Australian government to push for meaningful pay rise for aged care workers

The federal government will call for a meaningful pay rise for aged care workers in its submission to the independent wages umpire on Monday, but has stopped short of nominating a specific dollar figure.

The Fair Work Commission FWC is looking at a case brought forward by the unions, which are calling for a 25 per cent pay increase for 200,000 residential and home care workers.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said while the government would push for a pay rise in its Fair Work submission, it wouldn't call for a specific wage increase.

She told Sky News on Sunday that they support a significant, meaningful pay rise.

We will fund it no matter what the decision is. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety's final report last year recommended boosting the pay of aged care workers.

Since the report was released, unions and industry groups have argued that the epidemic has worsened funding and workforce issues, and that pay increases are needed to attract and retain skilled workers.

Labor promised in the lead-up to the May election that it would submit to the FWC's aged care work value case supporting a pay rise for the industry's workforce, and it pledged to fund the arbitrated increase.

The commitment was criticised by then-prime minister Scott Morrison, who questioned how Labor would fund any increase instead of giving aged care workers two, one-off payments of $400.

Ms Wells said a permanent wake hike was desperately needed.

She said that there needs to be something to value aged care workers better and that starts with a pay rise. The number one issue everyone wants to talk about in aged care is workforce shortages.

In the past two years, the complexity of their work has increased, not just through COVID, but in the past decades.

The kind of work we want them to do based on the Royal Commission recommendations for aged care and a better future in aged care - it is more complex work, so they should be recognised for that. If the union case is successful, the FWC would change the aged care award, which outlines the minimum pay rates and conditions of employment.

That could mean different things for different workers, but it could see the minimum wage in aged care rise by $5 an hour.

The minimum wage for a qualified personal carer would be bumped from $23.09 to $28.86 an hour, based on wage rates when the application was lodged.

A level 1 aged care employee could have their weekly pay increase from $800 to more than $1,000 a week, according to the union's proposal.

The case in the FWC has been going on since 2020 and is due to hold hearings this month where it will hears from the government and unions.