What to expect from your aged care provider
Volunteers are assisted with training and support from Volunteer Managers or coordinators.
When you become an aged care volunteer, you should receive:
- appropriate volunteer insurance cover
- induction and training in line with your role
- on-site supervision and access to a Volunteer Manager
- respect for your involvement
- the ability to provide feedback
- a warm welcome and encouragement.
Training
The new legal and regulatory requirements in aged care mean registered providers need to provide volunteers with suitable training and support to help you undertake your volunteer role confidently and safely and protect older people in aged care.
The department is currently consulting with the aged care volunteer sector, to ensure safety, quality, and consistency in volunteer involvement across aged care services in alignment with the rights of older people.
You can access a collection of free, publicly available suggested training resources that can be used for volunteer training. Use of these resources is entirely optional.
If you have questions about training in your role, please speak to your Volunteer Manager or the organisation you volunteer with, or contact us at agedcarevolunteer@health.gov.au.
Pathways into a career
You may be considering a transition from volunteering to a career in the aged care sector. Learn more about careers in aged care, formal qualifications and available training programs on our workforce page.
You may also find the following links useful:
- Fee-Free TAFE and vocational educational places include aged care courses. Learn more about course eligibility and opportunities in your state or territory at YourCareer. If you are looking for a short introduction to see if further study is right for you, the Entry into Care Roles Skill Set course could be useful.
- You can also find general information on training and jobs pathways on your state or territory jobs site:
- The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations Jobs Hub
- New South Wales
- Australian Capital Territory
- Victoria, including their Earn and Learn program
- Tasmania
- South Australia
- Western Australia, including their Ageing and Disability Job Ready program
- Northern Territory
- Queensland.
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