SIRS Reporting
SIRS reporting: the complete guide for Australian aged care providers
The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) requires approved aged care providers to identify, record, manage and report serious incidents to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. This guide explains the eight reportable categories, the Priority 1 and Priority 2 timeframes, when the clock actually starts, and gives you free tools to triage an incident in the moment. It is not a substitute for your own policy or advice from your delegate.
This is guidance, not a determination or legal advice. Whether an incident is reportable under SIRS, and at what priority, is a judgement your organisation's nominated delegate must confirm. SIRS rules change: always verify current requirements against current ACQSC guidance and your own SIRS policy before you act. When you are genuinely unsure, the safer default we recommend is to report. The Commission says: “If you’re unsure whether an incident is criminal, it’s best to report it to the police”.
Start here: free triage tools
Quick tools for when something has just happened on a shift, plus training material for your team. They make the triage questions faster; they do not make the call for you.
Is this reportable? Decision tool
Work through the category, severity and police questions to see the likely SIRS classification and priority. Decision support, not a determination.
SIRS deadline calculator
Enter your moment of awareness and the assessed priority to see the exact 24-hour or 30-calendar-day deadline, with a weekend and public-holiday risk flag.
Free SIRS staff training quiz
Fifteen questions with explanations on Priority 1 vs Priority 2, timeframes and the eight incident types. Free, no login.
Priority 1 and 2 examples
Realistic examples for each of the eight incident types, including home care and Support at Home, with the reasoning for each priority.
SIRS in one page: the key facts
What is the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS)?
The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) is an Australian aged care obligation, administered by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, that requires approved providers to identify, record, manage, resolve and report serious incidents involving people receiving aged care.
What is the SIRS reporting deadline for a Priority 1 incident?
Under SIRS, a Priority 1 incident must be notified to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission within 24 hours of the provider becoming aware of it, with any further information provided within 5 days of becoming aware, unless the Commission sets a different period (Aged Care Rules 2025, s165A-25(6)). Under the Rules' Priority 1 definition (s165A-25(2)), an incident is Priority 1 if it has caused an older person injury or discomfort that requires medical or psychological treatment, if there are reasonable grounds to report it to police, or if it involves sexual contact or conduct, an unexpected death or an unexplained absence.
What is the SIRS reporting deadline for a Priority 2 incident?
Under SIRS, a Priority 2 incident must be notified to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission within 30 calendar days of the provider becoming aware of it. That is 30 calendar days, not business days. A Priority 2 incident is any reportable incident that does not meet the Priority 1 criteria.
How many reportable incident categories does SIRS have?
SIRS has eight reportable incident categories: unreasonable use of force; unlawful sexual contact or inappropriate sexual conduct; psychological or emotional abuse; unexpected death; stealing or financial coercion by a staff member; neglect; inappropriate use of restrictive practices; and unexplained absence from care.
Do you have to report suspected or alleged incidents under SIRS?
Yes. Under SIRS you report alleged and suspected incidents, not only proven ones. Waiting for confirmation before you report is a common and risky mistake.
Does SIRS apply to home and community aged care?
Yes. SIRS applies to residential aged care and to in-home and community aged care, including Support at Home participants. In-home coverage began in December 2022 and continues under the Aged Care Act 2024.
The eight reportable incident categories
SIRS defines eight categories of reportable incident. Alleged and suspected incidents count, not only proven ones. Three of these are always Priority 1, regardless of severity: unexpected death; the whole sexual-conduct category (unlawful sexual contact or inappropriate sexual conduct); and unexplained absence, which is defined by there being reasonable grounds to report it to police.
- 1Unreasonable use of force
- 2Unlawful sexual contact or inappropriate sexual conduct
- 3Psychological or emotional abuse
- 4Unexpected death
- 5Stealing or financial coercion by a staff member
- 6Neglect
- 7Inappropriate use of restrictive practices
- 8Unexplained absence from care (where there are reasonable grounds to report it to police)
SIRS-reportable is a subset of all incidents. The Aged Care Rules 2025 (s164-10) require your incident management system to cover incidents that have caused, or could reasonably have been expected to cause, harm to an older person, not just the eight reportable categories. Audits regularly fail on non-reportable incidents that were never logged, because providers wrongly treat their incident register as a SIRS register.
Guides and category deep-dives
SIRS incident reporting software
What to look for, and how Teiro records SIRS incidents, the ACQSC priority and the notification deadline for home care and aged care providers.
Priority 1 vs Priority 2: how to tell the difference
Which incidents are always Priority 1, which get assessed, and why the difference decides whether you have 24 hours or 30 calendar days.
When does the SIRS clock actually start?
Provider awareness is not the same as when the incident happened. What to assume about who knew, and why you should not rely on a weekend or holiday extension.
Unexplained absence: when it is reportable
What counts as an unexplained absence from care, the link to reporting to police, and why it is always Priority 1 once that threshold is met.
What counts as neglect under SIRS
How neglect is framed under SIRS, illustrative examples across the severity range, and how the Priority 1 trigger applies.
What counts as unreasonable use of force
Why the common version is too much force during ordinary care, not a deliberate assault, and where the priority line sits.
Restrictive practices reporting
The under-reporting risk providers miss most: PRN psychotropics or restraint used without consent or a behaviour support plan. Reportable regardless of harm.
SIRS vs NDIS reportable incidents
For dual-registered providers: different regulator, different categories, different clocks, different portals, side by side.
SIRS notification checklist and template
Exactly what a SIRS notification needs before you lodge it with the ACQSC. Free to use, print, or save as a PDF.
Primary source
This page is based on guidance published by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) under the Aged Care Act 2024 and the Aged Care Rules 2025, in force from 1 November 2025.
Related compliance and workforce guides
SIRS sits inside a wider set of aged care obligations. These guides cover the standards, screening, and rostering systems that a compliant incident-response process depends on.
Aged care workforce management
The hub for Support at Home, Aged Care Award rates, screening, and quality standards.
Strengthened Quality Standards 2025
How Standard 2 incident management connects to your SIRS obligations.
Aged care worker screening
Police check vs NDIS Worker Screening, and who needs which clearance.
Competency tracking
Stop unqualified or safeguarding-excluded carers being rostered, at the point of assignment.
Compliance and qualification tracking
Keep the credential register current with automatic expiry alerts.
How Teiro helps
The record already exists by the time the clock is running
Teiro captures the incident at the point of care, timestamps the moment your team became aware of it, surfaces the classification question to your reviewer with the facts already attached, tracks the deadline once a priority is assigned, and produces the record you need to lodge your SIRS notification. The decision about whether something is reportable, and at what priority, stays with your organisation's delegate. Teiro makes sure that decision gets made in time, by the right person, with the facts already in front of them.
Teiro does not determine reportability, and does not submit notifications to the ACQSC or the NDIS Commission on your behalf. It produces the record your delegate needs to make the call and lodge it.
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