With the Government’s High-Risk Settings Pandemic Payment finishing on 31 March, the Government has replaced it for aged care workers with a new Aged Care Worker COVID-19 leave grant of exactly the same value – $750.

The payment will be available for both casual and permanent aged care workers who do not have access to annual leave.

Providers will make the payment to staff and will be reimbursed by the Government. The reimbursement payments will be made every three months through the Department of Health and Aged Care.

No end date has been set for the new payments.

The Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said the grant is about “providing support” to aged care workers and “making sure that if they contract COVID, there is no disincentive from them isolating and not going to work and potentially exposing residents of their aged care facility to a virus that is very dangerous for the most vulnerable members of our community in aged care.”