How to Reduce Loneliness in Aged Care and Retirement Living (2026 Guide)

For residential aged care providers, loneliness is now a compliance matter as well as a care one. Since 1 November 2025, the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards have required providers to support residents to minimise boredom and loneliness, keep up their relationships, and stay connected to the community outside the home. Retirement villages sit outside those Standards, but face the same problem with fewer rules to guide them.

This guide sets out what the Standards actually say, how retirement villages differ, what the evidence says works, and a practical plan any lifestyle or village team can start this month.

What the strengthened Standards say about loneliness

The strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards took effect with the Aged Care Act 2024 on 1 November 2025. Several actions deal directly with social connection:

• Action 7.1.1 requires providers to support residents to do the things they want to do. That includes taking part in lifestyle activities that reflect the diversity of the community, minimising boredom and loneliness, keeping connections and joining activities outside the residential community, having social and personal relationships, and contributing to the community through meaningful activity.
• Actions 7.1.5 and 7.1.6 cover residents entertaining visitors in private and keeping the relationships they choose.
• Action 1.1.2(f) requires providers to support people to build relationships and social connections, including connection to community. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people this includes connection to culture, Country and Island Home.
• Actions 6.4.2 and 6.4.3 require the dining environment to support social engagement, belonging and enjoyment, and give people opportunities to share food and drink with visitors.

Standards 6 and 7 apply only to residential care, including respite. Standard 1 also applies to home care providers registered in categories 4 and 5, such as personal care and nursing, so action 1.1.2(f) is relevant to them too.

What auditors may look for

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission's guidance on daily living expects providers to:

• record each resident's activity preferences and strategies in their care plan
• offer individual, group and partnered activities, including ordinary home-life tasks such as setting tables
• give staff the time and training to support them
• monitor through complaints, incidents and conversations with residents

The guidance flags residents saying they feel bored or lonely, and families feeling uncomfortable visiting, as signs that something isn't working.

Retirement villages are a different case

In Victoria, retirement villages are regulated under the Retirement Villages Act 1986, not the Aged Care Act. Villages generally don't provide health care, and the Quality Standards don't apply to them. There is no equivalent rule on loneliness.

The 2025 reforms are changing how villages run. Since 1 May 2026, operators need a special resolution of residents before varying services or facilities. A mandatory Code of Practice starting on 1 July 2027 requires operators not to unreasonably restrict access to common areas, and sets out consulting residents committees as good practice.

For village operators, that leaves social connection largely up to you. Done well, it can be a real reason people choose your village.

How common is loneliness among older Australians?

• Loneliness among Australians aged 65 and over fell from 20% in 2001 to 15% in 2024, according to AIHW analysis of the HILDA survey. HILDA surveys private households, so this figure is unlikely to reflect people living in residential care.
• In Ending Loneliness Together's State of the Nation 2026 survey, 27% of people aged 65 to 74 were socially isolated, one of the highest rates of any age group. People living alone were about twice as likely as those living with family to be both lonely and isolated (27% compared with 16%).
• No reliable national figure exists for loneliness in Australian residential aged care. An international review of 13 studies covering more than 5,000 care home residents found that, on average, 61% reported moderate loneliness and 35% severe loneliness, with very wide variation between studies.

What the evidence says works

The evidence is promising but thin. Few interventions have been tested rigorously in Australian aged care.

• Group activity helps, especially when it widens people's networks. ARIIA's review of social participation research found intergenerational and network-widening activities improved social support, group settings made interventions more effective, and pairing group activity with creative arts increased participation.
• Technology supports contact but doesn't replace it. ARIIA's review of technology interventions found benefits for social support and connectedness, but limited and inconclusive evidence on loneliness itself, and stressed that technology should not replace human contact.
• Tools alone don't shift outcomes. Swinburne University's Social Connection Toolkit, tested in four residential care homes in NSW and Victoria, was well received by staff, but residents' satisfaction with social activities didn't change significantly. The researchers' advice: train staff, use trusted champions, set aside time, and plan how to act on what residents tell you.
• Older people want face-to-face contact. In a COTA Victoria consultation that drew more than 160 survey responses, respondents strongly preferred in-person connection. Their most suggested fixes were accessible events, transport, buddy programs and intergenerational programs. The report suggests digital tools work best when they organise in-person contact rather than replace it.

