Award wage increase for nurses in aged care – Webinar

Award Wage Increase for Nurses in Aged Care 

Tuesday, 18 February 2025
 
Presented by:

Moderator:

• Stephanie Kaiser – Assistant Secretary, Aged Care Workforce Branch  

Panellists: 

• Mark Richardson – Assistant Secretary, Residential Care and Hotelling Reform Branch 
• Rachel Blackwood – Assistant Secretary, Home Support Operations Branch 
• Karen Hall – Director, Aged Care Workforce Branch 
• Chris Crisafi – Director, Workplace Relations Policy, Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman 

[Opening visual of slide with text saying ‘Australian Government with Crest (logo)’, ‘Department of Health and Aged Care’, ‘Award wage increase for nurses in aged care’, ‘Stephanie Kaiser, Assistant Secretary, Aged Care Workforce Branch’, ‘Christopher Crisafi, Director, Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman’, ‘Mark Richardson, Assistant Secretary, Residential Care and Hotelling Reform Branch’, ‘Rachel Blackwood, Assistant Secretary, Home Support Operations Branch’, ‘Karen Hall, Director, Aged Care Workforce Branch’, ‘agedcareengagement.health.gov.au’, ‘18 February 2025’] 

[The visuals during this webinar are of each speaker presenting in turn via video, with reference to the content of a PowerPoint presentation being played on screen] 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining the webinar today. I’m Stephanie Kaiser, Assistant Secretary, Aged Care Workforce Branch at the Department of Health and Aged Care and I’ll be co-hosting this event with some of my colleagues. So I’ve got Mark Richardson, Assistant Secretary, Residential Care and Hotelling Reform Branch, Rachel Blackwood, Assistant Secretary, Home Support Operations Branch, and Karen Hall, Director in the Aged Care Workforce Branch. Also presenting will be Chris Crisafi from the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman. 

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we are virtually meeting on today. So I’m based in Canberra on the lands of the Ngunnawal people and I’d like to acknowledge and pay respects to their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region. I also extend that acknowledgment and respect to other families with a connection to this region and any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people who are here with us today. 

I would just like to draw your attention to the process for asking questions. There will be a Q&A session at the end of the webinar. You can submit questions in Slido which is on the right hand side of your screen and we will attempt to respond to as many questions as possible today. Questions and answers including the ones that we may not get to will be published in an FAQ document on our website following the webinar. Questions submitted during the registration process have also been considered for today’s Q&A session. We sometimes receive questions that are unclear or not directly relevant to the webinar. If we’re unable to answer a question during the session we will follow up with the relevant area in the Department and respond through the FAQ document. Please note there’s no option for attendees to turn on their video or microphone during the webinar. 

Webinar slides are now available on our website. This session is being recorded and will be published on our website in the coming days. 

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Overview’, ‘Stephanie Kaiser’, ‘Assistant Secretary’, ‘Aged Care Workforce Branch’] 

Today’s webinar will provide information about how funding will be delivered to support the aged care award wage increases for registered and enrolled nurses which are occurring on 1 March 2025. We will also cover the release of the latest Aged Care Nurses Award Wage Guidance.  

But before we begin I would like to acknowledge that we are aware there is another webinar relevant for the aged care sector that is running at a similar time today. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this unforeseen clash. Just to note again this webinar is being recorded and will be available on our website in the next few days. I understand the other webinar is also being recorded. 

In addition I would like to acknowledge the relatively tight timeframe between the Fair Work Commission’s decision in December and the 1 March commencement date and the challenges this has provided in terms of preparing for the commencement date. We appreciate you making the time to attend today and we acknowledge that information being provided is with a very short lead time to the 1st of March. 

As you are aware on 6 December 2024 the Fair Work Commission made a decision for further award wage increases for registered and enrolled nurses working in aged care. These increases vary across the classifications and are on top of the 15% award wage increase introduced from 30 June 2023. In addition the Fair Work Commission has decided to make classification changes to the Nurses Award. Aged care nurses will receive the award wage increases over three tranches with the first tranche commencing from an employee’s first full pay period on or after 1 March 2025. The second tranche will be on 1 October 2025 and the third tranche on 1 August 2026. 

As set out on the screen these are workers covered by the Nurses Award 2020 and include both enrolled and registered nurses. 

Chris from the Fair Work Ombudsman will talk more about classification changes shortly. 

