Source: PSA
The Government must ensure that changes in aged care funding include increased investment in the Home Support workers who care for the elderly, the PSA said today on the International Day for Care and Support Workers (29 October).
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello yesterday announced a ministerial advisory group to make recommendations on how aged care is funded.
Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi Assistant Secretary Melissa Woolley said Home Support workers are now largely being paid close to the minimum wage after the Government scrapped their pay equity claim in May.
“We need a well-trained and qualified workforce to support an ageing population with increasingly complex requirements live at home. Paying the Home Support workers minimum wage just won’t cut it,” Woolley, herself a former Support Worker, said.
“While the number of those needing aged care is increasing low wages and poor conditions are seeing workers leaving the sector to work in better paying positions elsewhere,” Woolley said.
Prior to Associate Minister Costello’s announcement, a group of unions and provider representatives for the care and support sector including the PSA, wrote to ministers responsible for Care and Support workers, and to New Zealand First Ministers On the August 26. (Letters attached. See note below for more detail.)
“We urged this Government to provide funding to employers to pass on a pay increase to care and support workers,” Woolley said.
Woolley said the Home Support sector is an essential but under-represented part of the solution to enable older people to live at home longer.
“Letting people live in their own homes not only benefits those supported but also saves the State from the cost of having these people supported in hospitals and frees up beds for other needs.
“Home Support workers terms and conditions must be included in the review carried out by Minister Costello’s ministerial advisory group. This should include reviewing pay, mileage rates, training and how to move away from piecemeal work to permanent shifts.
“Paid training for Home Support workers, won as part of the 2017 pay equity settlement, is no longer a legal requirement because the settlement has expired.
“The right of Home Support workers to be treated as permanent employees with guaranteed hours won as part of a 2015 travel time settlement was never properly implemented leaving workers with uncertainty of work and low job security.
There have been multiple inquiries into the Home Support sector, such as the Director General’s Reference Group Report, the Settlement Parties Action Group, the Caring Counts Report.
“The recommendations of these reports have never been fully implemented. The changes the workforce needs to have decent work that provides job security and a liveable income have never happened,” Wolley said.
Notes in the letter
The letter was sent on behalf of PSA. The New Zealand Nurses Association, Ē tu, Atamira Platform, Home and Community Health Association, and the New Zealand Disability Support Network.
It was sent to Health Minister Simeon Brown, Minister for Social Development Louise Upston, Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey, Minister for ACC Scott Simpson, Associate Minister Costello and New Zealand Frist Leader Winston Peters.
