Australia’s ageing population is already causing increased demand for residential facilities and qualified care workers and the issue is expected to escalate in the coming years.
As a recent KPMG report shared, people are living longer than ever before, with greater frailty. It is projected that the number of Australians aged 85 years and over will increase to more than 1.5 million by 2058.
The Problem
As demand for aged care services rises, the workforce available to support the increasing demand is in decline. A projection by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia claimed there will be a shortfall of 110,000 workers by the year 2030. To add to this, 49 percent of existing workers say they are planning to leave the industry in the next five years.
Attracting, training and retaining home and residential aged care workers is already a challenge for the industry, and the problem is set to increase. Recent changes after the Royal Commission into Aged Care mean facilities have strict standards and accountability requirements to adhere to. For example, each facility needs a registered nurse on call 24/7 and each person in aged care requires 200 minutes of care each day, including 40 from a registered nurse.
Attracting Staff to a Growing Industry
There are a few ways staffing for aged care will be managed in the future. These include:
- Empowering more people to live independently in old age
- Improving technology so carers can focus on care work rather than administrative tasks
- Attracting more people to the industry with incentives and subsidised training
- Making it easier for migrant workers to enter the country.
A new Aged Care Act is set to be released in July this year. To help maintain standards and improve the number of skilled carers in the industry, the following initiatives are included:
- The new Home Care Workforce Support Program to attract, train and retain new and existing workers and grow the home care workforce. This will help to:
- attract and recruit new personal care workers (PCWs) to the sector
- support new PCWs to complete high-quality training
- upskill the existing workforce.
- A new Support at Home Program. This will deliver a seamless system of care and choice for older people, and will act to facilitate independence for seniors through allied health visits, assistive technology and home modifications.
49 per cent of existing workers say they are planning to leave the aged care industry in the next five years. – Aged Care Workforce Report 2023
Introducing Skilled Migrants as Aged Care Workers
Empowering people to live at home will help to reduce the demand on residential aged care facilities but there is still expected to be a worker shortfall. To mitigate this, migration is part of the solution. The benefit of this strategy is being able to welcome skilled carers who can provide quality care with less training and support.
The Federal Treasurer’s recent Working Future Whitepaper is a roadmap of sorts to future-proof Australia’s aged care system. This paper mentions a new Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement to help employers bring in skilled migrant workers to meet critical workforce shortages.
This agreement makes it easier for aged care employers to sponsor overseas workers in the following key direct care occupations:
- Nursing Support Worker (ANZSCO 423312)
- Personal Care Assistant (ANZSCO 423313)
- Aged or Disabled Carer (ANZSCO 423111).
Applicants can be nominated through the Labour Agreement streams of the Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) visa and Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa once the employer has entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the relevant union.
Recruiting international skilled carers is part of the solution to fill the gaps in the locally-based workforce. However, this strategy needs to be applied in a streamlined way in order to reduce the timelines and costs of bringing skilled migrants into the country. If your organisation needs support to add to its workforce, reach out to The Migration Agency today.