6 steps to aged care compliance readiness

As Australia’s aged care landscape continues to evolve, compliance has never been more important. With the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards and the new Aged Care Act that came into effect on the 1 November 2025, providers must be confident that their workforce, systems and processes are up to standard. These obligations apply across residential aged care (RAC), home care and independent living settings.

At Sanctuary, we are here to help. Through our partnership with Zipline, we utilise the latest in compliance technology to help you stay ahead of regulatory changes and remain confident in your approach. Here are six practical steps you can take to ensure your organisation is fully compliant, all of which Zipline can support with.

1. Understand your new obligations

Compliance expectations for aged care providers have shifted. There are five key areas of focus:

Competency and screening

Contractor workforces are now treated as if they are your own employees. This means that you must screen, qualify, induct and manage access for staff who aren’t fully compliant. You must be able to provide audit-ready documentation when requested.

Site access – RAC and home care

Only aged care workers who are fully compliant can provide services. Gate checks and relevant access blocks must be used to ensure non-compliant workers do not enter sites or homes. Systems should be used to monitor who is coming and going from the premises.

Induction and training

Role and site specific inductions must be given to employees once they commence work. The outcome of the induction and training needs to be noted down, and access must be restricted until this point.

Proof of service – homecare

Documentation needs to be kept that records who attended, where and for how long. This documentation then needs to be verified to say that the person was qualified to carry out the job they were there to do.

Audits

Evidence for all the above needs to be kept up to date and will need to be produced if requested.

Contractor compliance is front and centre with the new standards, so utilising a system that streamlines the above is going to be pivotal in managing your responsibilities.

2. Audit your workforce credentials

Your people are at the heart of your compliance. Every aged care worker needs to have the following:

• National Police Checks
• ID Validations
• Visa checks for overseas workers
• Relevant qualifications
• AHPRA registrations
• Qualification (validating certs)
• NDIS certificate
• Flu/COVID-19 Vaccination
• Reference checks
• Stat Dec verification (inc. wet signature, if required)

Any individualised requirements, such as additional qualifications, specific trainings or immunisations can be uploaded also .

With Zipline, all screening checks for contractors, candidates and employees are stored in one place. Zipline is a specialist aged care compliance platform, having partnered with over half of Australian aged care providers and understand the market. This is why Zipline have integrated the following:

• Daily automated AHPRA checks
• Aged care banning orders
• VEVO (ongoing sync on visa rights)
• Auto updates with 30, 60 and 90 day expiry notifications

3. Review policies and procedures

In line with the new Aged Care Act the eight Aged Care Quality Standards have been condensed to seven main areas of focus. Polices within your organisation should adhere to these standards and need to be reviewed to ensure they are current, consistent and actively used. Examples of what needs to be regularly updated to adhere to regulatory guidelines includes:

• The competency of your workforce. Meeting Standard 2: The organisation, polices around training, performance reviews, and worker responsibilities need to be clear, relevant and supportive of employees
• Medication administration & management and hygiene procedures. Meeting Standard 5: Clinical care, policies on infection control, the use of medications, and end-of-life care are vital to guarantee the right care is always delivered.
• Culturally safe practices. Meeting Standard 1: The individual, care needs to be person-centred and tailored to each individual. Having policies that reflect diversity and cultural awareness are mandatory for aged care.

At Sanctuary, all our employees get access to the Learning Management System tailored to their role. Up to 37 modules are available from manual handling to infection control and cultural competency. The completion of their modules is visible in Zipline, so you can be confident in the quality of our workforce.

4. Strengthen your reporting and documentation

Transparent, accurate worker documentation is the backbone of compliance. Ensure your reporting systems allow you to quickly access, review and provide evidence when requested by auditors or regulators.

Zipline can streamline this process and reduce administrative demands. Saving you hundreds of hours per week, its AI tools allow for document uploading to be quick and easy with automatic verifications. Rejection notifications are sent to the client and worker without any need to manually check them first. The margin for human error is greatly reduced, instilling assurance in your compliance practices and systems.

5. Prioritise continuous learning

Compliance readiness is ongoing. At Sanctuary, we have built a culture of learning and development where staff are supported to complete role-specific training, refresh their skills and stay informed about sector changes during the onboarding and compliance process.  Completion of tailored learning modules that are allocated in line with an individual’s job duties and the requirements of the organisation they are going to work at indicate that our workforce is competent, knowledgeable and ready to deliver quality aged care services.

6. Connect with trusted providers

Working with an experienced workforce and technology partners simplifies compliance management. Contractor checks, credential management top-tier reporting and workforce training are available through Zipline.A trusted workforce solutions partner like Sanctuary can help reduce risk and strengthen compliance across your organisation.

Partner with Sanctuary for your workforce needs

At Sanctuary, we pride ourselves on our robust compliance procedures and stringent policies. What makes us different is the quality of our staff, who are thoroughly vetted, continuously trained and genuinely committed to delivering exceptional care that meets and exceeds industry standards.

Connect with us today and experience the confidence that comes with complete compliance peace of mind. Reach out and speak to a member of our team for more information on our workforce solutions.