Ageing Australia has labelled changes to the 2026-27 Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) price as “unacceptable”, saying aged care providers won’t be able to make ends meet, let alone build new beds as a result.
Today the Australian Government announced that the AN-ACC price will be $303.19 per resident, per day commencing 1 October.
This is an increase of just 2.55% from the 2025-26 AN-ACC price of $295.64.
The hotelling supplement will also remain frozen at $22.15 while IHACPA completes its current review.
“This is an extremely disappointing outcome. It does not reflect the major financial challenges the sector is facing, or the massive increase in costs for fuel and clinical supplies driven by an unpredictable international environment,” said Ageing Australia CEO Tom Symondson.
“62% of residential homes were already losing money and this below inflation increase in funding will make that number go up. The announcement also doesn’t cover the 4.75% increase in wages awarded to aged care staff by the Fair Work Commission this year, which the sector has been paying without any funding since 1 July. It was expected that the annual increase would cover both that unfunded three months as well as the rest of the financial year, but this announcement does not do that.”
Ageing Australia has been raising issues of sector viability ever since the new Aged Care Act was introduced and has been strongly advocating that a sustainable sector is vital if older people are going to be able to access services when and where they need them.
“We are extremely unhappy to see a pricing decision that fails to reflect the real costs of delivering residential care to older people. And this is at a time when everybody has been asking why the sector is unable to build the 10,000 beds per year required to keep up with demand.”
“Put very simply, this decision is not good enough and lets down both providers and the older people who rely on them every day.”
Ageing Australia Media contact: Peter O’Dempsey 0499 106 957 or