This slide provides an overview of the programs through which the Government will be providing funding to support the award wage increase. These are the same programs through which the Stage 2 and Stage 3 award wage increases were supported. Funding for residential aged care, subsidy uplift for the Home Care Packages Program and Support at Home, indexation funding for nurse activity in the Commonwealth Home Support Program, funding for providers of specialist aged care programs including the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Care Program, Short Term Restorative Care, select providers of multipurpose services and the Transition Care Program, funding for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Community Nursing Programs and grants funding for historical leave liabilities. 

The Government’s funding to support the award wage increases will be delivered over three phases to match the timing of changes in award wage rates in the Nurses Award 2020. So 1 March 2025, 1 October 2025 and 1 August 2026. 

I’ll now hand over to my colleague to discuss the classification changes that the Fair Work Commission has made as part of the nurses decision. 

Chris. 

Christopher Crisafi: 

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Classification changes for aged care workers’, ‘Christopher Crisafi’, ‘Director’, ‘Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman’] 

Thanks Stephanie and hello everybody. My name is Chris Crisafi and I’m a Director at the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman. For those who don’t know the work of the Fair Work Ombudsman we’re a separate organisation to the Fair Work Commission but we assist employers and employees understand what their workplace entitlements are and also the power to enforce those if we need to. 

So the new classification structures have been introduced in the Nurses Award 2020 for aged care nurses which will require some employees to be reclassified. Providers need to ensure they’re using the right classification for each staff member from 1 March 2025. The Fair Work Commission has provided a translation schedule in its determination about these changes on how employees are to be translated into the new classification structure for each relevant award. Providers are required to ensure employees are classified correctly under the new award classification structure when passing on the related pay increases. This also includes employers who have an Enterprise Agreement in place as they need to ensure that the minimum hourly rates of pay in their agreement are at least in line with the new minimum rates in the relevant award. 

Now I’ll talk through a classification change example in a moment but the Fair Work Ombudsman also has a Fair Work Infoline which you can call on 13 13 94 which is available to give you specific advice tailored to your individual circumstances if you need it. I won’t be speaking to specific real world examples or complex matters today but the Fair Work Infoline is there if you need any assistance with translating any employees into the new classification structure. And the Fair Work Ombudsman also has an online pay calculator which you may have used before which has the new rates loaded in and you’re able to access those by entering a calculation date on or after 1 March 2025. So just important to make sure you’ve got the date set to 1 March 2025 to get the rates that will apply with the changes taking effect. 

So the updated classifications in the Nurses Award mean that from 1 March 2025 a registered nurse Level 1 pay point three will be reclassified to registered nurse Level 1 in excess of one year and up to four years of employment classified at this level. So that’s one example. Obviously there are many more in the award that you can find there. This will result in the hourly wage of reclassified workers increasing from $35.59 to $37.13 from the first full pay period on or after March 2025 which amounts to an increase of $1.54 per hour. 

Another example we’ve got here for an enrolled nurse. So previously engaged at pay point two will be reclassified as an enrolled nurse supervising other direct care employees. So this will result in an hourly wage of reclassified workers increasing from $32.24 to $34.25 from the first full pay period on or after 1 March 2025 which amounts to an increase of $2.01 per hour. 

So that’s a couple of examples there but as mentioned earlier if you need tailored assistance we have got our Fair Work Infoline and there’s a range of contact information up on the slide at the moment for contacting the Fair Work Ombudsman. If you’re an employer you may also have access to advice from your employer association or industry peak body, so suggest you can contact them as well. Up on the slide at the moment you’ll see there’s a website which is part of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website which is called Aged Care Work Value Case: Changes to awards. That’s a really good place to get further information. From that page you will be able to access our online pay calculator which I mentioned earlier and you’ll also be able to download a quite comprehensive pay guide which has all the new rates in it. If you access the pay guide from the page that’s currently up on the slide you’ll have the most up to date version. So make sure you head to that page to get the resources that you need. 

I’ll now hand back to Department of Health and Aged Care to discuss the award wage increase in the context of residential aged care funding. Thank you. 

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Residential aged care funding’, ‘Mark Richardson’, ‘Assistant Secretary’, ‘Residential Care and Hotelling Reform Branch’] 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Sorry Mark. We can’t hear you there.  

Mark Richardson: 

Can you hear me now? 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Yes. We can. 

