Eight behaviours sit behind the aged care Code of Conduct home care providers must work to, and workers are bound by them personally, as individuals, not only through their employer. They get tested in a kitchen at 7am with a client's daughter in the doorway and nobody else to ask.
This is general guidance for Australian providers and their staff, not legal advice. It covers what a solo visit throws up: gifts, phones and photographs, social media, family pressure, requests outside the care plan, and when to leave, then what a provider must do once a breach is reported.
What the Aged Care Code of Conduct Asks of a Lone Worker
The Code of Conduct aged care workers are held to lists eight behaviours, which the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission calls broad statements rather than a list of every situation. In substance: respect rights to freedom of expression, self-determination and decision-making; treat people with dignity and respect; respect privacy; deliver care safely and competently; act with integrity, honesty and transparency; promptly raise concerns about quality and safety; and keep care free from violence, exploitation, neglect, abuse and sexual misconduct.
Two features matter more in home care than anywhere else. The obligation reaches individuals, volunteers and contractors included. And it is not fenced off to shift hours: the Commission has said it may have regard to conduct outside work hours, its own example being a worker posting information about a client on social media.
The Code commenced on 1 December 2022 and was built on the NDIS Code of Conduct, which is why workers holding both roles recognise the wording. Under the Aged Care Act 2024 the behaviours did not change, but the language did: the people named are now registered providers, their responsible persons and aged care workers.
Gifts, Tips and a Client's Money
Decline the gift, then write it down. Integrity, honesty and transparency is one of the eight behaviours, and the Commission's worker guidance sets out what it means: treat people fairly, deal appropriately with their money and belongings, give people time to consider their options, and avoid gifts or inducements in exchange for referrals or favourable decisions.
The awkward cases are small ones. A client presses fifty dollars into a worker's hand at Christmas, offers cash for an unrostered half hour of cleaning, or says they want to leave the worker something in their will.
A workable rule for a solo visit: no money, nothing of value, no work off the care plan, and report the offer to a coordinator the same day so the organisation holds the record instead of the worker. A Code of Conduct and Ethics Policy Template gives a provider a position to point at when a worker is put on the spot.
Phones, Photographs and Social Media
A photograph taken inside a client's home is the client's business before it is the worker's. Respect for privacy is one of the eight behaviours, and the Commission asks workers to follow their provider's privacy controls, keep personal information confidential, know each person's preferences, and ask permission before entering their personal space.
Phones make that concrete. Photographing a wound for a clinical record is sometimes legitimate, depending on policy and consent. Photographing a client's lounge room to show a colleague is not. Filming a birthday singalong and posting it is a conduct matter even if everyone was smiling, because agreeing to be photographed is not agreeing to be published.
Social media is where the outside-hours point bites: a worker who posts a client's photograph, name, suburb or diagnosis has taken a workplace matter into public view. No photographs without recorded consent and a stated purpose, no client content on personal accounts, no screenshots of care records. A Photography, Recording and Social Media Policy Template carries the detail, and photography and privacy on home care visits works through how it lands visit by visit.
Pressure From Family Members
The client decides, and the worker's job is to hold that line politely. Respect for self-determination is the first of the eight behaviours, and it covers supporting someone to involve the people they choose and to take risks they have chosen.
Family pressure in home care is rarely hostile. A son asks the worker to stop his mother showering alone. A daughter asks what the GP said yesterday. Each one asks for a decision that is not the worker's, and sometimes for information the client has not agreed to share.
Three responses cover most of it. Say what you can and cannot do, which is deliver the care plan as written. Offer the proper channel, the care partner, coordinator or complaints process, rather than an arrangement struck at the front door. Record the conversation the same day. A Consumer Rights, Dignity and Choice Policy tells workers and families where the authority sits.
Asked to Do Something Outside the Care Plan
A worker is expected to work and be competent within their job description and, where it applies, their scope of practice. That is the Commission's own wording, and it is the test when a client asks for something off the roster: changing a dressing, giving a medication the worker is not signed off for, or moving someone without the right equipment.
