Types of care

What is residential aged care?

Updated 24 August 2026

Residential aged care is care and accommodation in an aged care home. The residents are older people who can no longer manage independently in their own home, and who need continuing help with everyday tasks or with health care. In Australia, aged care home, residential aged care and nursing home all name the same government-funded setting. A place includes accommodation, everyday living services such as catering, personal care, clinical care, and nursing access 24 hours a day. The Australian Government subsidises approved homes and pays the subsidy directly to the home. Entry depends on an aged care assessment of care needs, and on age. As stated by My Aged Care at 23 August 2026, the age threshold is 65 years. It drops to 50 for people who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, and for anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. A resident's financial situation does not affect eligibility, only the amount they pay. A stay can be permanent or short-term respite care.

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What does an aged care home provide?

An aged care home provides five things: accommodation, everyday living services, personal care, clinical care and nursing access 24 hours a day.

• Accommodation. Accommodation is the resident's room in the aged care home, supplied by the home itself as part of the place.
• Everyday living services. Everyday living services are the day-to-day services an aged care home supplies to its residents, and the Department of Health and Aged Care gives catering as its example. The Department names everyday living services as an item of their own in what a residential aged care place includes, listed beside accommodation, personal care and nursing access.
• Personal care. Personal care is one of the three kinds of help My Aged Care states an aged care home can give a resident, named separately from help with everyday tasks and from nursing care.
• Clinical care. Clinical care is delivered according to the resident's assessed needs. My Aged Care lists special bedding, nursing care and therapy services in this category, naming speech therapy, podiatry (foot care) and physiotherapy.
• Nursing access 24 hours a day. The Australian Government subsidises aged care homes so that care is available 24 hours a day, plus access to nursing and to general health care services.

Nursing home, aged care home, residential aged care: what the names mean

My Aged Care names the government-funded setting an aged care home, and records residential aged care as a second name for it. The Department of Health and Aged Care describes residential care as care in aged care (nursing) homes, which attaches the third name, nursing home, to the same setting.

Aged care is the umbrella term. It covers the support given to older people who need help at home, and the care given to people who cannot remain living at home. Residential aged care is the part of that system delivered in an aged care home. The difference between aged care and a nursing home is therefore a difference of scope: aged care names the whole system, and a nursing home is one setting inside it.

What are the three types of aged care?

Aged care in Australia has three main forms: in-home aged care, short-term care and residential aged care.

• In-home aged care. In-home aged care supports an older person to keep living independently at home for longer. The Australian Government subsidises entry-level needs through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, and more complex needs through the Support at Home program. The person keeps their own home and receives services in it.
• Short-term care. Short-term care delivers aged care and support for a set period of time, either to build wellbeing and independence back up, or to help someone recover after a temporary setback. Residential respite care is the version that takes place in an aged care home, and a respite resident receives the same care and support services a permanent resident does.
• Residential aged care. Residential aged care is the form of aged care for a person who can no longer live independently at home. Residential aged care replaces the person's own home with an aged care home, and the home then supplies the accommodation and the care.

A retirement village is a separate option that the government does not subsidise, so a retirement village resident pays the full cost themselves. The Department of Health and Aged Care describes retirement villages as an option for a person who does not need the higher level of care a nursing home provides.

Who would live in an aged care home?

Three things about a person are assessed on the way into a government-funded aged care home: care needs, age and financial situation.

• Assessed care needs. An aged care assessment determines whether a person is eligible for a place in an aged care home. My Aged Care bases eligibility for government-subsidised aged care services on age, needs and situation, so the assessment measures the help the person actually requires day to day.
• Age. A person must also be 65 years or over, as stated by My Aged Care at 23 August 2026. The threshold drops to 50 for people who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, and for people who are homeless, or who are at risk of becoming homeless. The Department of Health and Aged Care states that residential aged care is not designed for people under the age of 65 years.
• Financial situation. A person's financial situation does not decide whether they can move into a government-funded aged care home. Income and assets decide the amount the resident pays.

Some people live in an aged care home for a short period only. Residential respite care is subsidised for up to 63 days in a financial year, as stated by My Aged Care at 23 August 2026. An assessor can approve an extension of up to 21 days at a time.

How you get a place: the aged care assessment

Access to residential aged care starts with an aged care assessment, applied for through My Aged Care. Getting that assessment takes three steps.

1. Apply for an assessment. The older person applies through My Aged Care for an aged care assessment.
2. Wait for the assessment organisation to call. After the application is submitted, an assessment organisation calls within 2 to 6 weeks to arrange the assessment, as stated by My Aged Care at 23 August 2026.
3. Complete the assessment. The aged care assessment decides whether the person is eligible for residential aged care in an aged care home.

A separate means assessment then decides the fees. My Aged Care states that Services Australia carries out the means assessment for most people. The Department of Veterans' Affairs runs it instead for a person who receives a means tested payment from DVA. Once the means assessment is complete, Services Australia sends a fee advice letter setting out the aged care fees the person can be asked to pay.

How much do I pay for residential aged care?

