The disaster of disability staff
EXCLUSIVE ANDREW CARSWELL THE DAILY TELEGRAPH SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 12:00Am

THE federal government will face a monumental shortfall of qualified, experienced workers when its $15 billion DisabilityCare scheme is supposed to be fully operational, with 33 per cent of the current workforce to retire in the next 10 years.

A leaked report suggests the government faces an arduous task of building the workforce with the vast levels of impending retirements, claiming it was tough enough enticing people into the disability workforce given low wages, poor conditions and lack of career advancement.

The report, by PricewaterhouseCoopers and commissioned by the Department of Family, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, says the workforce needed to run DisabilityCarewhen it is fully operational will be about 168,000, more than 100,000 up on the current workforce of about 65,000.

The previous government’s own estimates fall well short, with then-prime minister Kevin Rudd conceding last month the full workforce in 2020 would be about 153,000.

It is no minor gap  - the discrepancy represents 23 per cent of the current workforce.

But it is the retirement of experienced carers, administrators and case workers that most disability services believe will leave the government with the biggest headache.

PwC estimates that due to the ageing workforce, 38,522 employees in the disability sector will retire between 2016 and 2026.

“In addition to the immediate requirement of about 70,000 additional workforce, the level of recruitment required to replace retiring workers is, for the period from commencement to 2016, at the rate of an additional 40 per cent above the requirement,’’ the report said.

That rate climbs to 70 per cent above the required recruitment level from 2016 to 2026, with DisabilityCare’s estimated 5361 new hirings needed per year not including the 3852 annual retirees.

PwC says from 2016, DisabilityCare will need to hire 9213 workers annually, instead of its projected total of 5361, to fill gaps made by retirement.

The report suggests the total number of case workers in the disability sector would need to expand by 317 per cent, while there would need to be a 452 per cent increase in allied health workers.

cods wrote on Sep 24^th, 2013 at 7:27am:



I think this bit also derserves highlighting

"But it is the retirement of experienced carers, administrators and case workers that most disability services believe will leave the government with the headache."

Sadly, also going to be the case with nurses, doctors and community care people.


"

Armchair_Politician wrote on Sep 24^th, 2013 at 7:46am:




of course they only believe crap from the Independent.. you know that..

Armchair_Politician wrote on Sep 24^th, 2013 at 7:53am:



wouldnt it be luverly if they admitted just once. the labor govt got it wrong..or didnt do their homework..nup.. they blame the messenger every time.. in  other words they dont want to know......so they kid themselves everything in the Telegraph is a lie....amazing!!!I have stopped trying to reason with the unreasonable ap.. it aint worth the bloodpressure..lol