A staggering 97% of aged care workers have not received the Morrison government’s promised $800 bonus, according to a survey.
The federal government promised in January it would give 265,000 aged care staff a maximum of $800 in two instalments ahead of the election. The bonus payments were designed to address concerns about underpayment, staff turnover and the government’s pandemic response.
Providers were eligible to apply for the payment from 1 March for any worker active in the industry on 28 February, and the government asked providers to fork out the money to give to workers before their applications were approved and finalised with government.
A survey of 1,000 aged care workers conducted by the United Workers Union (UWU) revealed 97% have not yet received the bonus payment. More than 75% said they had received no information about the bonus.
The UWU said surveyed workers expressed anger that the payments, which the government had signalled would be paid quickly, were caught up in lengthy bureaucratic processes.
The survey results come as aged care workers across the country take the first steps towards industrial action, lodging applications with the Fair Work Commission. The UWU says those applications span facilities employing more than 13,000 workers.
“Aged care workers were failed in the vaccination program, they were failed with PPE, they were left to fend for themselves during Omicron, working repeated double shifts – and now they have been failed in the bonus program,” UWU aged care director Carolyn Smith said.
“Aged care workers haven’t been fooled – this bonus doesn’t even touch the sides on the chronic understaffing, the outrageous workloads and the lack of time to care that existed even before Covid,” Smith said.
The government’s formal advice to aged care providers is that they should pay the money to their workers at the time they lodge applications with the government. That effectively asks a sector that is seriously underfunded to stump up the money before their claims are even approved by the government.
Last week, the government said it had received just 322 applications, all of which are still being assessed. It was expecting to receive 1,650 by the time applications close in early April.
A spokesman for aged care minister Richard Colbeck said on Thursday that 650 applications had now been received from providers.
“Allocations of bonus payments to aged care workers is on schedule,” the spokesman said.
“In the three weeks since the grant round has been open, the Department has received more than 650 applications out of an expected 1600 for the round.”
The Health Services Union (HSU) said the government had been repeatedly warned about issues restricting access to the scheme, including the requirement that cash-strapped providers pay workers prior to receiving approval.
“The for-profits, there’s not many of them, I can see they might dip into their profit margin,” HSU secretary Gerard Hayes said. “But the not-for-profits, I’ve got no idea where they would get the money to facilitate this.”
Colbeck’s office said the program was “demand-driven” and that providers had been encourage to pay workers at the time they submit their application for the bonus.
His office also indicated that some providers were submitting applications incorrectly.
“The department is working closely with providers where applications have been completed incorrectly,” a spokesman said.
“Staff are encouraged to talk to their employer and seek the information that has been provided to them through peak aged care organisations and unions.”
