Who is eligible for aged care services

The Aged Care Act 2024 (the Act) and the Aged Care Rules 2025 (the Rules) describe: 

• who can access funded aged care services – who is eligible
• how we assess an older person’s care needs.

[Chapter 2 – Part 2 – Division 1]

For an older person, the first step to finding out if they’re eligible is to register with the My Aged Care website.

Eligibility criteria

After registering with My Aged Care, an older person can apply to find out if they are eligible for an aged care needs assessment. Other people can also apply on behalf of the older person, such as a health professional, aged care worker, or family member. If a person applies on behalf of the older person, they must notify the older person about it.

An older person may be eligible if they have care needs and they are:

• 65 years or older
• 50 years or older – if they are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, or homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. If they are under 65, people in these two categories must also be told about other services that may be available to them before having an aged care assessment.

The older person has to give information about their care needs when they apply. This includes at least one of the following: 

• a declaration made by the older person that they have care needs
• a statement explaining their needs
• relevant medical records.

For people who are eligible, the next step is to have an aged care needs assessment.

In general, if someone is eligible to access aged care services, they stay eligible for life. The department can only revoke – cancel – someone’s eligibility if they’ve given false or misleading information with their application. If someone is under 65, they can also ask the department to cancel their eligibility.