The New Aged Care Act and the new Support at Home program started on 1 November 2025.
Guidance on how the new Act may change providers QFR reporting is now available in the resources section.
About the QFR
The Quarterly Financial Report (QFR) was introduced from 1 July 2022 as part of broader initiatives to improve financial reporting transparency and strengthen prudential compliance for registered aged care providers, the QFR provides:
- Financial oversight – enabling more timely analysis of the sector’s financial performance and viability.
- Consumer choice and transparency – informing the Star Rating system that allows older Australians and their families to make informed choices.
- Policy development – policy planning and development by the department is informed by accurate data from the providers
- Funding – informing the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model and pricing studies
- Viability monitoring – enabling the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) to monitor provider financial viability and the earlier identification of providers at risk
- Quality standards regulation – Risk-based regulation of services and providers performance against the Quality Standards and other provider responsibilities.
All registered providers must submit a QFR and the annual Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR).
Due dates
Registered providers must submit the QFR 4 times throughout the financial year. Legislated submission dates for the financial year are as follows:
| Quarter | Reporting period | Due date |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter 1 | 1 July – 30 September | 4 November |
| Quarter 2 | 1 October – 31 December | 14 February |
| Quarter 3 | 1 January – 31 March | 5 May |
| Quarter 4 | 1 April – 30 June | 4 August |
|
Registered providers are required to submit the QFR using the Government Provider Management System.
Reporting requirements
What you report in the QFR depends on the type of service you deliver.
Residential aged care service providers
Residential aged care service providers must complete:
- viability and prudential compliance questions
- year to date financial statements, at the registered provider level
- residential care labour cost and hours reporting, at the facility level
- quarterly food and nutrition report for each approved residential aged care service
- information around outbreak management expenses.
Support at Home service providers
Support at Home service providers must complete:
- viability and prudential compliance questions
- year to date financial statements, at the registered provider level
- Support at Home labour cost reporting.
Providers of Multi-Purpose Services (MPS) and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program (NATSIFACP)
Providers of Multi-Purpose Services (MPS) and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program (NATSIFACP) must complete:
- quarterly food and nutrition report for each approved residential aged care service.
State and territory government providers
State and territory government providers must complete:
- residential care labour cost and hours reporting, for each approved residential care home
- Support at Home labour cost reporting
- quarterly food and nutrition report for each approved residential care home.
Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP)
Providers who only deliver Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) services do not have to submit a QFR.
Scope of the QFR
There are 5 parts to the QFR.
-
1. Viability and prudential compliance questions
We use the viability and prudential compliance questions for residential and support at home providers to:
- identify emerging financial viability issues
- allow the department and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to proactively work with providers to support their compliance and address financial risks.
Provider engagement will help us to:
- assess the challenges and risks to a provider’s viability
- identify the options or strategies available to the provider that could reduce viability risks
- establish future contact with providers to monitor the progress and outcomes of government support and action.
The Commission will also use a provider’s viability to inform other risks and develop effective regulatory responses.
The Commission will assess compliance with the Financial & Prudential Standards over the reporting period to inform future regulatory responses. Reporting will also enable detailed sector-wide insights to support providers’ and senior Australians’ understanding of compliance risk.
-
2. Year to date financial statements
The year-to-date Financial Statements include an income statement and a balance sheet at the Registered provider level. This is segmented into residential care, Support at Home, community, retirement living and other categories.
Based on feedback from providers for the Aged Care Financial Report, cash, financial assets and equity are only collected as a total and not required to be segmented. The department and the Commission will use this financial information to understand sector performance and communicate it back to the sector.
-
3. Residential care labour cost and hours reporting
The residential care labour costs and hours reporting section captures both approved residential care home direct care related labour expenses and hours.
This is broken down into care types, including:
- registered nurses
- enrolled nurses
- personal care workers
- allied health staff.
Assistants in nursing are considered ‘personal care workers’ for the purposes of direct care reporting.
We use this information to inform Star Ratings and costing studies for the AN-ACC funding model.
The care hours in conjunction with other qualitative information will be used to inform Star Ratings for individual residential care homes.
Additional information is also collected on outbreak management expenses, including the cost of planning for, and managing outbreaks, including:
- COVID-19
- influenza
- gastroenteritis
- respiratory syncytial virus
- other infectious diseases.
This is important to ensure the Government can assess the financial impacts of preparing for and managing outbreaks on the aged care sector.
-
4. Support at Home reporting
The Support at Home labour cost form collects information on direct care labour expenses.
The table below shows how the labour cost reporting worker types are aligned to the Support at Home Service List.
| Worker type | Service List item |
|---|---|
| Registered nurses |
|
| Enrolled nurses (registered with the NMBA) |
|
| Personal care workers |
|
| Allied health |
|
| Other staff (in a direct care role) |
|
-
5. Quarterly Food and Nutrition report
The department introduced reporting on food and nutrition in July 2021 as a requirement to receive the 2021 Basic Daily Fee (BDF) supplement.
In October 2022, the 2021 Basic Daily Fee supplement was combined into the AN-ACC funding model. Food and nutrition reporting was subsequently included in the QFR for Residential, MPS and NATSIFAC providers for each residential aged care home.
Resources
Quarterly Financial Report resources
The QFR resources include:
- Non-uploadable templates and Data Definitions
- Reporting guidance and frequently asked questions
- System user guidance
- Webinars.
You can also watch the most recent Changes in financial reporting from 1 November 2025 – Webinar
Sign up on our Aged Care Engagement Hub to stay up to date with the aged care reforms.