NWAU weightings and care minute targets are unchanged for every class. On 2 September 2026 the Government confirmed it will retain the current weightings, the current care minute requirements, and both the fixed and variable funding categories, based on IHACPA's 2026–27 pricing advice.
This is the clean contrast to October 2025, when reweighted classifications left many providers short of expectations. This year the uplift lands proportionally, whatever your resident mix.
Price uplift
+$7.55
per NWAU per day
NWAU changes
0
19 classes · 8 BCT categories
Care minute changes
0
RN and total · 16 classes with targets
Uplift vs inflation
−0.95pt
2.55% vs CPI 3.5%
Permanent residents — classification tree
Funding upWith compounding factors
Click any class card for the full calculation, care minute detail and classification pathway. Every dollar figure rises 2.55%; every NWAU and care minute target holds.
DefinitionsDEMMI: de Morton Mobility IndexAFM: Australian Functional MeasureBraden: pressure ulcer risk scaleCF: Compounding FactorsPD: Per day, per residentNWAU: National Weighted Activity UnitRN min: Registered nurse care minute targetTotal min: Total care minute target (RN, EN, PCW)SAME: No change from the current rate set
Respite classes
Short-term respite classifications, assigned on mobility in the same way as the permanent branches. Care minute targets apply and are unchanged.
Default classes
Applied from entry until the AN-ACC assessment outcome is known. Which default applies turns on the reason for entry, not on care need: Class 98 for a permanent entry to receive palliative care, Class 99 for any other permanent entry. No care minute target attaches to these classes.
Fixed funding — Base Care Tariff by region
Paid per place in addition to variable funding. Weightings unchanged; dollar values rise with the base price. The “Class” codes shown are payment statement codes for fixed funding and are unrelated to the permanent classes above. Categories paid on operational places are funded at price × NWAU × operational places ÷ occupied places, so the per-place figures shown for those categories assume full occupancy.
Change analysis
$What went up
Base price $295.64 → $303.19, up $7.55 per NWAU per day (2.55%).
Every variable funding rate rises proportionally — from +$1.59/day (Class 2) to +$5.51/day (Classes 1, 13, 98).
Every fixed funding (BCT) rate rises proportionally — from +$2.92 per day (Standard MM1) to +$13.59 per day (Specialised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, MM7).
Average funding per resident is estimated to rise from about $317 to $325 per day — the figure that moves a home's revenue, not the headline price.
=What stayed the same
All NWAU weightings — 19 variable funding classes and 8 BCT categories, no reweighting.
All care minute targets — RN and total, every class, unchanged.
Hotelling supplement holds at $22.15 per resident per day. It rose 42% on 20 September 2025 and is indexed each 20 September, not 1 October.
Fixed and variable funding category structures are retained in full, on IHACPA's recommendation.
!What to watch
The uplift sits below inflation — 2.55% against CPI of 3.5% to July 2026. Real funding per resident goes backwards.
The August announcement deadline was missed for the second year running, leaving under a month to plan before 1 October 2026.
The 4.75% award increase took effect 1 July 2026; the price uplift starts 1 October. Three months of the wage rise are carried unfunded.
IHACPA's advice on everyday living costs, which will inform the hotelling supplement, is not due until July 2028. The supplement is held at $22.15 for 2026–27, so the 20 September 2026 indexation brings no change and the next possible movement is 20 September 2027.
Standard MM1 (metro) fixed funding was restructured in April 2026: 0.113 NWAU moved from the base tariff into a performance-linked care minutes supplement (up to $33.41 per day, paid on a matrix of RN and total care minute performance: nothing is paid only where both sit below 85% of target, and the maximum requires 100% of both). Unchanged by this announcement — but the Department has not yet confirmed whether the supplement re-rates to $34.26 at the new price.
→What to do
Reforecast quarterly revenue at the new rate. Because no weightings moved, last quarter's mix carries straight through: you are re-pricing, not re-modelling.
Include the initial entry adjustment in the forecast — 5.28 NWAU per permanent admission, rising from $1,560.98 to $1,600.84. Homes with higher turnover gain more than the daily rate alone suggests.
Hold care minute rosters as they are. Targets have not moved, so compliance positions carry over unchanged.
If you run metro (MM1) homes, model the care minutes supplement at the new price alongside the base tariff — it is what restores the full MM1 rate, and it is earned on performance, not paid automatically.
Test the funding gap: a 2.55% uplift against award movements of 4.75% leaves a shortfall to absorb.
Free quarterly funding estimation
We will run your actual resident mix and classification profile against the 1 October 2026 rates and provide an estimation of your quarterly funding, home by home — not an average. No cost, no obligation.