A new Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement is now available! The announcement by the Minister is welcomed news to a critical industry that is struggling to find support staff. This new labour agreement pathway comes after a royal commission highlighted that the continued and significant aged care labour shortage is compromising the care of older Australians.
The Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement includes the following employer sponsored visa types:
- Temporary Skill Shortage visas (TSS - subclass 482); and
- Employer Nomination Scheme visas (ENS - subclass 186)
The Government is also encouraging aged care providers to consider hiring workers on other visa types, such as the Working Holiday visa (subclass 417), the Student visa (subclass 500) or Protection (refugee) visas.
There are many generous concessions to the Labour Agreement including:
- Annual salary requirement of at least AUD51,222 or the current Australian Market Salary rate, whichever is higher; and
- English language concessions to attract overseas workers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds; and
- No post qualification work experience minimum for TSS visas; and
- Priority processing for labour agreement applications, position nominations and visa applications; and
- Fast track to permanent residence under the Employer Nomination Scheme after 2 years of relevant full-time (or part-time equivalent) work experience in Australia in a direct care role. Importantly, the 2-year work experience requirement for ENS visas is NOT tied to any one employer or visa type meaning that a range qualified overseas workers can be sponsored for permanent residence directly by employers under this labour agreement.
Employer Requirements for the Labour Agreement:
Union engagement - Aged care providers must first enter into a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MOU) with the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, the Health Services Union, or the United Workers Union.
No Labour Market Testing - An ongoing MOU with one of these unions means that eligible employers will not need to provide evidence of labour market testing for each position.
Occupations - Only the following occupations are currently available under the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement:
- Nursing Support Worker (ANZSCO 423312)
- Personal Care Assistant (ANZSCO 423313)
- Aged or Disabled Carer (ANZSCO 423111)
Aged care providers requiring other types of roles will need to seek out alternative employer sponsored or skilled visa pathways for these workers.
Once the aged care provider - union MOU is established, eligible aged care providers can proceed to make an online request to the Department of Home Affairs for an Aged Care Industry Agreement.
Overseas Worker Requirements
Eligible overseas workers must:
- Have suitable qualifications (Australian AQF Certificate III or at least 12 months relevant full-time (or part-time equivalent) of work experience. A skills assessment is required where visa applicants have overseas qualifications or are using their work experience in place of formal educational qualifications); and
- Have the required English level:
- TSS visas – at least IELTS 5.0 overall with a minimum score of IELTS 5.0 for Speaking and Listening, and IELTS 4.5 for Reading and Writing (or another acceptable test equivalent; OR
- TSS visas for applicants with CALD target community language fluency: at least IELTS 4.5 overall with no minimum band scores (or other acceptable test equivalent); OR
- ENS visas – at least IELTS 5.5 with no minimum band scores (or another acceptable test equivalent
- Have a signed employment contract in place and sponsorship with an eligible aged care provider; and
- Have adequate private health insurance for TSS visas; and
- Pass health and character checks before being granted a visa.
Visa applicants will be able to include their eligible family members in their visa application.
Overall, this is an excellent opportunity for aged care providers to access much needed staffing support through a more streamlined arrangment with the Department of Home Affairs. Do you have questions about the Aged Care Labour Agreement or would you like assistance in setting up your Labour Agreement? Please contact us, we are here to help!
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Photo by Georg Arthur Pflueger on Unsplash
