Law and policy updates Aged care worker screening – proposed changes for aged care workers From 1 July 2025, the offences that will prevent an aged care worker working for a Commonwealth Home Support Programme provider will align to the same set of offences that prevent them working for a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program provider. For details of these offences, see the Department of Health and Aged Care’s fact sheet Aged care worker screening from 1 July 2025. The Australian Government also is working towards aligning the requirements for aged care worker screening with the NDIS requirements. This will mean: - more robust screening checks for the aged care sector, and
- an aged care worker screening check will be recognised in the NDIS sector and vice versa
The new screening process for aged care is subject to agreement with the states and territories, and will not start before 2026. For more information, see the Department of Health and Aged Care’s webpage Screening requirements for the aged care workforce. ATO: The requirement to lodge an annual not-for-profit self-return by 31 March 2025 The first annual self-return that non-charitable not-for-profits with an active ABN are required to lodge to confirm their eligibility for income tax exemption is for the 2023-24 income year. This return was due by 31 March 2025. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) continues to publish guidance on this requirement, including the information linked below: New South Wales: Secure Jobs and Funding Certainty Roadmap The NSW State Government has published the Secure Jobs and Funding Certainty (SJFC) roadmap. This roadmap will provide long-term, five-year funding contracts to community service organisations. The Secure Jobs and Funding Certainty Leadership Group (comprised of NSW Government agencies, peak organisations and the Australian Services Union) will oversee the implementation of this roadmap. Read more about the roadmap. South Australia: Portable Long Service Leave Scheme South Australia’s Portable Long Service Leave scheme, which has provided long service leave to construction workers for almost 50 years, is being expanded to include community service sector workers from 1 October 2025. The South Australian State Government announced it would introduce portable long service leave to workers in the community services sector at the last State Election in 2022. The Government has since undertaken consultation, and the legislation introducing the scheme for the sector was passed by Parliament in 2024. ResourcesUpdated resourcesGetting started How to structure and set up your organisation Entering into contracts Not-for-profit Law’s NSW fundingNSW-specific resourcesSince the NSW Government stopped funding our work, we had no choice but to cut off our NSW advice services and remove our tailored legal resources for NSW-based community organisations from our website. Since then, tens of thousands of organisations that rely on us have had to go without critical legal and governance support.
Email a letter now to the NSW Minister for Families and Communities in support of reinstating our funding. We’re grateful to have secured short-term support from another funder which means we can get our NSW-specific resources back on our website for the time being. However, this support is time limited, and it’s not enough to reopen our advice service in NSW. |
