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Health Services Union SUBMISSION Health Services Union SUBMISSION Senate Community Affairs References Committee Future of Australia’s aged care sector workforce 1O March 2O16 HSU Submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee Future of Australia’s aged care sector workforce About us The Health Services Union (HSU) is one of Australia’s fastest growing unions with over 70,000 members working in health and community services across the country. Our members work across the health and community services sectors in aged care, disability services, community health, mental health, alcohol and other drugs, private practices and hospitals. Members are health professionals, paramedics, scientists, disability support workers, aged care workers, nurses, technicians, personal care and support workers, clerical and administrative staff, managers, doctors, medical librarians and support staff. Since 1911 we have been committed to advancing and protecting the wages, conditions, rights and entitlements of our members through campaigning and workplace activism. The HSU also provides a range of services and support to assist members with many aspects of working and family life. We are a driving force to make Australia a better place. For questions regarding this submission, please contact: Chris Brown National Secretary Mark Farthing Senior National Project Officer 2 HSU Submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee Future of Australia’s aged care sector workforce Introduction The HSU represents thousands of workers in the aged care sector across the country. Our members include allied health professionals, nurses, personal care workers and support staff. Each of these workers makes an important contribution to the delivery of timely and quality care for older Australians. The HSU is also a founding member of the National Aged Care Alliance (NACA), which, for sixteen years, has represented the interests of the whole sector: providers, workers and consumers. In preparing this submission, we surveyed a small sample of our aged care members. Their stories, as told by them, can be found throughout this submission and they highlight the systemic workforce challenges facing the sector. Their voices are doubly important as they show the human cost of a chronically underfunded system, which is poorly recongised by governments and society more broadly. Partly this reflects social attitudes which see care work as something that should be done within the home and behind closed doors, with the expectation that the labour involved should be gifted freely and without fanfare by people, the vast majority of whom, are women.1 “We are secretaries, financial guides, family support point, roster data managers, and a thousand other duties in a day people.” Anonymous, Personal Care Worker, NSW The comment above—taken from our recent survey of members working in the aged care sector—is emblematic of the emotional labour and dedication aged care workers bring to their jobs. This member, with over twenty years of experience in the sector, is just one of over 200,000 hardworking carers, health professionals, cleaners, cooks, clerks and managers who form the backbone of the sector. Without them, older Australians would not be able to age well and with dignity. Yet, despite this, aged care workers are some of the lowest paid workers in the country. We welcome the Community Affairs References Committee’s interest in the future of the aged care sector workforce and offer a set of recommendations, which we firmly believe will ensure a sustainable, quality workforce both for now and the future. The HSU would also welcome the opportunity to discuss this submission and our recommendations before the committee. We can also facilitate the appearance of our members so that Senators can hear directly from those who care for and support older Australians. We thank the Committee for the opportunity to make this submission. 1 Meagher, G., Szebehely, M., Mears, J. (2016), ‘How institutions matter for job characteristics, quality and experiences: a comparison of home care work for older people in Australia and Sweden’, Work, Employment and Society, p. 2. 3 HSU Submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee Future of Australia’s aged care sector workforce Summary of Recommendations Each of the following recommendations aligns to various arguments we make later in this submission. We believe that it is essential to implement each and every one of them to ensure a quality and sustainable workforce for the aged care sector. Recommendation 1 Increase base-funding for aged care subsidies, such as homecare packages, with a mechanism to ensure that the increased funding goes to boosting worker wages and addressing workload issues. Recommendation 2 That the Commonwealth facilitate and fund a workforce development strategy in a co-design approach including unions, aged care providers and consumers. This strategy needs to look at remuneration, precarious employment, skills development, attraction and retention issues (including ways to address workplace bullying, harassment and discrimination) and opportunities for job redesign for older aged care workers. Recommendation 3 Amend the Sex Discrimination Act to prevent employers discriminating against workers on the basis of their lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex status. Recommendation 4 Investigate the feasibility of, and options for, an accreditation and licensing system for direct care workers, including mandatory minimum qualifications and ongoing continuing professional development. Recommendation 5 Compel aged care providers to publish minimum and maximum staff/client ratios in the service finder on the My Aged Care website. In an open marketplace, this information is essential for consumers making an informed choice about who will provide their care and support. Recommendation 6 Task the Australian Industry and Skill Committee and/or the Skills Service Organisation for the community services and health industries, Skills iQ, to commence work on identifying the feasibility of, and options for, innovative job redesign in the sector so that mature-age workers can continue working and caring as they themselves age. Recommendation 7 Return at least $3 billion2 of funding to the sector and direct it to workforce programs focusing on boosting wages and improving training. This is the amount of funding cut through various budgetary measures since the election of the Abbott/Turnbull Government in September 2013. Recommendation 8 Delay the implementation of changes to Fringe Benefits Tax exemptions for employees of public benevolent institutions, health promotion charities, public and not-for-profit hospitals and public ambulance services until a transitional funding package is in place to support wages for workers in the not-for-profit sector. 2 This figure is comprised of the $1.5 billion “repurposed” from Aged Care Workforce Supplement; $595 million worth of cuts to various aged care workforce programs in the 2015 MYEFO, $295 million worth of “savings” from changes to fringe benefit tax concessions in the 2015-16 Federal Budget; $652 million from discontinuing the Payroll Tax Supplement in the 2014-15 Federal Budget. 4 HSU Submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee Future of Australia’s aged care sector workforce Recommendation 9 Include the employment characteristics of support staff in the next Aged Care Workforce Census conducted by the National Institute of Labour Studies. Recommendation 10 Adopt those recommendations that have not yet been actioned in the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) report Training for aged and community care in Australia. Additionally, increase ASQA’s base funding to enable it to fulfil its mandate as the guardian of quality in the vocational education and training system. 5 HSU Submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee Future of Australia’s aged care sector workforce The current aged care workforce: underpaid, understaffed, underappreciated Workforce profile In 2012, the third Aged Care Workforce Census (the Census) was released by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. The Census—undertaken by the National Institute of Labour Studies (NILS)—provides the most accurate and up-to-date composition of the aged care sector workforce. The defining characteristics of the workforce are that it is overwhelmingly female, older and works part-time (defined as less than 38 hours per week). According to the 2012 Census, while males have increased as a proportion of the aged care workforce, 90 per cent of the direct care workforce is still female.3 Our survey results showed a slightly lower proportion of women (87 per cent), however our sample was smaller and included workers in support services, which are traditionally male-dominated, such as transport and maintenance. Figure 1. Aged care workforce age profile (HSU survey compared with 2012 National Aged Care Workforce Census – residential direct care workforce dataset) 45.0 42.2 40.0 35.0 32.7 31.0 30.0 24.5 25.0 20.7 % 20.0 18.3 15.0 12.3 10.0 7.1 4.9 2.7 5.0 1.6 2.0 0.0 16 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 to 74 HSU Survey 2012 Aged Care Census In terms of the age profile of the workforce, 1 in 4 workers (27.2 per cent) in the aged care sector are over the age of 55. Our survey results revealed an even older age profile, with 44.2 per cent of workers over the age of 55 (see Figure 1). Overall, however, the results were broadly consistent and they should raise immediate
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