For families trying to choose a residential aged care home, the Star Ratings system on the My Aged Care website is one of the most useful tools available, a simple, at-a-glance way to compare homes. But the system is changing in 2026, and understanding what’s shifting will help families use it more effectively. Here’s what you need to know.
What Star Ratings Are
Star Ratings give every residential aged care home an overall score from one to five stars, designed to help older people and their families compare and choose homes. The overall rating is built from four components: staffing, the residents’ own experience, quality measures, and compliance. Together they’re intended to paint a rounded picture of how a home is performing.
What’s Changing
The government has been refining how the ratings are calculated, with several changes rolling out through 2026. Changes to how the staffing rating is calculated were reflected in Star Ratings published from the May 2026 quarterly update, using a redesigned, rules-based approach. Further changes affecting how the compliance rating is calculated are also being introduced, with updates appearing in the quarterly Star Ratings refreshes through the year.
These refinements flow from the new rights-based Aged Care Act and are designed to make the ratings a more accurate and trustworthy reflection of the care a home actually delivers.
The Staffing Question
Staffing is one of the most important components, because the link between staffing levels and care quality is well established. The ratings reflect whether homes are meeting their care minute targets, the mandated minimum amounts of direct care time each resident should receive, including from registered nurses.
There’s an ongoing and genuine tension here worth understanding. Rural and remote providers have argued that workforce shortages, rather than any unwillingness to staff appropriately, can make it harder for them to hit care minute targets through no fault of their own. How the system balances holding providers accountable against recognising genuine regional workforce challenges remains a live issue.
How to Use Star Ratings Well
Star Ratings are genuinely useful, but they work best as a starting point rather than the final word. A few practical tips for families:
Use the ratings to build a shortlist, then dig deeper into the homes that interest you. Look beyond the overall star number to the individual components, a home might rate well overall but have a weaker staffing or compliance score worth asking about. And critically, visit in person, ideally more than once and at different times of day, since no rating can capture the feel of a place, the warmth of the staff, or how residents are actually engaged.
For families considering dementia care specifically, it’s worth asking pointed questions about registered nurse coverage at night, staff dementia training, and the home’s approach to care, details that matter enormously but sit beneath the headline rating.
The Bottom Line
The Star Ratings changes are aimed at making an already valuable tool more accurate and trustworthy. For families, the ratings remain one of the best places to start when comparing homes, as long as they’re used alongside your own visits and questions rather than in place of them. You can access Star Ratings through the Find a Provider tool on myagedcare.gov.au.
Epik Wire explains aged care in plain language for families making big decisions. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.
