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Living Longer. Living Better.

Living Longer. Living Better – Workforce

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May 2012

Key Points:

Aged care services continue to find it difficult to attract and retain sufficient numbers of skilled and trained workers. With a 25 per cent turnover rate, a rate much higher than other sectors, there is an impact on productivity and higher training costs due to the need to continually train new staff. There is a lack of career development within the sector. Qualifications, competency standards and skill sets need to be updated. A career in aged care needs to be promoted as a career of choice to allow the workforce to grow from 304,000 in 2010 to the estimated 827,100 aged care workers by 2050, the number needed to care for an ageing population.

An adequately skilled and well-qualified workforce is essential to deliver quality aged care for the growing number of older Australians, some of whom have complex health needs.

Through the Living Longer Living Better aged care reform package, the Government will provide $1.2 billion over five years to tackle critical shortages in the aged care workforce.

The Government is developing and implementing an aged care workforce productivity strategy in collaboration with the sector to ensure a skilled workforce is attracted and retained to meet growing demand. A new Workforce Compact, between government, unions and aged care providers, will improve the capacity of the aged care sector to attract and retain staff through:

• higher wages;
• improved career structures;
• enhanced training and education opportunities;
• improved career development and workforce planning; and
• better work practices.

Additional funding will be provided to aged care providers who sign up to the Compact. The Compact will be developed by an independently chaired Workforce Advisory Group to ensure that workforce reforms lead to improvements in services for older people and benefits for the workforce.

The Compact will ensure a strong focus on addressing workforce pressures in regional, rural and remote areas, including action to improve the recruitment and retention and overall geographical distribution of aged care workers.

Implementation arrangements:

Funding, for those aged care providers that sign up to the Compact, will be available from 1 July 2013. Providers of residential care and of Home Care packages will receive a new Conditional Adjustment Payment, expressed as a percentage of the basic subsidy. Home support providers who agree to the Compact will receive this amount through amendments to their funding agreements.

Existing funding under the Aged Care Workforce Fund will be redirected to support education and training initiatives.

Tackling aged care workforce pressures

The Government is delivering on its commitment to make aged care reform a second term priority, with a reform package that provides $3.7 billion over the next five years. A total of $1.2 billion over five years will be provided to support the aged care workforce.

This funding is on top of current initiatives, which include:

• A projected $412 million over the next five years through the Aged Care Workforce Fund to build the capacity of the aged care sector to improve the quality of care by developing the skills of the workforce.

As part of the conversations on ageing held across Australia, it was widely acknowledged that older Australians want a skilled, respectful workforce which is able to spend time with them. The conversations highlighted significant knowledge about the pay and conditions of workers in aged care, and conversation participants generally expressed the view that aged care workers should be better paid.

Further Information
For more information please visit: www.agedcareaustralia.gov.au