Care minutes reporting errors put providers on notice

Residential aged care providers are being warned to sharpen the accuracy of their care minutes reporting, after the Department of Health and Aged Care moved to address recurring errors identified through Quarterly Financial Report (QFR) assurance activity.

To address these issues, the Department of Health has released updated guidance for residential aged care providers, setting out where reporting continues to fall short and clarifying what does and does not count as direct care time.

What the Department is calling out

The Department has made it clear that only direct personal care delivered to residents can be included in care minutes reporting. Activities that support daily operations, no matter how resident-facing they may feel, are excluded.

Other reporting errors being flagged include:

• counting leave, training or other non-worked hours as care time
• misclassifying administrative or support roles as direct care
• reporting labour hours and costs outside the relevant quarter

Why food preparation has become a line in the sand

Food preparation has emerged as a clear pressure point because it sits between care, lifestyle and hotel services, an overlap that has blurred reporting practices in some homes.

The Department’s position removes any remaining ambiguity. Cooking, plating meals, cleaning kitchens and managing laundry are hotel services, not direct care, even when performed by staff who also deliver care at other times.

The focus on food preparation suggests this has been more than an isolated misunderstanding. For regulators, it raises broader questions about how rigorously providers are separating care delivery from operational support in their reporting.

From reporting issue to compliance risk

Care minutes reporting is no longer a back-office exercise.

Under the Aged Care Rules 2025, providers must accurately report labour hours and costs through the QFR. From 2025–26, this data underpins a Care Minutes Performance Statement, subject to independent audit under ASAE 3000 standards.

Auditors will test reported figures against rosters, payroll records and timesheets, not internal interpretations of what “counts”.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has already indicated that ongoing failure to meet care minutes requirements will attract regulatory attention, with enforcement increasingly tied to financial and care delivery data.

A systems problem, not a staffing problem

For many providers, the issue is not intent but infrastructure.

Rostering, payroll and finance systems are often not aligned with care minutes definitions. When roles blur on the floor and payroll codes lack precision, non-care time can flow straight into QFR reporting.

The Department’s latest guidance is a reminder that these system gaps now carry real compliance consequences.