BREAKING:
In a huge win for our sector and the people with disability we support, today NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has announced a 9% funding increase to the NDIS.
This will cover union won wage increases and new entitlements for disability workers starting from 1 July.
NDIS packages will increase to cover the new pricing.
ASU Secretary Natalie Lang says:
“Disability workers are essential workers who make the difference in people’s lives every day. As the NDIS union, we welcome this increase in funding that recognises the essential work of our members. This new funding recognises that the NDIS prices needs to changes the way it operates to keep skilled professional disability support workers. The increase in funding is specifically to cover improvements to disability support workers’ pay, superannuation and award conditions won by the Australian Services Union.”
ASU members working in the disability sector have recently won much needed improvement to the award and a 4.6% pay rise, awarded by the Fair Work Commission. We have also won necessary changes to
- On call entitlements,
- Laundry Allowance
- Broken shift payments,
- Shift cancellation and more.
ASU Secretary Natalie Lang says:
“Previous models didn’t actually reflect how a high-quality disability service should be run. There was insufficient funding for supervision and training. The prices didn’t include funding for all award entitlements. Bad pricing decisions promoted short-term thinking and drove many dedicated disability support workers from the sector."
We need over 80,000 new disability workers.
We need to attract and retain workers to fill this need, and provide people with disability the support they need.
The 9% increase covers:
- changes to the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) Industry Award conditions that will come into effect on 1 July 2022
- costs associated with managing the COVID-19 pandemic
- NDIS quality and safeguards regulatory requirements
- Fair Work Commission’s recent wage decision
- superannuation guarantee charge increase.
Share this fantastic news with your colleagues in the disability support sector.