Industry bodies have dismissed the Federal Government’s announcement of one-off pro-rata payments for aged care workers, saying they are not nearly enough to support an exhausted workforce during a harrowing period.
Speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday, PM Scott Morrison (pictured) announced two bonus payments for aged care workers of up to $400 each, paid to home care and residential aged care workers employed on 28 February and 28 April, at a cost of around $210 million.
“None of our health outcomes would be possible without the hard work, the long hours and dedicated care offered by our frontline health and aged care workforce. The true heroes of this pandemic. Their resilience over the past two years has been nothing short of inspiring.
“Now, this is a responsible commitment that builds on the $393 million provided over three payments to 234,000 aged care workers earlier in the pandemic. It worked, we’re doing it again,” he said.
However, it is now understood that staff working in the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) and home care and residential care workers in maintenance, reception and lifestyle program roles will miss out on the payments.
Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) has slammed the payments as “grossly inadequate” for exhausted and burnt-out staff, and fears they will be inadequate to hold off a mass exodus of frontline workers; according to CEO Paul Sadler, much more must be done.
“This one-off payment, which will be happening over two payment periods in February and May, is important for our workforce. But it only amounts to around one dollar per hour extra for the workers in aged care.
“The headline number is $800, but most aged care workers will not receive that because it’s pro rata-ed according to whether you work full-time or part-time. The $800 only goes to the full-time workers, and they are the minority of our aged care workforce,” he said.
Sean Rooney, CEO of Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), agreed, telling The Weekly SOURCE that providing aged care is currently “overwhelming”.
“For two years aged care workers have kept people safe and put their own health and well-being at risk, day in, day out.
“Personal Protection Equipment, Rapid Antigen Tests, and surge workforces are in short supply, yet aged care workers are delivering care to the most vulnerable members of society. The sector needs a lot more than a one-off payment,” he said.
Unions warned in November of a staffing crisis in aged care, saying the problem has only worsened since the Royal Commission.