Refusing is not the same as being unhelpful. The Code also protects a person's right to take risks they have chosen, so a flat no to anything unfamiliar is its own failure. The line runs between a choice belonging to the client, such as walking to the letterbox unaided, and a task belonging to someone qualified, such as a wound dressing. dignity of risk separates the two, and a Dignity of Risk and Positive Risk-Taking Policy Template puts a provider's position in writing.
Say what you are not able to do, say who can, raise it before the next visit is due, and write it in the visit note while you are still in the car. Promptly raising concerns is itself one of the eight behaviours, so a request left unreported becomes a conduct problem of its own.
When a Worker Should Leave a Home
Leave when staying is unsafe, and report it the same day. The Code requires care free from violence, exploitation, neglect, abuse and sexual misconduct, and all reasonable steps to prevent and respond to them. A worker who stays inside a situation that has turned threatening is not meeting that obligation, and neither is a worker who leaves and says nothing.
The triggers are recognisable: physical aggression from anyone in the home, sexual harassment, a weapon, intoxication, a dog that cannot be secured, or a request that would mean breaking the law. What makes leaving a conduct matter rather than a walkout is the handover. Tell the coordinator before the next visit is due, say plainly whether the client has been left without care they need, and write the note. Solo visiting belongs in a check-in arrangement with an escalation number, which is what lone worker safety in a client's home covers.
What a Code of Conduct Breach Triggers
A code of conduct breach becomes the provider's problem the moment it is reported. Registered providers must comply with the Code themselves and take reasonable steps to have their workers and responsible persons comply, which the Commission describes as training, understanding the consequences of falling short, and being supported to resolve issues when concerns are raised.
So the first response is not a dismissal letter. Where a worker does not comply, the Commission's guidance says the provider is required to take reasonable steps to support that person to comply, which may involve performance management.
What a provider should be able to show afterwards: when the concern came in and from whom, what immediate action protected the client, whether the matter also met a reportable incident obligation, and what training or supervision followed. In severe cases individuals can be banned from working in aged care, volunteers included, and that decision sits with the Commission rather than the provider.
Responsible Persons' Conduct Obligations
Responsible persons are personally bound by the same eight behaviours. Board members, chief executives and managers do not get a lighter version of the Code, and the Commission expects them to be alert to whether the organisation is complying and whether reasonable steps are being taken for workers.
Their added obligation is the system: policies a solo worker can reach on a phone, supervision that reaches someone never in an office, and a complaints path a family can use without going through the worker standing in their kitchen.
Related Resources
- Code of Conduct and Ethics Policy Template - gifts and declarable interests.
- Photography, Recording and Social Media Policy Template - consent and personal accounts.
- Consumer Rights, Dignity and Choice Policy - whose decision it is.
- Privacy and Confidentiality Policy Template - information between visits.
- Dignity of Risk and Positive Risk-Taking Policy Template - chosen risk, unsafe task.
- lone worker safety in a client's home - check-ins and escalation.
- Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission - the regulator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a home care worker accept a gift from a client?
Not unless the provider's policy says so. The Commission tells workers not to take advantage of people and to avoid gifts and inducements. Decline, report the offer the same day, and let the organisation record it.
Does the Aged Care Code of Conduct apply outside work hours?
It can. The Commission has said it may have regard to conduct outside work hours where serious concerns are raised, its example being a worker posting information about a client on social media.
Who does the Code apply to in home care?
Registered providers, their responsible persons, and aged care workers including volunteers, independent contractors and employees of contractors. The obligation is individual as well as organisational.
What if a family member asks a worker to change the care plan?
Decline the change, deliver the plan as written, point the family to the care partner or complaints process, and record the request the same day.
Can a worker leave a client's home part way through a visit?
Yes, when staying is unsafe. Aggression, sexual harassment, intoxication or a hazard that cannot be secured all justify leaving. Report it before the next visit is due, so the client is not quietly left without care.
Conduct Is Judged At The Front Door
Nothing in the Code is hard to read. It is hard to apply at 7am in someone's kitchen, with a fifty dollar note on the bench, a phone in a pocket and a family member watching. Providers that write the awkward cases down, and name who to ring, give their workers something steadier than good intentions.
