Workers’ COVID bonus falls short
Provider and union groups welcome the latest aged care retention bonus but say it is not nearly enough.
“Grossly inadequate” is how Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive officer Paul Sadler described the aged care workers’ COVID bonus to Australian Ageing Agenda.
While welcoming the fact that the Commonwealth has announced it will provide two payments of up to $400 to all aged care workers, including staff initially exempt – such as those providing food and cleaning services – Mr Sadler said the mechanism that the Government had chosen was “the least best”.
“It recognises an issue there and any money in the hand of a low-paid worker is obviously helpful,” he said, “but it’s not going to do very much to staunch the risk of people leaving the sector because they’re completely burnt out.”
And not every worker will receive the full payment. In fact, the number of workers eligible for the total handout “won’t be many,” Mr Sadler said. This is because the bonus payment is graduated on the number of hours an individual works. “The majority of the workforce in aged care is part-time so they will not be receiving the full $800,” he said.
Unveiling the COVID payments during a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra, the Prime Minister acknowledged “the hard work, long hours and dedicated care” offered by Australia’s 360,000 aged care workers. “Their resilience over the past two years has been inspiring,” Scott Morrison said.
Meanwhile, in a press release, Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services Richard Colbeck said: “The payments will provide additional encouragement [for workers] to continue working through the pandemic and help attract additional workers into aged care.”
In a rare joint statement, aged care unions and providers disagreed. “It remains to be seen how this short-term payment will prevent a feared exodus of staff from the frontline. Resignations due to fatigue and feeling undervalued continue to devastate the sector,” it said.
It’s a view shared by Uniting NSW.ACT CEO Tracey Burton in this article for AAA. “Providers are losing valuable skilled staff who have resigned after years in the sector due to the ongoing, relentless pressures on the workforce as they battle to protect and support the older Australians in their care,” she said. “As the Omicron variant sweeps the nation, I am reaching out to request urgency in addressing the wages deficit.”
In order “to recognise and incentivise aged care workers,” unions and providers have called on the Commonwealth to offer staff an ongoing COVID bonus to be paid throughout the duration of the pandemic.
Mr Sadler emphasised their point. “The providers and unions are resolute in their call for the Prime Minister to offer more than just a two-payment bonus for the overwhelmed aged care workers,” he said.
The Omicron surge has caused an escalating crisis in the aged care sector, leaving the workforce stressed, understaffed, and working extra shifts.
Workers will receive the COVID bonus payments later this month and sometime in May.
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