Aged care worker COVID-19 leave payment grants
Australian Government-funded residential aged care and home care package providers can apply for new aged care worker COVID-19 leave payment grants.
Providers may apply for reimbursement of up to $750 per week for payments they have made (from 1 April 2023).
The grants reimburse providers for leave paid to directly employed permanent or casual aged care workers who both:
- cannot work due to COVID-19
- have no other access to leave payments.
This will support workers caring for older Australians most at risk of severe illness. It will encourage staff who test positive to COVID-19 to stay home while unwell and protect older Australians in their care.
Read more about aged care worker COVID-19 leave payment grants.
More information is available on GrantConnect.
2023 COVID-19 Aged Care Support Grant (GO6223)
Australian Government-funded approved providers of residential and home care services can apply for the 2023 COVID-19 Aged Care Support Grant.
This grant covers eligible costs they have incurred due to COVID-19 outbreaks (or home care recipients impacted by COVID-19) between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023.
It will help providers transition to managing the costs of COVID-19 outbreaks as part of normal business.
For further information visit GrantConnect.
Please note: You must register to access the documents. Please read the grant opportunity guidelines to understand the process and expectations of the grant.
Closed grant – 2021–2022 COVID-19 Aged Care Support Program Extension Grant (GO4863)
This grant reimbursed eligible Australian Government-funded approved providers of residential and home care services. It covered additional costs they incurred due to managing a direct impact of COVID-19, between 28 May 2021 to 31 December 2022.
The grant closed on 31 March 2023.
Update to processing times
The COVID-19 Aged Care Support Program Extension grant (GO4863) closed on 31 March 2023.
We received over 11,000 applications for the grant. This large number of applications has led to delays in processing times.
All complete applications submitted before March 2023 are now under active assessment or have been completed.
We are taking all possible steps to process the remaining applications. This includes prioritising
- applications from providers in financial distress
- low-cost claims
- exceptional circumstances applications.
Each application requires an assessment to protect the taxpayer and to ensure only eligible expenses are being reimbursed.
Incomplete or incorrect information (including incorrect authorised contact details) causes delays. It may also mean the application is ineligible for the grant.
If you receive a request for information (RFI) about your application, you need to provide the information within 14 days.
Extensions to requests for information will no longer be accepted after 31 August 2023.
After 31 August 2023, if requests for information have not been returned within 14 days, we will finalise assessments based on the information we have.
Variations process to claims
Under the grant assessment process, providers could submit a revision to their application for consideration if they either:
- identified an error
- identified a missed claim
- received a late invoice from a vendor.
This has contributed to delays in processing claims.
The final date for claim variations was 30 June 2023. We are no longer accepting further adjustments.
Setting a firm date for final revisions allowed us to finalise all applications and pay providers as soon as possible.
Application Status
Application outcome submitted before 26 March 2023
- No further action required if you have received an outcome.
- We are not accepting further adjustments after 31 March 2023.
Application outcome submitted after 26 March 2023
- We accepted final revisions until 30 June 2023.
- We are no longer accepting adjustments.
- However, requests for adjustments to previously executed grant payments (for application outcomes received after 31 March 2023) will be triaged last in the assessment process.
Applications under assessment
- We accepted final revisions until 30 June 2023.
- Wherever possible, we will assess your application based on your revised claim (if submitted).
- If the original claim has already been assessed, we will finalise the initial outcome and do a secondary assessment of any revisions.
Application submitted but not yet assessed
- We accepted final revisions until 30 June 2023.
- We will assess your application based on your revised claim (if requested).
We will continue to accept requests for review of ineligible items after you have received an outcome letter.
Learn more about this closed grant on GrantConnect.
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