A practical plan for lifestyle and village teams

1. Ask each person, and write it down

Find out what each resident used to enjoy, who they miss, and what they'd like to try. Record it in the care plan or resident profile. It is what the Commission expects, and it lets you plan activities around people rather than a calendar.

2. Fix the "same ten residents" problem

Most lifestyle coordinators know the pattern: the same small group comes to everything and many residents never come at all. Offer smaller and partnered activities alongside big ones, invite quieter residents personally, and give people real jobs, such as setting tables, watering the garden or running the library trolley.

3. Use mealtimes

Seating, table size and who sits with whom shape a lot of daily conversation. Mealtimes are named in actions 6.4.2 and 6.4.3, so they deserve the same planning as activities.

4. Connect residents with each other, not only with staff

Staff-led programs carry a heavy load. Peer-led groups, resident buddies and resident-hosted activities (a walking group, a cards morning, a gardening crew) create friendships that keep going between scheduled sessions.

5. Keep links to the outside world

Action 7.1.1 covers connections and activities outside the home. Partner with local schools, libraries, Men's Sheds, clubs and faith communities. Make visiting easy and comfortable for families, with private spaces and shared meals.

6. Use the Aged Care Volunteer Visitors Scheme

The Aged Care Volunteer Visitors Scheme, formerly the Community Visitors Scheme, is a free program that matches volunteers with older people who are lonely or isolated. It covers people in government-subsidised residential care or Support at Home, including those approved and waiting. Volunteers visit around 20 times a year, one-on-one, or in small groups in residential care. Anyone can make a referral with the person's consent.

7. For home care clients, use social support services

My Aged Care lists social support and community engagement as a service available through Support at Home and the Commonwealth Home Support Programme. It can include accompanied social and community activities, transport and company, and help getting online.

8. Measure what matters

Attendance numbers alone hide the residents who never come. Track who hasn't joined anything in a month, ask residents directly whether they feel bored or lonely, and ask families whether they feel comfortable visiting. Those are the signals the Commission's guidance points to.

Where a resident app fits, and where it doesn't

Phones are now common among older Australians. ACMA research found 88% of Australians aged 75 and over went online using a mobile phone in the first half of 2025, up from 18% in 2017, though people living in residential care are likely to use them less. Many retirement village and independent living residents are comfortable organising their week on a phone.

The Bunchups Community Portal is built for that. It is a private, invite-only space inside the Bunchups app, carrying your organisation's logo and colours, where residents and staff can post small activities and others can join: a walk at 9, cards in the lounge, a trip to the shops together, a coffee with someone new. Residents can message each other without sharing phone numbers, and staff can manage who joins and see what's happening. Our post on how the Community Portal works covers setup and admin controls.

It has limits. It doesn't replace a lifestyle program or staff time, it won't suit residents who don't use a phone, and no app on its own makes a provider compliant with the Standards. It works best as the tool that helps residents organise their own in-person contact, which is what older people in the COTA consultation asked for.

Frequently asked questions

What do the aged care quality standards say about loneliness?

Action 7.1.1 of the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards requires residential care providers to support residents to minimise boredom and loneliness, maintain relationships and connections outside the home, and take part in meaningful activities. Action 1.1.2(f) also requires providers registered for home-based personal care and nursing to support people to build relationships and social connections.

Do the aged care quality standards apply to retirement villages?

No. In Victoria, retirement villages are regulated under the Retirement Villages Act 1986, not the Aged Care Act 2024. Residents may still receive aged care services, such as Support at Home, which carry their own requirements.

What is the Aged Care Volunteer Visitors Scheme?

A free government program, formerly the Community Visitors Scheme, that matches volunteers with older people in subsidised residential care or Support at Home who are lonely or socially isolated. Providers, families and older people can refer with the person's consent.

How common is loneliness in aged care?

There is no reliable national figure for Australian residential aged care. International research suggests loneliness in care homes is common, with one review finding an average of 61% of residents reporting moderate loneliness. Among older Australians living in the community, AIHW reports 15% of people aged 65 and over were lonely in 2024.

What activities help reduce loneliness in aged care?

Activities that are chosen by residents, held in small groups or pairs, and that widen people's networks tend to work best, such as intergenerational programs, creative arts groups, gardening crews, peer-led groups and regular volunteer visits. Shared meals and easy, comfortable visiting for families matter too.