A new registered supporter role for aged care
The registered supporter role is one of the changes under the new Act that aim to promote older people’s right to be supported to make decisions.
Most representative relationships in My Aged Care will change when the new Act comes into effect.
What older people and representatives in My Aged Care need to do now
To get ready for the new registered supporter role, older people and their representatives might like to review their existing relationships in My Aged Care.
Currently, older people can have people registered with My Aged Care to support or act for them in My Aged Care. These relationships are called regular representatives and authorised representatives.
Most representative relationships in My Aged Care will go through changes to come under the new Act. Regular and authorised representatives active in My Aged Care on 31 October 2025 will be known as ‘registered supporters’ from 1 November 2025.
If an older person has a regular or authorised representative active in My Aged Care on 31 October, they will become a registered supporter under the new Act. This ensures that older people seeking or receiving aged care services will continue to receive decision-making support.
How to opt out of the registered supporter role
Regular representatives, authorised representatives, and older people with regular representatives can opt out of having or being a registered supporter between now and 31 October.
They can opt out at any time before 31 October:
- by calling My Aged Care on 1800 200 422
- through their My Aged Care Online Account.
Opting out will also end a representative relationship in My Aged Care. When opting out, the older person or representative may be asked if they want their representative relationship to end immediately or on 31 October.
There is no financial cost to opting out of the transition.
On 1 November, representative relationships that are active in My Aged Care and have not opted out will transition to supporter relationships.
After 1 November, older people and registered supporters can still ask to end their supporter relationships online or by calling My Aged Care.
What the registered supporter role replaces
The registered supporter role in the new Act will replace the existing regular and authorised representative relationships in My Aged Care.
Additionally, from 1 November, representative arrangements made under the Quality of Care Principles 2014 will no longer exist. These arrangements will not transition to the new Act.
Before 1 November, an older person and their representative under the Quality of Care Principles 2014 should discuss if the representative should become a registered supporter. They can do this by:
- registering a regular or authorised representative relationships in My Aged Care by 31 October. These relationships will then transition to supporter relationships on 1 November
- planning to register a supporter relationship after 1 November.
What is staying the same
Other nominee or representative relationships are unchanged by the registered supporter role. This includes nominees or representatives for Medicare, Services Australia (including Centrelink) or the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
A registered supporter may also be a representative or nominee for these other schemes – however, if you are a nominee or representative, or would like to appoint one, you will need to engage separately with the relevant agencies and appointment processes.
Further information
If you would like to learn more about the registered supporter role, including how representative relationships in My Aged Care transition under the new Act, the following resources are available:
For more information on the upcoming changes to support roles and relationships in aged care, visit the My Aged Care website.