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 most quality consultants recommend is to report.
Start here: free triage tools
Two quick tools for when something has just happened on a shift. 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.
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.
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.
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 reported, or that reasonably should be reported, 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 (reported, or that reasonably should be reported, to police)
SIRS-reportable is a subset of all incidents. Standard 8, the incident management system standard, requires you to record every incident, 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
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. Why historical disclosures start a fresh clock, and how weekends create operational risk.
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.
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.
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.
Running a small team? Free for under 5 users - no credit card, no time limit.