To hire aged care staff in Australia, registered providers must screen every worker before they start, using either a police certificate no older than three years or a valid NDIS Worker Screening Clearance, assess it against precluding offences, and keep records for all workers including those engaged through third parties.
Learning how to hire aged care staff compliantly matters more this year than it did last year, because the rules changed underneath the sector. The Aged Care Act 2024 and the Aged Care Rules 2025 commenced on 1 November 2025, and worker screening obligations moved with them.
This guide covers what registered providers must do before a worker starts, what is changing next, and how to compete for staff in a sector where demand outruns supply. Please treat it as general information rather than legal advice, and check your specific obligations with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing or the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
The workforce picture you are hiring into
Aged care does not behave like the rest of the labour market, and understanding that shapes everything from your advertising budget to your roster design.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded 329,500 job vacancies in May 2026, down 2.1 per cent over the quarter and 30.3 per cent below the May 2022 peak. Across most of the economy, employers now see more applicants per role than they did during the shortage years.
Care work has not softened in the same way. Industry analyses published in 2026 continue to describe a substantial national shortfall in aged care workers, with turnover well above the economy wide average and time to fill for registered nursing roles measured in weeks rather than days. Consequently, retention is not a separate project from recruitment in this sector. It is the same project.
Worker screening: the non negotiable step
Screening happens before a worker starts, not after. Under the current arrangements, every aged care worker and every responsible person, including a chief executive or board member, must hold one of two things.
- A police certificate that is not older than three years and does not record certain offences.
- A valid NDIS Worker Screening Clearance. A worker holding this does not also need a police certificate.
Importantly, the obligation to assess sits with you. The registered provider must review the police certificate against the precluding offences rather than simply filing it. Anyone with a precluding offence cannot work in aged care.
What you must record
| Requirement | What it means in practice |
| Screening completed before commencement | The worker holds a current certificate or clearance before their first shift, with limited defined exceptions where a check is pending |
| Assessment against precluding offences | You review the certificate yourself. Holding it on file is not the same as assessing it. |
| Clearance details recorded | Screening identification numbers, issue dates and expiry dates |
| NDIS clearance verification | Evidence of a valid clearance sighted and details recorded |
| Consent to contact a previous employer | Required for registered providers that do not themselves deliver NDIS services, where the worker holds an NDIS clearance |
| Records for all workers | Including responsible persons and workers engaged through third party arrangements. Electronic or written form is acceptable. |
| Ongoing notification | Workers must tell you immediately if a clearance is suspended or cancelled, or if their circumstances change |
Third party workers still count. Agency and labour hire staff working in your service fall inside your record keeping obligations. If you cannot produce their screening records on request, that is your compliance gap, not the agency’s.
What is changing next
A new Aged Care Worker Screening Check is being introduced, designed to align with the NDIS Worker Screening Check and to be recognised across both sectors. Government guidance has indicated this will not commence before mid 2026 and is being rolled out progressively, with arrangements communicated as they are finalised.
Separately, work is underway through a taskforce within the Department of Finance on a national worker screening check for the broader care and support economy. The stated aims are stronger protections, greater consistency across sectors and jurisdictions, and improved labour mobility.
Therefore, build your onboarding process so it can absorb a new check type without a rebuild. Providers who hard coded their systems around police certificates alone will have more work to do than those who track screening as a category with an expiry date.
Qualifications and role types
Aged care spans several distinct hiring problems, and treating them as one is where staffing plans go wrong.
| Role | Typical requirement | Hiring reality |
| Personal care worker | Certificate III in Individual Support, ageing specialisation | Highest volume need. Entry pathway roles where retention is the deciding factor. |
| Registered nurse | Ahpra registration | Longest time to fill. Competes directly with hospital and community sectors. |
| Enrolled nurse | Diploma level qualification and Ahpra registration | Similar competition, slightly broader pool |
| Allied health | Profession specific registration or accreditation | Often better filled through part time or contracted arrangements |
| Support and hospitality staff | No clinical qualification, screening still required | Frequently overlooked as a recruitment pool despite screening applying equally |
Where to advertise aged care roles
Channel choice matters more in a shortage sector, because the best candidates are usually employed elsewhere in care.
Health and care specific boards filter for credentialled candidates and reduce screening load, which is worth paying for when the alternative is reading two hundred unsuitable applications.
Seek carries the deepest Australian candidate pool and performs strongly regionally, where aged care shortages are usually sharpest. Pricing is set per advertisement by job title, location and candidate depth, and you can check the figure before committing.
Indeed gives you a hard spending cap through its auction model, plus up to three free posts per calendar month for direct posters. Useful for support and hospitality roles where the candidate pool is broader.
LinkedIn works for clinical management, quality and compliance roles, where the strongest candidate is employed and not searching.
Referral programs deserve more attention than they usually get in this sector. Care workers know other care workers, and a referred candidate typically arrives with realistic expectations of the work.
For a fuller channel comparison, see the best job posting sites in Australia. Where roles are casual rather than permanent, our guide to hiring casual staff in Australia covers the loading and the current Fair Work definition.
Retention is the recruitment strategy
In a sector with high turnover, filling a role is only half the work. Three factors consistently separate providers who hold staff from those who do not.
- Roster predictability. Care workers frequently leave over unpredictable hours rather than pay. Stable rosters cost less than constant recruitment.
- A real induction. The strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards expect providers to build a culture of quality, safety and inclusion, and to support workers to raise concerns without fear of unfair treatment. Workers who feel able to speak up stay longer.
- Progression that exists on paper. A visible pathway from personal care worker to team leader or enrolled nurse converts a job into a career, and it is cheaper than replacing someone annually.
CloudColleague, which publishes this guide, lets providers post both ongoing roles and short term shifts from a single account. That suits services covering unexpected absences alongside permanent recruitment. To be direct about the limits: we are not a credentialled health board and we do not verify clinical registration. Screening and registration checks remain your responsibility on any platform.
A checklist before a worker starts
- Police certificate no older than three years, or a valid NDIS Worker Screening Clearance
- Certificate assessed against precluding offences, not merely collected
- Screening identification, issue and expiry dates recorded
- Consent obtained to contact the most recent NDIS employer, where applicable
- Ahpra registration verified for clinical roles
- Records established for third party and agency workers as well as direct employees
- Process in place for workers to notify you of any change in circumstances
Frequently asked questions
Every aged care worker and responsible person needs either a police certificate no older than three years that does not record certain offences, or a valid NDIS Worker Screening Clearance. The registered provider must assess the certificate against the precluding offences.
Yes. A worker holding a valid NDIS Worker Screening Clearance does not also need a police certificate. You must sight evidence of the valid clearance and record the details.
Government guidance indicates it will not commence before mid 2026 and is being rolled out progressively, with arrangements communicated as they are finalised. It is designed to align with the NDIS Worker Screening Check and be recognised across both sectors.
Yes. Record keeping obligations cover all workers and responsible persons, including those engaged through third party arrangements. You must be able to demonstrate compliance on request.
There are limited defined circumstances that allow a person to commence while a police certificate or NDIS clearance is pending. Confirm the current conditions in the Department’s worker screening guidance before relying on this, and document your reasoning.
Vacancies across the wider economy fell to 329,500 by May 2026, but care work has not softened in the same way. Industry analyses continue to report a substantial national shortfall alongside turnover well above the economy wide average, which is why retention and recruitment have to be planned together.