Mark Richardson: 

Okay. Sorry about that. I’m having difficulties with my sound obviously. Anyway look thanks Chris. My name is Mark Richardson. I’m the Assistant Secretary of the Residential Care and Hotelling Reform Branch. If we go to the next slide thank you. 

There will be an increase in the AN-ACC price and the 24/7 registered nurse supplement on 1 March 2025. That will be for all residential aged care providers and that will be to fund the first phase of the wage increase for registered and enrolled nurses. The Government is expecting advice from IHACPA on this first phase by the 21st of February 2025 or this Friday. Based on this advice the Government will announce a new AN-ACC price and the 24/7 registered nurse supplement rates. This will apply to your March claims and will be paid automatically in April. And look I should also say that IHACPA will provide advice on the second and third phases of funding for the 1 October and the 1 August wage increases that were mentioned before as part of their 25-26 pricing advice later this year. 

And look on this slide you can scan this QR code. It will take you to a web page. This web page will include the new AN-ACC price once it is announced. I’ll now hand over to my colleague to discuss the award wage increases for home care package funding. 

Rachel Blackwood: 

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘In-home aged care funding’, ‘Rachel Blackwood’, ‘Assistant Secretary’, ‘Home Support Operations Branch’] 

Thank you Mark. My name’s Rachel Blackwood and I’m the Assistant Secretary of the Home Support Operations Branch and I’ll be taking you through the implementation of the aged care nurses award wage rise for the Home Care Packages and Support at Home Programs and also the Commonwealth Home Support Program. 

So as you know on 1 January this year the Home Care Package subsidy was increased to help providers pass on the Stage 3 award wage increase to aged care workers following the Fair Work Commission’s Stage 3 announcement. This process will be repeated for the nurses award wage increase. This means that providers will be able to fund the award wage increase for aged care nurses without reducing services for care recipients. The subsidy will increase by 0.1% from 1 March with associated increases to Home Care Package supplements with a workforce component. Then the relevant subsidies for Support at Home will increase by a further 0.31% on the 1st of October 2025 and 0.48% on the 1st of August 2026. As previously mentioned the wage rise and subsidy increases will occur at the same time to facilitate providers to give effect to the increases in March 2025, October 2025 and August 2026. 

In terms of next steps for providers your pricing for care and services delivered by registered and enrolled nurses may need to increase to fund wage rises. Any increases in pricing must be discussed with care recipients and their consent gained to update their Home Care Agreements and Service Agreements under Support at Home. Of course these updated prices will need to be published on My Aged Care. 

Because of the short timeframes in this case the Department won’t be writing to care recipients individually before the first increase on the 1st of March but we will be emailing providers very shortly with links to fact sheets for both providers and care recipients. These fact sheets will assist you in discussing the price increases with affected care recipients and will also be published on our website very shortly. 

Turning now to the Commonwealth Home Support Program. Providers that have current agreements for nursing that are ending on the 30th of June this year will receive a notice of change to increase the nurses funding amount. The first indexation increase will occur from the 1st of March this year and will provide CHSP nursing providers an additional one off payment covering the increased funds for wages until the end of June. Providers will receive a formal notice of change during March relating to this contractual change. 

Now the Department is currently in the process of recontracting the CHSP program for the 2025-2027 period and no action will be required from nursing providers relating to the nursing indexation boosts for the new contracts. Providers of nursing services will have the indexed 2024-25 amount as their new base from 1 July 2025 so this will be included in providers’ monthly nursing payments from the beginning of the next financial year. 

Providers who have 2025-27 CHSP nursing activities in their agreements will receive similar notices of change during October 2025 and then August 2026 to increase the payments for the nursing activity. 

I will now hand over to my colleague Karen to discuss the wage increase in the context of the historical leave liabilities funding. Thank you. 

Karen Hall: 

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Historical Leave Liabilities’, ‘Karen Hall’, ‘Director’, ‘Aged Care Workforce Branch’] 

Thanks Rachel. Hi. My name’s Karen Hall and I’m a Director in the Aged Care Workforce Branch. Today I’d like to take you through the approach to funding historical leave liabilities for eligible aged care nurses. 

Consistent with the approach for the Stage 2 and Stage 3 award wage increases there will be another grant opportunity for historical leave liabilities to support providers in paying eligible aged care nurses to take their leave entitlements at higher rates of pay. 

This grant opportunity recognises that accumulated leave liabilities for aged care nurses can increase when award wage rates increase. 

