Aged care provider Arcare has been hit by a class action lawsuit for ripping off its residents. Sarah Russell broke the story of elder abuse.
Aged care group Arcare has been hit with a class action for overcharging residents. The most shocking aspect of this story is that Aged Care Ministers, the regulator, bureaucrats in the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and the Commonwealth Ombudsman all knew about Arcare’s illegal behaviour yet turned a blind eye.
In January 2024, MWM exposed how Arcare had been breaking Australian Consumer Law. For many years, the group had been charging residents for products and services that were not supplied.
Who cares … Arcare? Aged care providers still charging for services never provided, regulator hiding
Prior to the new Aged Care Act, all Arcare residents were required to sign a 50-page contract before being admitted into the aged care home. Embedded within this contract (on around page 30) was Arcare’s so-called ‘Signature Package’.
This Signature Package listed additional items such as a selection of bottled wine and beer with dinner, irrespective of whether the resident drank alcohol.
When a family member made a formal complaint to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission about her mother being charged for services that she was not using, the regulator was unable to help. Instead, she was told to hire a good contract lawyer.
Arcare’s Signature Package also included a ‘choice of menu at both lunch and dinner’. Although most aged care homes give residents a choice of meals, recognising that meals are often the highlight of their day, Arcare charged residents extra for this privilege.
Shallow Wells
After the MWM story was published, I had expected Anika Wells, then Aged Care Minister, to declare it illegal for Arcare to financially abuse residents in their aged care homes. She didn’t. Instead, I received a phone call from Damian Scattini, a Partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan. He discussed the possibility of a class action against Arcare.
And here we are – over 2 years later – with a class action filed in the Federal Court of Australia (Sydney Registry) against Arcare Pty Ltd (Arcare) an aged care operator with over 50 facilities across Australia.
The action alleges that Arcare took advantage of residents. It charged residents — and their families —for services that were either never delivered or that Arcare was already obliged to provide under their agreements and under Australian aged-care legislation.
That was not an oversight.
That was a systemic failure that caused real financial harm
to people who had already placed their trust and well-being in Arcare’s hands.
The action sends a clear message to the aged care sector more broadly that the law protects elderly Australians, and those who seek to profit from them unfairly and illegally.
Exploitation the norm?
Despite the clear evidence of financial exploitation arising in the Arcare case, the federal government has been working on legislation to make extra services and additional fees the norm in aged care homes.
Higher Everyday Living Fees (HELF) was introduced on 1 November 2025. HELF introduces a 2-tier system within an aged care home – those who can afford the additional services, and those who can’t.
HELF resembles Arcare’s Signature Package. However, unlike Arcare’s Signature package that was embedded in the contract, the new legislation ensures that HELF must be a separate agreement. Most importantly, signing the agreement cannot be a condition of entry.
Not surprisingly, Arcare continues to rip off residents with HELF. For example, in their HELF brochure, Arcare has a standalone service fee for meal choices and hot breakfast as a single item as $37 a day.
HELF. Any excuse to charge
They charge residents $37 extra to be able to choose a meal from the menu. How do the CEO and owners of Arcare sleep at night?
Under the Quality-of-Care Principles, “meals of adequate variety, quality and quantity” must be provided (Schedule 1, item 1.10). The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner has recently expressed “concern” about the use of HELF in relation to meals. “This is not optional. This is not an additional service. This is a minimum mandatory requirement,” the Commissioner said.
The most worrying aspect of HELF is that individual providers can choose the cost and the type of inclusions. For example, an aged care home in NSW included entertainment as an extra service, despite the fact that this entertainment was provided by a volunteer. How does this pass the pub test for decency?
The introduction of HELF fits the pattern I have witnessed over the past decade of aged care advocacy: good providers will do the right thing; unscrupulous providers will not. And it takes a media splash to get the Commissioner to act.
Those who tuned into 60 Minutes last night will have seen how Arcare has been fleecing its residents for years. A few hours after the 60 Minutes promo was released, the Commissioner announced it had launched investigations into several residential aged care providers amid concerns some may be charging HELF in ways that are inconsistent with the rules and the rights of older people.
The media pressure has finally had an effect. In light of the systemic exploitation of Australia’s elderly and most frail however, we need an aged care minister who is prepared to hold aged care providers to account and an aged care regulator with teeth.
Dr Sarah Russell is a public health researcher. She is the Principal Researcher at Research Matters and Chair of Progressives of the Peninsula. She was formerly the Director, Aged Care Matters.