About the program
The Regional, Rural and Remote Home Care Workforce Support Program will add an extra 4,000 home care workers over 3 years to regional, rural and remote areas where workforce shortages are the most acute.
The program provides funding to three organisations to help home care providers in eligible locations to:
- attract, recruit, and retain new personal care workers to the sector
- support personal care workers (both new and existing) to develop the skills and undertake training to deliver high quality aged care services
- enhance the mentoring and leadership skills of the existing workforce to support career pathways and retention of new PCWs
Eligible locations and organisations delivering the program are outlined below:
| Organisation | State | Eligible SA3 Regions |
| Ageing Australia | Tasmania | Burnie-Ulverstone; Devonport |
| Victoria | Shepparton | |
| Skills Generation | New South Wales | Broken Hill - Far West; Clarence Valley; Great Lakes; Kempsey - Nambucca; Southern Highlands; Taree - Gloucester |
| Queensland | Biloela; Burnett; Central Highlands; Charters Towers - Ayr - Ingham; Outback – North; Outback- South | |
| South Australia | Eyre Peninsula and South West; Limestone Coast; Lower North; Murray and Mallee; Outback - North and East; Yorke Peninsula | |
| Western Australia | Albany; Esperance; Kimberley; Manjimup; Mid West; Wheat Belt – North; Wheat Belt – South | |
| Crest NT Ltd | Northern Territory | Alice Springs, Barkly, Daly-Tiwi-West Arnhem, Darwin City and Darwin Suburbs, East Arnhem, Katherine, Litchfield, Palmerston
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This builds on work done by the previous Home Care Workforce Support Program, which ceased on 30 June 2024 and attracted 13,000 new PCWs to the home care sector nationally over 3 years.
Why it is important
This program helps to:
- develop a skilled home care workforce to help older people remain independent and live at home
- add more personal care workers to the care and support sector, especially aged care.
How to get involved
If you're a provider, a PCW or looking for work in home care in one of the eligible regions, contact the organisation representing eligible regions for support:
- Vic and Tas – Ageing Australia
- NSW, Qld, SA, WA – Skills Generation
- NT – Crest NT Ltd.
The previous Home Care Workforce Support Program
The previous Home Care Workforce Support Program
The previous Home Care Workforce Support Program was funded from March 2021 to June 2024 and attracted 13,000 new PCWs to the home care sector nationally.
The evaluation of this program found that:
- There is a need to enhance the skills and capacity of providers in relation to HR processes, including attraction, recruitment, screening, interviewing, placing workers in jobs more quickly and developing the workforce.
- There is a need to adapt to labour market conditions and the sector needs to be agile and innovative, e.g. speed up time taken to finalise recruitment processes.
- Grant recipients with existing relationships with industry stakeholders and aged care providers and/or skills in relationship building were able to undertake activities more quickly and effectively.
- Grant recipients who had a physical presence in communities were able to develop relationships and local knowledge about candidates, providers, and other stakeholders more easily.
- There is also a need to build strong relationships with registered training organisations and demonstrate to providers the value of taking on students and trainees.
Other support for providers
Along with the Regional, Rural and Remote Home Care Workforce Support Program, providers are also able to access additional workforce support through:
- the Business and Workforce Advisory Service – which provides free, confidential and professional advice on aged care business and workforce issues:
- the Remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Service Development Assistance Panel (SDAP) – which provides free professional support to providers located in remote areas or who provide care to First Nations people.
Related topics
- Support for aged care providers
- Learning and development for aged care workers
- Getting into the aged care workforce
- Home care packages
- Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP).
Contact
