Aged care physiotherapy in Australia: what AN-ACC and Support at Home mean for physio roles

Written by Callum Trevorrow. Last checked 28 October 2026 against official sources.

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In residential aged care, the AN-ACC funding model (in place since 1 October 2022) pays providers to make allied health available, but doesn’t link funding to specific physio treatments, and physio doesn’t count towards the 215-minute care minutes benchmark. At home, it’s different: since 1 November 2025, physio under Support at Home is a clinical support with no client contribution.

So aged care physio now looks quite different depending on which side of the front door you work. I’m a physio. I’ve worked in community, inpatients and rural hospitals, and I was the inaugural director of a satellite hospital, so this page focuses on how the funding works and the questions it raises for a physio choosing a role.

Residential care: how AN-ACC works

What this means when you look at a residential role. Because funding isn’t tied to physio treatments and physio doesn’t count towards care minutes, how much physio a home offers, and what it looks like, is the provider’s decision. So physio services can differ from home to home. Ask:

1. How many physio hours a week are there for how many residents?
2. What does the physio role mainly involve, and who decides that?
3. Are you employed by the home, or by an allied health provider contracted to it?
4. Who else is on the allied health team?

At home: Support at Home

Physio for older people on Support at Home is a clinical support, with no participant contribution. Under the AT-HM scheme, prescribed assistive technology must be prescribed by a suitably qualified health professional, such as a physio or OT. The Support at Home timeline, the AT-HM tiers and the funding time limits are on aged care and home modifications.

Insurance if you contract into aged care

If you work for an allied health provider or on your own account rather than for the aged care home, check your professional indemnity insurance. The Physiotherapy Board requires PII appropriate to your level of risk, including run-off cover. Employer cover can count, but if you change employers, check your cover or get your own.

Pay

As an employee under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award, a physio’s minimum is A$1,308.80 a week at Level 1 year 1 (full-time, from 1 October 2026); a master’s degree doesn’t lift the award minimum for physios. Queensland Health’s HP3 scale runs from A$83,824 to A$120,740 a year from 1 September 2026. For pay across settings, see the physio salary guide.

Before you start

Aged care physio roles need registration with the Physiotherapy Board of Australia. If you’re overseas, your route runs through the Australian Physiotherapy Council: Express FLYR (A$1,742) for physios who qualified in the UK, Ireland, Canada, South Africa or Hong Kong and held unrestricted registration there in the past 5 years (UK: also currently eligible to practise in the UK without restriction); FLYR (A$3,490) for physios who qualified in the Netherlands, Singapore or Sweden, and US graduates of programs in Texas, Massachusetts or California; and APEP (A$8,321) for everyone else. See Express FLYR, FLYR and APEP. For the wider market, see physio jobs in Australia, and for how aged care fits with Medicare, the NDIS and other streams, see how allied health is funded.

Your next step

Check which Australian Physiotherapy Council route applies to where you qualified, and when you last held unrestricted registration, because aged care roles start with Physiotherapy Board registration like any other. Then decide whether you want residential or community work, because the funding, and so the shape of the job, differs. The pathway check below asks the route questions in a few minutes and shows which applies to you, so you know your first step before you apply.