Obligations for people working in the aged care system

There are obligations for people who work in the aged care system. There can be penalties for people who don’t meet them.

[Chapter 3 – Part 4 – Division 2 – Subdivision B, Subdivision C, Subdivision D]

Responsible persons

A responsible person is someone who is in charge of, or has a significant influence over the work of a provider. It also includes someone who has day-to-day responsibility for the provider’s operations. As well as provider obligations around responsible persons, a responsible person has their own obligations:

• Code of Conduct: Responsible persons must follow the Aged Care Code of Conduct. They may also be required to follow the Grantee Code of Conduct if the provider also receives other grant funding under the Act.  
• Complaints and whistleblowers: Responsible persons must not threaten or cause harm to whistleblowers or people who might be whistleblowers. Responsible persons must not share the identity of whistleblowers who make a protected disclosure.
• Suitability: Responsible persons must tell the provider if there has been a change in their situation that affects whether they are suitable to be a responsible person.
• Financial accountability: Responsible persons must support meeting financial requirements, such as making sure providers use refundable deposits appropriately.
• Applications, requests and notifications: Responsible persons must not give false or misleading information in applications, claims and requests. 

Aged care workers

• Code of Conduct: Aged care workers must follow the Code of Conduct.
• Complaints and whistleblowers: Aged care workers must not threaten or cause harm to whistleblowers or people who might be whistleblowers. Aged care workers must not share the identity of whistleblowers who make a protected disclosure.
• Applications, requests and notifications: Aged care workers must not give false or misleading information in applications, claims and requests.