Workers across residential aged care and home care will receive wages rises between 3.2% and 13.5% after the Fair Work Commission (FWC) determined on Friday that their work has historically been undervalued.
The Stage 3 decision in the long-running Aged Care Work Value Case followed an interim finding last year that saw ‘direct care’ workers – including personal care workers, Assistants in Nursing and home care workers – awarded a 15% wage rise on 1 July 2023.
The FWC’s Expert Panel found that there were “work value reasons” to increase the minimum award rates of pay beyond the 15% interim increase.
But instead of a single increase across the board, the Commission delivered a series of increases for aged care workers based on their classification on top of the 15% awarded last year.
See the graphs below for the various pay increases – aged care workers are paid under the Aged Care Award while home care workers are paid under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) Award.
However, the Commission rejected calls to award similar increases to ‘indirect care’ workers on the Aged Care Award – so administrative and food services staff – concluding that these staff do not perform “work of equivalent value” to direct care workers to justify equal rates of pay.
These staff will see their wages increased by 3%, with laundry hands, cleaners and food services assistants moved from Level 2 to Level 3 in the award classification for indirect staff to recognise their higher level of interaction with residents.
This change will see these workers’ wages increased by 6.8% in total.
Read the full Fair Work Commission decision here.
