Key Points
- Disability support workers are leaving the sector for aged care.
- The 15 per cent pay rise for aged care workers is a big driving factor, advocates report.
- New disability workforce data shows there is insufficient capacity to meet future growth demands.
The disability support sector is struggling to find enough workers to meet demand, with a key industry body calling for changes to boost its workforce.
Annual data on the disability workforce is collected by the peak group representing non-government providers, National Disability Services (NDS).
Its latest report shows the sector's current position is "precarious, with a continued undersupply and high turnover rate".
The trends show the sector won't be able to meet an anticipated increased demand over the coming months and years.
"Although things have stabilised a little bit over this last year with the workforce, they haven't increased in the number that we would want and expect, given the growth in demand for NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) services," NDS CEO Laurie Leigh said.
"Providers are being put in a very difficult position where they've got participants, people with disability calling them up for services, but they're finding it hard to find sufficient workforce to be able to deliver the services that are needed."
She said the 15 per cent pay increase announced by the Fair Work Commission for aged care workers three months ago is also enticing workers to leave the disability sector for aged care.
"Nobody is suggesting the aged care workers should not have their pay increase - it is richly well deserved," she said.
"But when things change in one part of the care and support economy, and that's not matched or considered with the impact that it might have on other parts of the care and support economy, such as disability, it does have an impact.
"It does make things more difficult when you're struggling already to recruit."
'Significant needs'
Demand for disability services increased in the July to December 2022 period, with the addition of 2,084 positions.
The average hours worked each week by disability support workers also increased to 22.6 hours.
Since 2020, more workers are casual employees, accounting for 39 per cent of the sector's workforce.
Ms Leigh said reform is needed to ensure disability support workers feel incentivised to stay in the sector.
"Workers in the whole of the caring economy workforce do some of the most essential work in our society - and they aren't well remunerated for that," Ms Leigh said. "If we're really trying to attract workers to the sector, we need to think about their terms and conditions and their pay as well."
Demand for disability support workers is growing with 2,084 people joining the industry as casuals in the six month-period ending December 2022. Source: SBS News / Data source: NDS
She also called for more uptake in the employment of people with disability as workers, and increased recruitment of Australians with disabilities on the boards of disability service providers.
"There would be a ready pool of people to approach for employment," she said.
"We do see in this report that there is still not a huge change to employment of people with disabilities, particularly in areas like representation on the boards of disability service providers - that's an area I think we would love to see more people with disability, taking up some of the opportunities that sit there."
Turnover rates in the disability sector still remain elevated. Source: SBS News / Data source: NDS
Cost of living impacts
Recruitment agency Orchard Talent Group said it has observed a 42 per cent increase in disability support workers looking for a new role in aged care in the 90 days since the Fair Work Commission announced the pay increase for aged care workers.
The agency's managing director, Alex McDonald, said it is an unprecedented jump in the seven years the firm has been tracking the data.
"The common themes that we've observed is the shift from casual employment to permanent employment," Mr McDonald said. "And predominantly that's linked to economic factors. Changes in cost of living, mean individuals want to have higher shift allocation."
He said the overall demand for workers in both in the disability sector and aged care industry are high - and the solution will require a lot of attention from policymakers.
"Both sectors have huge volume requirements. And any shift in policy, which we've seen, has dramatically impacted the movement between those two different candidate pools," he said.
"The disability sector is going to double in the next 10 years in terms of recipients, so the workforce will need to double as well.
"Over the same period, the aged care workforce is set to increase by 70 per cent. So we have to increase the overall care economy by almost 200 per cent. As a firm, what we're trying to invest in is: how do we help organisations prepare for that."
The federal government confirmed it will fund the aged care workers wage increase with an allocation of $11.3 billion in the May federal budget. The increased pay will take effect from 30 June 2023.
