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‘Broken promise’
Sector reacts to payment
details of retention bonus.
Aged care workers and providers are
saying the government has broken
its promise after it released further
details about its retention bonus grant.
In March, Minister for Aged Care Richard
Colbeck announced $234.9 million for
a COVID-19 retention bonus that would
see direct care workers receive a payment
of up to $800 after tax and home care
workers get $600 after tax.
However, in a recently released fact
sheet, the government confirmed that, like
the JobKeeper payments, the retention
bonus payments “are considered income
and are subject to income tax”.
Leading Age Services Australia (LASA)
chief executive Sean Rooney called the
move shameful.
“This is a broken promise, a tax
turnaround on what was promised in
March with great fanfare,” Rooney said.
Annie Butler, federal secretary of
the Australian Nursing and Midwifery
Federation, said its members “are
dismayed and disappointed”.
“This bonus was intended to recognise
the dedication and commitment aged
care workers have continued to show in
treating and protecting older Australians
during the crisis, potentially putting their
own safety and their families’ safety at risk,”
Butler said.
On top of the tax issue, the United
Workers Union was also disappointed to
see that the payment will still not extend
beyond direct care workers in residential
aged care.
“As sold to the workforce the
original intention was that the bonus
was to retain staff in the sector at
this crucial time and to recognise the
hard work aged care workers have
been doing on the frontline. But roles
including admin staff, cooks, cleaners
and facility managers are excluded,
leading to division across a facility,” the
union’s aged care director, Carolyn
Smith, said.
LASA also called on the government
to extend the retention bonus to all staff
working to protect older Australians
receiving care. ■
Social leave
New law gives relief to
aged care residents.
Aged care residents who
have decided to leave their
home due to the coronavirus
pandemic will be covered by a new
law that will allow them to take
additional leave in extraordinary
circumstances.
It will allow permanent residential aged
care residents to take social leave above
their current annual allocation of 52 days in
situations like natural disasters or, indeed,
pandemics.
The bill would cover the additional leave
any resident may have taken from April 1.
Currently, when a resident goes over
their social leave entitlement, the aged care
home no longer receives the government
residential care subsidy for that person,
and the provider is able to pass those costs
onto the resident or their family.
Introducing the bill, the minister for
Indigenous Australians and former aged
care minister Ken Wyatt said the COVID-19
pandemic has highlighted the inadequacy
of the current leave provisions.
“This bill ensures that permanent
aged-care residents and their families
are supported to make decisions about
personal safety in emergency situations,
and not suffer unnecessary financial
burden as a result,” Wyatt said.
“It also ensures that, following an
emergency, residents are still able to use
their social leave entitlement to maintain
their normal visiting and special events
routine with their families and friends,
which is important for emotional and
mental health.”
The bill has Labor’s support. Shadow
aged care minister Julie Collins said
there are around 500 families using the
social leave.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic, many
family members have made the decision
to continue caring for their loved ones in
their own home and not to return to the
residential aged-care facility to receive this
care,” Collins said.
“The consumer, the resident or their
family is required to pay the government
subsidy of $230 per resident per day to
save their place in the residential agedcare
facility that they are taking leave from,
so that they can go back into that facility
when the pandemic is over.
“For many families and consumers, this is
a cost that they’re unable to sustain.” ■
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