Reportable Incidents: Alleged theft or financial coercion

The Aged Care Quality & Safety Commission is responsible for ensuring that older people receive safe and high-quality care from their providers. They must also enforce the right that participants, families and supporters have to make a complaint, knowing that these will be taken seriously and acted upon.

As part of our reporting requirements to the Commission, registered providers must comply with the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS), which means we are required to report any allegations of theft or financial coercion that occur in connection with the service we provide to you.

In the first quarter of 2025, almost one in four (23%) SIRS reportable incidents in home care services were related to alleged stealing or financial coercion. This is both a surprising and regrettable situation for everyone involved in delivering or receiving home care support.

Stealing or Financial coercion refers to alleged conduct by a staff member that involves:

• Stealing from a consumer
• Deceptive or coercive behaviour regarding a consumer's financial affairs
• Pressuring or bullying a consumer to gain a financial benefit
• Unreasonably controlling a consumer's financial affairs

Even if the lost item is later found by the participant and there is no case to answer, we must report the allegation as a SIRS incident. However, where there is sufficient suspicion or proof that a support worker has engaged in this sort of conduct, we may refer the matter to the police, and the worker may be added to the Banned Register for aged care workers to prevent them from working in the sector for a specified period of time.

Whatever concern you may raise with us, we will listen to you, follow up, communicate and learn from the situation. Please let us know if you have any questions about how we manage serious incidents.