Like the Stage 3 decision the Government has decided to fund the grant in the following way. 25% for residential aged care providers and 50% for all other eligible providers. As we noted for the Stage 3 grant opportunity the residential aged care funding model AN-ACC funds providers to deliver care to residents and the AN-ACC price incorporates the cost of labour that provides sufficient funding for wages and on costs including leave and leave provisions. However the Government has still decided to fund a proportion of these increased costs in leave liabilities to ensure all residential aged care providers have sufficient funding to support their workers to take leave. 

For the aged care nurses historical leave liabilities grant opportunity we’ll use the same approach as for the current Stage 3 grant opportunity. To reduce administrative burden providers will be able to apply for both the first and second increases for aged care nurses, so that is the 1 March and the 1 October increases for aged care nurses, in the same application process as the next grant opportunity that is going to be run for the Stage 3 increases. So this grant round is planned to be opened in October 2025. It will include as well a workforce capture template to support providers to provide the correct data for assessment. And the workforce capture template will support applicants to provide HR and financial information at the deidentified employee level to demonstrate the eligible workers whose wages increased due to the nurses decision. Providers will again be asked to use a unique identifier for each employee and this will aid us if we need additional information to support assessment. The unique identifier should match your HR and financial reporting. 

Once your application for the historical leave liabilities grant is completed we do expect providers to retain the HR and financial reports used to complete the workforce capture template for a period of two years. 

This is an important point as we will be undertaking an audit process on a sample of providers to ensure that information provided to the workforce capture template accurately reflects the HR and finance reports used. 

The audit process will seek to recuperate funds from providers if the HR and finance reports do not appear to support the information in the workforce capture template. 

Further information on the grant opportunity including how to apply will be available on GrantConnect closer to the open date. So for providers who might not have we would recommend registering for GrantConnect so that you receive those notices. And this slide here is just a reminder of the current Stage 3 historical leave liabilities tranche one grant that is currently open for applications. And this grant round will close on the 6th of March 2025. So please visit GrantConnect for more information on this grant opportunity. 

I’ll now move on to the accountability arrangements for aged care wages. 

So similar to the Stage 3 award wage increase we have developed a guidance document to support providers in passing on award wage increases to their eligible nurses. This has been published on the Department’s Better and Fairer web page today. And this guidance has been developed in consultation with the ANMF, the Health Services Union, the United Workers Union and Ageing Australia. And it sets out the Government’s key expectations on the treatment of the Government’s wage funding intended for nurses. And this includes the Government’s wage funding is to be passed on to the benefit of nurses and on costs by increasing employees’ wages by at least the amounts set out in the pay tables at the end of the guidance document. Usual enterprise bargaining should occur with periodic wage increases drawn from the provider’s revenue. And engagement with unions and nurse employees to negotiate the award wage increase and translation to the new classifications and also engaging with unions and the employees to communicate these changes. 

The guidance document is largely for providers of residential aged care and home care packages and the nurses decision has been funded through an uplift in subsidies and supplements and it sets again the strong expectation that Government funding should be passed through to workers. 

To support the Government’s expectation on funding the guidance includes pay tables that set out the new award rates and the difference in dollar terms between the current award rate and the new award rate on 1 March for the nurses award classifications. The Government expects that providers will pass on at least this amount to workers. These pay tables also deal with the classification changes by mapping the old classification structure to the new classification structure that commences on 1 March. 

Now providers can pay over and above the amount set out in this guidance and the Government expects that usual enterprise bargaining processes will occur. We also expect that any negotiated or scheduled increases will continue to be paid. And lastly we do appreciate that this information is only being provided today and that there is work that providers have to do to incorporate this into their processes and systems and that this could impact these changes being made in time for 1 March. 

So in terms of accountability the existing accountability mechanisms related to the funding for the previous aged care work value case award wage increases will also apply to the funding for aged care nurses. 

Providers of residential aged care and home care packages will continue to attest in the Quarterly Financial Report that all funding provided to implement the nurses award wage increases is passed on to workers. Providers may attest yes if they have passed on all funding allocated for the nurses award wage increase consistent with the guidance. 

And the Department will continue to closely monitor providers’ attestation responses and publish these responses in a quarterly report. It’s important to note from Quarter 4 24-25 commencing 1 April 2025 the attestation question will apply to the increases associated with the Stage 3 and nurses funding. And I will just see if my light will turn back on. There we go. 

