ACT GOVERNMENT COMMITS TO FULLY FUND EQUAL REMUNERATION CASE FOR COMMUNITY WORKERS

The ACT Labor Government will fully fund its share of the wage increases covered by today's decision by Fair Work Australia to raise the SACS Award for community sector workers, Minister for Community Services Joy Burch said.

"I am pleased to announce that we will fund the increased salary costs for community sector organisations that deliver programs through agreements with the ACT Government," Ms Burch said.

"The ACT Labor Government's commitment means that many Community Sector workers will receive significant wage increases without their employers having to compromise on service delivery to fund the outcome of the case."

"Today the ACT Labor Government is standing up to support community workers with fair pay, particularly for women, who make up the bulk of the workforce in the sector."

Ms Burch said she was pleased that the ACT Council of social Services had welcomed the ACT Government's announcement, as the Government had worked closely with the sector to develop the best response for the community and the sector.

She said the impact of the decision on the Budget would be proportionately less in the ACT than other jurisdictions, as community workers here were already paid more than their interstate counterparts.
"Thanks to a tradition of support by the ACT Labor Government, at least 85 per cent of employers in the community sector in the ACT currently pay their employees above the Award.

"We understand the sector will require support over the phase in period as the new Award impacts upon them, and the Government is today providing certainty that funding will be increased by an amount equivalent to the impact on their salary costs."

Preliminiary calculations estimate the impact of today's decision on the ACT Government to be $27 million over eight years.

Estimates show that based on the highest possible outcome of the FWA case, the effect on the ACT Government's annual $140 million contracts with community organisations on the Budget will peak at about $14 million in 2018, by when the Budget is planned to return to surplus.

Ms Burch said that the ACT Government will also establish a Community Sector Transition and Investment Fund to implement the outcomes of the case and to provide practical transitional support. The fund would also support measures to strengthen the capacity of the sector to deliver social services.

"This is a great opportunity to work with the sector on other measures to improve their capacity to deliver vital services and to help reduce their costs of doing business at a time of great change in the sector"

Ms Burch said the Fund would be funded through a short term contribution from Community Sector funding over the next few years, but that the benefits achieved would outweigh this cost and would be wholly returned to the sector.

The Fund will be used to identify and implement economies of scale savings, such as through shared services models and cutting red tape, along with a number of other measures where appropriate.
"For example, assistance with bulk purchasing could be an option to ensure more funds are available for frontline services.

"A steering committee of community sector representatives will be established to implement the measures they identify can most improve the services they offer and reduce their business costs."

Media Contact:

Victor Violante 6205 0145 0421 846 201 victor.violante@act.gov.au