Aged care code of conduct explained
The Aged Care Code of Conduct sets out eight standards of behaviour that aged care providers, their responsible persons and aged care workers must follow when delivering care. It started on 1 December 2022 and continues under the Aged Care Act 2024. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission can take action, including banning orders, when someone breaches it.
Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth), section 14
Aged Care Rules 2025
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, Aged Care Code of Conduct
Who must follow the Code
The Code applies to registered providers, to their responsible persons such as board members and key managers, and to aged care workers. Worker is defined broadly. It includes employees, contractors, agency staff and volunteers who provide care or services on behalf of a provider, whether in residential care, home care or the Support at Home program. Section 14 of the Aged Care Act 2024 requires these people to comply with the Code, and the detail of the Code sits in the Aged Care Rules 2025. Providers must also take reasonable steps to make sure their workers understand the Code and comply with it in their day to day work.
The eight elements
The Code requires people to act with respect for each person's rights to freedom of expression, self-determination and decision-making; to treat people with dignity and respect and value their diversity; to respect privacy; to provide care, supports and services in a safe and competent manner with care and skill; to act with integrity, honesty and transparency; to promptly raise and act on concerns about quality and safety; to provide care free from violence, discrimination, exploitation, neglect, abuse and sexual misconduct; and to take all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to those harms. It closely mirrors the NDIS Code of Conduct, with an added focus on dignity and diversity.
How it is enforced
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission oversees the Code. It can investigate complaints and reports about individual workers as well as providers. Where it finds a breach, it can issue a banning order that stops a person from working in aged care for a set period or permanently, and it keeps a public register of banning orders. It can also seek civil penalties through the courts and take compliance action against the provider. Providers should check the register when recruiting, and workers should understand that the Code follows them personally, not just their employer, wherever they work in the sector.
What it means in practice
For providers, the Code should be built into recruitment, induction, supervision and complaints handling, and into the behaviour expected at board level. For workers, it means everyday choices: asking before you act, respecting a person's decision even when you disagree, keeping information private, and speaking up when something is not right. Older people and their families can use the Code as a benchmark. If care falls short of it, they can raise it with the provider first and then with the Commission. The Code works alongside the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards and the Statement of Rights in the Act.
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