Social Sector in 2025: A Year of Reform, Reckoning and Renewal
A reflection on what this year revealed – and what 2026 asks of us
2025 will be remembered not only for what changed on paper, but for what shifted in the mindset, expectations and possibilities of the social sector. The commencement of the Aged Care Act 2024 on 1 November was a headline milestone, a reform years in the making. We saw changes in NDIS legislation, the rollout of a new disability employment program, the Queensland child safety commission of enquiry, and we’re finishing the year with the introduction of mandatory registration for some providers in the NDIS, commencing in July 2026. Beneath all of this, this year exposed deeper truths about culture, identity, leadership and the future of care in Australia.
For many organisations, 2025 was a stress test. It revealed where systems were strong, where culture was misaligned, and where leaders were prepared (and unprepared) for the scale of transformation required. Some organisations didn’t make it through this year, and many more are struggling. The NDS state of the sector report informed us that 81% of NDIS providers are struggling to remain sustainable in to 2026, and 56% reported that the risks outweigh the benefits in providing NDIS services. (NDS State of the Sector report can be found here).
The reforms did not just ask the sector to comply differently, they asked more of leaders, managers, and workers in both the frontline and operational roles.
And that is where the real story of 2025 lives.
Reform on the Surface — Transformation Beneath
While policy and legislative updates shaped the formal landscape, what mattered most were the shifts happening inside organisations themselves. Across aged care, disability, community services, and related sectors, several themes emerged with striking consistency.
1. Culture was the real determinant of reform readiness
This year made one thing clear: compliance is only the starting point. The organisations that navigated reform most confidently were not simply those updating frameworks or meeting deadlines but those with cultures grounded in dignity, trust, and psychological safety.
Leaders were reminded that rights-based care in Aged Care is not a wording change. It is first and foremost a cultural commitment that demands different conversations, different expectations, and different behaviours at every level.
We saw this clearly across our work with aged care and disability organisations navigating significant reform this year. While many moved quickly to update policies and meet new requirements, the organisations that progressed most confidently were those that invested in culture alongside compliance.
Where leaders prioritised dignity, trust and psychological safety, staff were more willing to raise concerns, test assumptions and engage honestly with risk. In these settings, rights-based care shifted from a policy update to a shared cultural commitment, shaping everyday conversations, expectations and behaviours at every level of the organisation.
Across our coaching and leadership development work this year, we saw how intentional reflection became a powerful lever for building psychological safety. Rather than focusing on performance alone, leaders were supported to pause and examine how their behaviour, language and decision-making shaped the experiences of others. Through our coaching sessions, leaders practised naming uncertainty, testing assumptions and accessing their own inner wisdom, defining the type of leader they want to be. Over time, this created safer spaces for honest conversation, improved trust within teams and enabled more confident engagement with rights-based care. Cultural change did not occur through instruction, but through reflection that shifted how leaders showed up day to day.
2. Governance moved from oversight to stewardship
Boards stepped into a new era of expectation. Regulators, communities and consumers now look to governance bodies not simply to ensure safety, but to champion values, culture and long-term system stewardship.
This shift challenged boards to examine their own capability, literacy and alignment.
This shift is already shaping governance conversations across the sector. In our work this year, one First Nations aged care co-operative undertook a facilitated Board self-assessment to examine director capability, governance literacy and alignment with emerging expectations around culture, safeguarding and stewardship.
In parallel, we have been in active discussion with multiple aged care organisations across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland that are preparing to undertake similar Board-focused governance and culture work in the year ahead, reflecting a growing recognition that Boards must move beyond compliance to lead values, culture and accountability.
3. Workforce wellbeing emerged as a structural reform issue
2025 reinforced what frontline staff have long known: reform cannot succeed without a supported, capable, and supported workforce.
Wellbeing is no longer a workforce issue alone. It is a strategic risk factor - a leading indicator of quality, safety and organisational sustainability.
A regional Queensland provider delivering both aged care and NDIS supports recognised organisational culture and workforce wellbeing as core strategic risks and opportunities. Working with SSC, they held a series of facilitated town halls with their workforce to surface pressure points, strengths and priorities. These conversations were distilled into practical wellbeing strategy aligned to PERMA-4, which are now being implemented across the organisation and contributing to stronger staff engagement, commitment and resilience in reform-heavy sectors.
4. NDIS uncertainty highlighted the need for sustainable service design
As policy directions shifted, leaders who invested early in governance, service redesign and capability uplift now sit on firmer ground than those waiting for certainty.
We saw this with a for-purpose NDIS provider who recognised that relying on a narrow portfolio of programs in an ever-changing policy environment was a strategic risk. Working with SSC, the leadership team took a close look at their service design and long-term growth strategy, identifying what they did well, what people valued most, and what they wanted to be known for. That clarity is now guiding the considered diversification of services and support types, decisions about which sectors to grow into, and the reshaping of offerings that no longer fit, helping to build a more stable and sustainable business.
5. Transparency shifted from obligation to relational currency
Proactive transparency around quality, culture, staffing, and improvement is now central to organisational legitimacy. The deeper insight is that reform works best where purpose is strongest.
Looking across 2025, a pattern emerges: organisations that fared best were those that knew who they were. Purpose-aligned organisations made decisions quickly and confidently. Organisations with strong culture absorbed pressure without losing cohesion. Leaders who listened deeply navigated ambiguity with humility and confidence.
A not-for-profit organisation we worked with had a clear, lived purpose that leaders and frontline staff could describe in their own words. With a flat, team-based structure, they treated information as something to be shared, not hidden. Quality results, feedback themes, staffing pressures and improvement opportunities were talked about openly in regular staff team meetings. Leaders shared the “why” behind decisions, with this openness and transparency deepening trust, surfacing tricky issues, and ensuring quality and culture continued to be a shared responsibility rather than just leadership driven.
Reform lands where purpose, governance and culture are aligned. It falters where they are not.
Looking Ahead: What will 2026 ask the Sector and its Leaders?
From awareness to embodiment: rights-based care as everyday practice
Stronger governance capability and clarity of role
Workforce capability as the central strategic priority
Service models that are resilient, relational and rights-led
Collaboration as a system requirement.
Going Forward
In 2026, SSC will continue to support organisations to build their strategy capability and organisational capacity by putting people at the centre. This means building upon key insights from this year, including:
embedding rights-based care into governance, culture and practice
strengthening board–executive alignment
translating reform into sustainable operating models
designing safe, inclusive systems that honour lived experience
building leadership capability and workforce resilience
preparing proactively for continued reform across the social sector
Crossing the Threshold Together
2025 has been a year of reckoning, but also renewal. As 2026 approaches, one question becomes central: How do we lead so that rights, dignity and wellbeing are not only protected, but enhanced?
We are dedicated to working with organisations who are ready to navigate this challenge.
