Star Ratings are changing
We are changing the Compliance rating and Staffing rating for aged care Star Ratings:
- in response to feedback received in the Star Ratings evaluation and consultation we ran in 2024
- to enact the Royal Commission recommendation to incorporate graded assessment against the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards (strengthened Quality Standards) into Star Ratings.
Changes to the Compliance rating
From 1 November 2025, the redesigned Compliance rating will incorporate:
- graded assessment against the strengthened Aged Card Quality Standards (strengthened Quality Standards)
- regulatory decisions .
From 1 November the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission will audit aged care homes against the strengthened Quality Standards. During the transition to the redesigned Compliance rating, until a home has been audited, its Compliance rating will be determined by:
- the presence of any regulatory decisions
- the period since a regulatory decision, issued prior to 1 November 2025
- the period of ownership of the home by the provider.
Calculating the redesigned Compliance rating
The Compliance rating is calculated by identifying the lowest rating the aged care home qualifies for across both the regulatory decisions and graded assessment columns:
| Star Ratings | Regulatory decision | Graded assessment |
|---|---|---|
1 star (significant improvement needed) |
| Major non-conformance (major non-conformance with one or more strengthened Quality Standards) |
2 stars (improvement needed) |
| Minor non-conformance (minor non-conformance with one or more strengthened Quality Standards) |
3 stars (acceptable) | Major or minor non-conformance resolved post-audit | |
4 stars (good) | Conformance with all applicable strengthened Quality Standards | |
5 stars (excellent) | Commission determines that the home that achieved conformance at assessment meets additional criteria for the exceeding grade |
Read our fact sheet about changes to the Compliance rating.
Changes to the Staffing rating
From 1 October 2025, aged care homes need to meet both of their care minutes targets to receive 3 or more stars for their Staffing rating:
- total amount of nurse and personal care time, from a registered nurse, enrolled nurse, personal care worker and assistant in nursing
- care time from a registered nurse, which can include care time from enrolled nurses for up to 10% of the registered nurse care minutes target.
This aligns the Staffing rating with legislated care minute requirements.
This change will be reflected in Star Ratings Find a provider tool on the My Aged Care website from the second Star Ratings quarterly update in 2026.
Calculating the redesigned Staffing rating
| Total care minutes (inclusive of registered nurse minutes) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered nurse care minutes (inclusive of up to 10% of registered nurse target contributed by enrolled nurse care time) | Well below target (<90%) | Below target (90 – <100%) | Meets target (100 – <105%) | Above target (105 – <110%) | Well above target (≥110%) |
| Well below target (<90%) | 1 star | 1 star | 2 stars | 2 stars | 2 stars |
| Below target (90 – <100%) | 1 star | 1 star | 2 stars | 2 stars | 2 stars |
| Meets target (100 – <105%) | 2 stars | 2 stars | 3 stars | 3 stars | 4 stars |
| Above target (105 – <110%) | 2 stars | 2 stars | 3 stars | 4 stars | 5 stars |
| Well above target (≥110%) | 2 stars | 2 stars | 4 stars | 5 stars | 5 stars |
Read our fact sheets for more information: