is an evidence and enablement tool for exactly this structure: scheduled, documented wellbeing check-in calls that produce per-person, per-month records for the Support at Home contact requirement; validated wellbeing instruments that feed assessment and quality indicator inputs; distress detection that escalates to on-call staff with a timestamp; and graduated disclosure that respects the registered supporter role. It helps providers meet and prove their obligations. It does not replace accountable human care, and it does not discharge legal duties.
The full requirement-by-requirement map is on our requirements page, and the Support at Home monthly contact requirement has a dedicated guide.