Consumer advisory bodies in aged care: what providers must do

A consumer advisory body is a group of people receiving aged care from a provider, with their families and supporters, that gives feedback on the quality of care straight to the provider's governing body. The governing body must consider that feedback and explain in writing how it considered it.

In short

• A consumer advisory body gives people receiving aged care, and their families, a direct line to the provider's governing body.
• The governing body must consider the feedback and explain in writing how it considered it.
• Providers must offer people the chance to set up or join a body, in writing, at least once a year.
• Members are the people receiving care and their supporters, chosen to reflect the different backgrounds at the service.
• Keep the trail: the yearly offer, who was invited, what the body raised, and the written response.

What a consumer advisory body is

A consumer advisory body is a standing group of people who receive aged care from a provider, together with their families and supporters. The group exists so that their view of the care reaches the governing body directly.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission describes a consumer advisory body as a way for older people to have a say about the care and services they receive, as at November 2026. Three things make it different from the feedback you already collect. It is a group rather than one person, so a theme can be raised instead of a single complaint. It speaks to the governing body, not to the service manager, so the board hears it in its own words. And the governing body has to answer in writing, so the exchange has two halves and both are recorded.

That shape is what makes a consumer advisory body a governance item rather than a customer service item. It belongs in the same part of your thinking as your board reporting and your quality reporting, which is why consumer engagement now sits inside the wider conversation about aged care governance and provider governance.

Which providers have to offer one

Providers must actively provide opportunities for the people receiving their aged care to set up or join a consumer advisory body, and must put that offer in writing at least once a year, as at November 2026. The Commission is explicit that a person who does not receive that yearly letter should raise it with the provider.

Whether the duty reaches a particular service, and in what form, depends on how the provider is registered under the Aged Care Act 2024. The Commission publishes its provider governance obligations in one place, and that page is the right starting point for working out which of your registration categories carry which governance duty. We explain the wider set of duties in our post on the Aged Care Act 2024 and what it asks of providers. For your own services, read the Commission's guidance beside the Act rather than relying on a summary, including ours.

Two practical points follow from the wording. The duty is to offer, not to produce a body by a deadline, so a service where nobody takes up the offer is in a different position from a service that never asked. And the offer repeats. It is a yearly rhythm, not a task you close once.

Who can be a member of a consumer advisory body

Members are the people who receive aged care from the provider and the people who support them, including family members and other supporters. The Commission says providers should also ask supporters whether they would like to join.

Beyond who is eligible, the Commission sets an expectation about the mix. A provider should make sure its consumer advisory bodies reflect the different backgrounds of the people receiving care, and should support people who may find it hard to take part. That second half matters more than it first appears. A body made up only of the people who were already confident enough to speak up at a meeting is not a resident voice, it is the same voice with a new name on it.

Members are not limited to their own experience either. The Commission describes members gathering information and feedback from other people receiving care from the same provider, including what the provider is doing well, what it could improve, and people's own needs, goals, preferences and concerns.

What a consumer advisory body tells the governing body

A consumer advisory body tells the governing body what the people receiving care think about the quality of that care: what is working, what is not, and what they would change. The Commission frames this as feedback, suggestions and ideas going to the body that is responsible for the care and services provided.

In practice the useful material is the theme rather than the incident. A single complaint has its own pathway. What a board cannot get anywhere else is the pattern that sits underneath several complaints, or the thing nobody has complained about because they assumed it could not change. Meal times, noise at night, how staff changes are explained, how long a call bell takes to answer in practice rather than on the roster.

The governing body side of the exchange is the part with teeth. It must consider the feedback and explain in writing how it considered it. That is not the same as agreeing. A written answer that says why something will not change, and what will happen instead, meets the point better than a silence that leaves everyone guessing.

What records must a provider keep about its consumer advisory body

Two records come straight out of the obligations themselves: the written offer that goes out at least once a year, and the governing body's written explanation of how it considered the feedback it received. Those two documents are the ones that show the cycle happened.

The rest is practical record keeping rather than a list set out in the rules, so treat the following as our suggestion and check your own obligations against the Commission's provider governance guidance. The records that let you show the two required ones are real usually include:

• the date the yearly offer was sent, how it was sent, and who it went to;
• who was invited and who accepted, with enough detail to show the mix of backgrounds was considered;
• the terms the body agreed for itself, such as how often it meets and how it gathers feedback from others;
• what the body raised and when it went to the governing body;
• the governing body's written response, with the date, and what changed afterwards.

The last line is the one most often missing. The written response closes the loop on paper. What actually changed closes it for the people who raised it, and that is the evidence an auditor, or a family member, will ask about next. If you already report quality measures to your board each month, the body's themes sit naturally beside them. Our post on aged care quality indicators and how to read them covers the measured half of that picture.

Common questions

Do all aged care homes have to set up a consumer advisory body?

Providers must actively offer the people receiving their care the chance to set up or join a consumer advisory body, in writing, at least once a year, as at November 2026. How far that duty reaches a particular service depends on how the provider is registered under the Aged Care Act 2024. Check the Commission's provider governance guidance for your own registration categories rather than assuming one rule covers every service.

Does a consumer advisory body apply to home care as well as residential care?

The Commission's guidance on consumer advisory bodies is written for people receiving aged care from a provider, not only for people living in a residential home, and it talks about asking your provider to help you set one up. The precise reach across care types sits in the Aged Care Act 2024 and the Commission's governance guidance, so confirm it there for your own services before you design a single arrangement across them.

How is a consumer advisory body different from a resident meeting?

A resident meeting is usually run by the service, about the service, and its notes stay with the service. A consumer advisory body exists to speak to the governing body, and the governing body must consider what it says and reply in writing. You can hold both. The difference that matters is where the feedback lands and whether an answer comes back on paper.

What if nobody wants to join?

The duty the Commission describes is to offer the opportunity, actively and at least once a year, so a low take-up is not the same failure as never asking. Keep the record of the offer, how it was made, and who it reached, then ask again next year. If people are not taking it up, the more useful question is whether the invitation was understandable and whether taking part looked worth the effort.

Who writes the governing body's response?

The obligation sits with the governing body, which is responsible for the care and services provided, so the response is theirs rather than the service manager's. Someone else can draft it, but the board owns what it says, and the record should show the board considered the feedback rather than only that a letter went out.

Sources

• Consumer advisory bodies, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, as at November 2026
• Provider governance, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, as at November 2026