Since Quarter 4 2023 the Quarterly Financial Report has collected information on hourly wage rates including the lowest, average and highest wage rates for direct care workers. And this information will continue to be collected for enrolled nurses and registered nurses. 

We’ll continue to refer providers to the Fair Work Ombudsman for review when they report hourly wage rates that appear to fall below the national minimum award rates. We’ll also continue to monitor providers’ expenditure and labour costs and identify trends in spending over time. Sector trends will be published through the Quarterly Financial Snapshot. And finally service level expenditure on labour and wages will continue to be published as part of a broad suite of expenditure reporting on My Aged Care. 

Okay. I’ll now hand back to Steph. 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Questions’] 

Thanks Karen. And it’s time for our question and answer session. So we’ll get started. So the first question. Mark I think this was kind of covered in your presentation. 

Q: Is the increase to RN wages fully funded and if so when will we see the AN-ACC increases coming through? 

Mark Richardson: 

Yeah. So the AN-ACC price rise will be applied from 1 March and you should see that in your claims as is the standard process right now from April this year. I guess just to go into a little bit more detail, yes you’re right Steph. Just to repeat some of what I said the reason why a new ANACC price has not been announced yet is that Government won’t receive IHACPA’s pricing advice until Friday the 21st of February this week. And as a result I guess obviously a price rise can’t be announced at this point so Government will have a look at that before 1st of March and we should be able to provide some more information then. 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Thanks Mark. So I think the next question is for me.  

Q: Are nurses working as care managers included in the salary increases under home care awards? 

So on 6 December 2024 the Fair Work Commission made a decision for further wage increases for registered and enrolled nurses working in aged care. These increases vary across the classifications and are on top of the 15% award wage increase introduced from 30 June 2023. Aged care nurses employed under the Nurses Award 2020 will receive the award wage increases over three tranches. Nurses working as care manager roles employed under the SCHADS Award would have been eligible for Stage 3 wage increases. 

Okay. Next question. 

So Karen this one is for you. 

Q: We’re currently on an EBA where we pay at different pay rates and the base pay rates are higher than the new pay rates. Would we still be required to provide our nurses the award wage increases? 

Karen Hall: 

Thanks Steph. So similar to the previous stages the Government is providing funding in support of the award wage increases decided by the Commission that will commence on the 1st of March. And the Government expects that providers will pass on all the additional funding to support the implementation of the [0:29:54]. 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Sorry Karen. We’re having some issues with your sound. 

Your connectivity. We’ll come back to that question. Chris the next question is for you. 

Q: Similar to the recent SCHADS changes time spent on Level 1 and Level 2 starts from 1 March 2025. Time accumulated on these levels before this date is not considered when reviewing. Is this correct? Classifications for upcoming change. 

Christopher Crisafi: 

Thanks Steph and thanks for that question. It actually works a little bit differently under this award. So service prior to 1 March 2025 will count and is already reflected in the classification and the current pay point. So that is a bit different to how things work under SCHADS for certain classifications. In the determination itself there’s what is called Schedule F of the award which includes a translation schedule to make the translation clearer. So for example again a registered nurse Level 1 pay point two under the old classification structure transitions to registered nurse Level 1 in excess of one year and up to four years of employment classified at this level. So that translation would take effect from 1 March. But under the new classification structure there are fewer pay points than there were previously for the classifications in question. 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Thanks Chris. Karen we had that question I was asking before about whether people needed to pass on funding if wage rates were higher than the current base rates. Sorry. If base rates are higher than the new pay rates. And we had another question as well that’s very similar in the chat which goes into a little bit more detail. For example: 

Q: If the award increases by $1.37 are we expected to add $1.37 to the current EA rate, though it’s already higher than the award? 

So if you could just have another go and hopefully the connectivity will stay. 

Karen Hall: 

Sure. So hopefully this is coming through okay. And it’s definitely not me trying to avoid the question. So I had mentioned about the expectation that providers will pass on all additional funding to support the implementation of the decision. So if you’re already paying your workforce above the award we do ask that you refer to the guidance document and consider whether the steps you’ve taken meet [0:32:55] 15% wage increase and also the Stage 3 increase. 

Thanks Steph. 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Thanks Karen. Sorry. We had some more sound issues there but the answer will come out in the FAQ document as well if anyone missed that. So another question here. Sorry. Just taking a look. Okay. So I’ll answer this one. 