What a resident pays depends on three things: the aged care home they choose, the means assessment of their income and assets, and any optional goods and services they select after entering care. Two different sets of fee arrangements exist, and entry date and circumstances decide which set applies: the 1 November 2025 arrangements, or the 1 July 2014 arrangements. Some people who were already receiving a Home Care Package keep the older deal under the no worse off principle, and their fees follow the 1 July 2014 arrangements. Every figure below was current on the My Aged Care costs and fees page at 23 August 2026.

The basic daily fee every resident pays

Every resident of an aged care home pays the basic daily fee, whatever their means. The fee is set at 85% of the basic age pension at its single person rate. The government re-indexes it twice a year, on 20 March and 20 September. Based on current rates at 23 August 2026, the maximum basic daily fee sits at $66.80 a day, or $24,382 a year.

Contributions under the 1 November 2025 arrangements

Residents on the 1 November 2025 fee arrangements can pay two further contributions on top of the basic daily fee, and both are capped.

• Hotelling contribution. Some residents on the 1 November 2025 arrangements pay a means-tested hotelling contribution towards daily living services: meals, cleaning and laundry. The contribution is limited to the hotelling supplement, which was $22.15 a day at 23 August 2026, and the supplement is indexed in March and September each year.
• Non-clinical care contribution. This contribution leaves out the resident's clinical care costs, and it is capped at $107.32 a day at 23 August 2026. It also stops for good once total contributions reach the lifetime cap, $137,917.01 (indexed), or once 4 years of cumulative contributions have been paid, whichever comes first. Contributions already paid under the Support at Home program count towards the same lifetime cap.

Clinical care itself is not charged to the resident on these arrangements. On the 1 November 2025 arrangements, clinical care costs in an aged care home are funded in full by the government.

Fees under the 1 July 2014 arrangements

Residents on the 1 July 2014 fee arrangements pay a means tested care fee instead. That fee is between $0 and $372.03 a day at 23 August 2026, and the amount within that range comes from the means assessment. The means tested care fee is capped at $35,910.43 a year and $86,185.23 over a lifetime, and indexation changes both caps in March and September.

Paying for the room

Accommodation is priced and paid for separately from care. Everyone entering an aged care home agrees the room price in writing with the provider first, before entry. A resident who can afford it is expected to pay for their room, and where means are lower the government pays some or all of the accommodation cost. The Australian Government pays the whole accommodation cost for a resident whose assets fall below $64,500.00 and whose income falls below $35,521.20, both figures current at 23 August 2026 and both moved by indexation.

Once the room price is agreed, a resident has 3 options for paying it: a refundable lump sum, non-refundable daily payments, or a combination of the two.

Optional extra services

Higher everyday living services sit outside the fees above, and the resident chooses whether to take them. The home must not agree or charge a higher everyday living fee before the person has entered care, and it cannot make that fee a condition of entry, or use it to hold a room. A 28-day cooling off period applies under the 1 November 2025 arrangements, within which these services can be cancelled or varied without a cancellation fee.

How aged care homes are regulated and rated

Every government-funded aged care home runs under two approvals. The provider must hold registration at Category 6 with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, and the residential care home itself must also be approved by the Commission. Homes must meet the Aged Care Quality Standards, and Australian Government-funded aged care sits under one main law, the Aged Care Act 2024.

The Act carries a Statement of Rights that sets out the rights of older people accessing aged care services. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission states that providers have to ensure their actions are consistent with that Statement. A resident keeps the right to funded aged care that is safe, fair and of good quality, and that treats them with dignity and respect.

Quality ratings for individual homes are published. The Department of Health and Aged Care directs families to the provider finder tool to check a provider's Star Ratings and to see how providers operate and manage their finances. The department also points families to the assessment and audit reports published for aged care homes. The Elderberry directory, pulled August 2026, lists 2,590 aged care homes run by 708 providers and holding 224,493 places. Of the 2,386 homes carrying an overall star rating, 73.5% sit at 4 stars or above. Across the directory, the average staffing star rating is 3.02 and the average residents' experience rating is 3.52.

Common questions

What is the difference between a care home and residential care?

An aged care home and residential aged care are two names for one setting, and nursing home is a third. What varies is the length of stay: the Department of Health and Aged Care states that residential care in an aged care home can be permanent, or short-term respite care.

How do you tell someone they are going into a care home?

My Aged Care states that a resident of an aged care home still decides what to do every day, and keeps control over their personal matters, their finances and their privacy. Lead the conversation with that. My Aged Care also describes the move into an aged care home as an emotional decision, for the person moving and for their family, friends and carers. My Aged Care calls it normal to question whether the choice is right. A carer can continue caring for the person after the move, and Carer Gateway offers carers free support of its own, including peer support, counselling and online skill courses.

How not to end up in a nursing home?

Residential aged care applies once a person can no longer live independently at home. In-home aged care is the support that keeps an older person living in their own home for longer. An aged care assessment settles which of the two applies, because eligibility for a place in an aged care home is decided by assessed care needs.

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