The Australian Government continues to support the aged care workforce who are unable to continue caring for older Australians due to COVID-19 related absences through the Aged Care Worker COVID-19 Leave Payment grant.
Supporting aged care workers to stay home when they test positive for COVID-19 reduces the spread of the virus among older people and other staff.
From 1 July 2023, Australian Government funded residential aged care providers and home care providers can apply for new aged care worker COVID-19 leave payment grants of up to $750 per person per week. These grants:
- reimburse providers for leave paid to directly employed permanent or casual aged care workers
- cover employees who cannot work due to testing positive to COVID-19 and have no other access to leave payments.
Eligible Australian Government funded residential aged care providers and home care providers can apply for these grants to cover payments made to eligible permanent and casual aged care workers from 1 April 2023 - 31 December 2023.
For further information about this upcoming Grant Opportunity, please see the draft Grant Opportunity Guidelines and draft frequently asked questions now available on GrantConnect.