Q: So does the 6 December 2024 decision apply to nurses covered by Nurses and Midwives Victorian Public Sector Single Interest Employer Agreement 2024-2028? 

So State Governments and local councils like Victoria may operate under broad state awards or Enterprise Agreements that cover more than just aged care, whereby they may also pay their workers under the Fair Work system. The Fair Work Commission decision will only increase aged care awards within the Federal system however if state and territory or local council aged care providers operate residential aged care and/or home care those services will receive funding from the Government that will cover these award wage increases. 

So Chris. 

Q: Are enrolled nurses clarified in the pay guide? 

Christopher Crisafi: 

Thanks Steph. Yes. The pay guide is very comprehensive. So during my earlier presentation I provided a bit of direction about how to find the correct guide. So if you do pick up the guide you’ll be able to find all the rates in there and some big tables. Hopefully that would have everything you need but of course 13 13 94 is the Fair Work Infoline number and an advisor can help you locate whatever you need as well. 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Thanks Chris. Mark. 

Q: Are additional services grandfathered for existing residents? 

Mark Richardson: 

Yeah. So additional services relate to an existing policy around hotelling services as far as I’m aware. So look in terms of the grandfathering arrangements there’s a new program that’s going to be introduced from 1 July. That’s the higher everyday living fee I think it’s called, HELF. But there’s another webinar as far as I’m aware coming up in the next month or so where those types of things will be answered. I don’t specifically know the answer to that question today unfortunately. It’s not in my area. But I think you’ll find out in the next couple of months. 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Thanks Mark. Chris just another question for you. 

Q: What is the process that employers will have to use to ensure proper mapping to the new award structure and therefore determine the pay increase? They will need to establish the exact service of each employee and then place them in the pre 1/1/25 award structure. 

Christopher Crisafi: 

Thanks Steph. So I mentioned earlier there’s what’s called Schedule F in the determination and that’s a really handy resource to assist with mapping classifications into the new structure. And that’s available in the determination which you can get to via our website, the Fair Work Ombudsman website, fairwork.gov.au. But to classify registered nurses Level 1 and 2 you will need to know the worker’s length of service because that is part of working out their classification under the old and new classification structure. Again Fair Work Infoline advisors are there on 13 13 94 if you need assistance with that. 

Stephanie Kaiser: 

Thanks Chris. 

So here’s another one that I will take. 

Q: Will the funding increases include funding for payroll tax? 

So consistent with the approach for Stage 2 and Stage 3 funding there is no provision for payroll taxes under the funding. We understand that payroll tax is a State Government expense that applies to a subset of providers only and is therefore not part of the funding. As such the mechanism by which payroll taxes are funded is a decision for the individual providers to whom these expenses apply. 

Sorry. We have answered some of these that are still on the screen. 

I think we have a question here that we haven’t answered yet.  

Q: Would the presenters be able to give some insight into further funding for the increases in July and later in the year? 

So Mark you touched on that I think for residential aged care but I can just give kind of a broader answer that covers off the Government’s approach. So I understand the interest in the increases happening in the future as well as those that are about to commence on the 1st of March. So hopefully some of these presentations have covered for you how the future increases from 1 October and 1 August will apply for aged care nurses. Obviously some more detail is yet to come particularly on residential aged care. So if you just look at the slides, the QR codes on the slides which we’ll show shortly, there is some more information on there. 

Great. 

So I think we have actually completed all of the questions we have on the screen. 

Yes. We have answered all of those questions. So I don’t know if we have any more questions coming through otherwise we can move on just to our final slide. Thanks. So as I just mentioned before we have a number of web pages which have recently been updated in relation to the Fair Work Commission decision. So if you scan these QR codes on the screen you should be able to access that updated information. And more information will be coming as it becomes available. The guidance that we discussed today is also available on the Department’s website. 

Thank you very much. So again thank you so much for attending today’s webinar. 

And hopefully it answered some of the questions that you have had. 

Bye. 

[Closing visual of slide with text saying ‘Australian Government with Crest (logo)’, ‘Department of Health and Aged Care’, ‘Thank you’, ‘For questions on the awards and employment arrangement, contact the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94’, ‘For questions about how the government is funding the aged care award wage increases, contact AgedCareWages@health.gov.au’, ‘agedcareengaement.health.gov.au’, ‘18 February 2025’] 

[End of Transcript]