AN-ACC funding classes and what sets a resident's care minutes
AN-ACC places every permanent resident in one of 13 classes, and that class carries both the daily funding weight and the daily care-minutes figure. Here is how the model works and how to check your own numbers against it.
AN-ACC decides a resident's daily care minutes by placing that resident in one of 13 permanent classes, and the class carries both the funding weight and the care-minutes figure. A home's target for a day is the sum of its residents' figures, so it moves with the mix of residents.
In short
- AN-ACC pays a daily subsidy for each permanent resident, at the rate set by that resident's class (health.gov.au, as at September 2026).
- There are 13 permanent AN-ACC classes. Their weights run from 0.21 to 0.73, as at September 2026.
- Care-minutes figures run from 128 to 268 minutes a resident a day, one figure for each class, as at September 2026.
- A resident's class comes from an AN-ACC assessment, not from the home's own paperwork.
- The Base Care Tariff is paid per place rather than per resident, and leave in hospital is paid for up to 29 days.
How AN-ACC sets each resident's daily care minutes
AN-ACC sets a resident's daily care minutes through the class that resident is assigned: each of the 13 permanent classes has one care-minutes figure attached to it, and that figure is the care time counted for that resident for every day they are a permanent resident.
The model is deliberately per resident, per day. The Australian Government pays a daily basic subsidy to the registered provider for each permanent resident, and the AN-ACC funding model is what turns assessed need into a rate (Funding for residential aged care, as at September 2026). Two things travel together on the same class: the AN-ACC weight, which drives the dollars, and the care-minutes figure, which drives the care time expected.
That has a practical consequence worth sitting with. Because both numbers belong to the resident and not to the building, a home's daily care-minutes target is the sum of its residents' figures for that day. Admit two residents in a high class and the target rises the same day. A target quoted as one monthly number hides all of that movement, which is how a home can meet a monthly average and still have missed most of the individual days inside it.
The 13 AN-ACC classes, their weights and their care minutes
The 13 permanent AN-ACC classes run from the lowest assessed need to the highest. As at September 2026 their weights run from 0.21 to 0.73, and their care-minutes figures run from 128 to 268 minutes a resident a day.
Class 1 is the class used for planned palliative care, which a provider applies for on behalf of an eligible older person entering permanent residential aged care. The other permanent classes separate residents by how much help they need to move, and then by need within each of those groups. The Department publishes the description of each class alongside the weight and the care-minutes figure that go with it, and both the descriptions and the schedule can change. Read the schedule in force on the day you are testing a number, rather than a figure written down at the start of the financial year.
| What the class carries | What it means in the home |
|---|---|
| The AN-ACC weight, 0.21 to 0.73 as at September 2026 | The relative cost of caring for a resident in that class. It sets the daily subsidy once the price in force that day is applied to it. |
| The care-minutes figure, 128 to 268 minutes a day as at September 2026 | The care time counted for that resident each day. Add every resident's figure for one day and you have the home's target for that day. |
Two classes can sit close together on weight and still sit far apart in how the care is delivered, so a class is a funding and planning instrument, not a care plan. The care plan is still the care plan.
How a resident's AN-ACC class is decided
A resident's AN-ACC class is decided by an AN-ACC assessment of that resident's needs, carried out under the Department's assessment arrangements, and a provider cannot set or change the class from inside the home.
What the provider does own is everything around the assessment: the clinical record that describes the resident honestly, the reassessment request when needs have clearly changed, and the internal check that the class on the payment statement is the class you were told. A class left stale after a real change in need is a care-minutes target that no longer matches the care the resident needs, and it is the roster, not the spreadsheet, that feels that first.
A useful discipline is to hold two dates for every resident: the date the class took effect, and the date of the last review of need. When the gap between them grows, that resident is worth a look.
Where the Base Care Tariff fits
The AN-ACC Base Care Tariff is the part of the model paid on a per place basis rather than per resident, and it recognises the fixed cost of running a home in its location. Homes found eligible for specialised status receive the specialised Base Care Tariff (Funding for residential aged care, as at September 2026).
For a provider reading its own numbers, the two parts answer different questions. The class based payment moves with who is in the home. The Base Care Tariff moves with the home itself. If a finance report blends them into one line, a change in resident mix and a change in the tariff arrangements look identical, and they are not.
What changes funding after the class is set
AN-ACC funding does not stop the day a resident goes to hospital: leave continues to be paid for up to 29 days, as at September 2026. Subsidies are also reduced in defined cases, for example where a resident pays certain means tested fees, and providers claim monthly through Services Australia rather than day by day.
So a month's funding is rarely a flat multiplication. It is a set of resident days at the price in force on each day, adjusted for leave, reductions and any recalculation made after the fact. A report that cannot show one resident day and the rate applied to it cannot explain a variance either.
Checking your own care-minutes numbers against the rule
To check your own care-minutes numbers, rebuild the target from the resident level: every resident, every day, the class in force on that day, and the care-minutes figure the schedule gives that class. Then compare it with the care time actually delivered on the same days.
A short checklist for the monthly review:
- Count resident days, not residents. A resident admitted on the 20th is not a full month.
- Use the class in force on each day, including a change part way through the month.
- Keep leave days on their own line, so a hospital stay never reads as a shortfall in care.
- Compare delivered care time against the daily target, then read the pattern of days, not only the monthly average.
- Keep the class based payment and the Base Care Tariff in separate lines.
If you are deciding what belongs in a weekly executive pack, which numbers an aged care home should check every week sets out a short list, and aged care quality indicators: what they measure and how to read them covers the quality side that sits beside funding. Our aged care page explains the exports we can connect to and what we load from them.
Common questions
What is the AN-ACC funding model?
The AN-ACC funding model is how the Australian Government funds care in residential aged care homes. It pays a daily basic subsidy for each permanent resident, set by that resident's AN-ACC class, and adds a Base Care Tariff for the home itself.
What is the AN-ACC Base Care Tariff?
The AN-ACC Base Care Tariff is the per place contribution to the fixed cost of running a home, paid separately from the class based payment made for each resident. Homes found eligible for specialised status receive the specialised Base Care Tariff instead.
How many care minutes must an aged care home deliver each day?
An aged care home's daily care-minutes target is not one fixed number. It is built from the residents in the home that day, because each resident's class carries its own care-minutes figure, from 128 to 268 minutes a day as at September 2026. Check the current care minutes requirement and the class schedule on the Department's funding pages before testing a number.
How is a resident's AN-ACC class decided?
A resident's AN-ACC class is decided by an AN-ACC assessment of that resident's needs under the Department's assessment arrangements, not by the home. The provider's part is an accurate clinical record and a reassessment request when needs have genuinely changed.
Does AN-ACC funding change if a resident goes to hospital?
AN-ACC funding continues while a resident is on leave in hospital, for up to 29 days as at September 2026. Keep those days visible as leave in your own reporting, so care time not delivered on those days is not read as a care-minutes shortfall.