Summary

In response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Australian Government set three targets to reduce the number of younger people (aged under 65) living in residential aged care. The goal of the targets was to have no younger people living in permanent residential aged care (residential aged care) by January 2025. Although this and other targets have not been fully met, the number of people aged under 65 living in residential aged care has fallen substantially, a decrease from 5,216 to 880 people (an 83% reduction) between 30 June 2019 and 30 June 2025.

Whilst progress has been made on the targets, younger people remain living in residential aged care and should continue to be supported to transition into more age-appropriate care, where it is their preference. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is the primary avenue for more age-appropriate accommodation for younger people with disability. By linking aged care and NDIS data, this report provides unique insights about younger people living in residential aged care and explores differences between NDIS participants and non-participants in this setting.

The data linkage enabled analysis of more than 73,200 younger people who used aged care services in the 5 years between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2022. Of these, 12,300 lived in residential aged care and 60,800 used other aged care services. Further, among those living in residential aged care, 11,100 applied to access the NDIS and 8,200 were participants. Figure 1 in the publication illustrates the different groups of people included in the report.