55,000 Victorian workers registered for Sick Pay Guarantee

The program, the first of its kind in Australia, aims to give casual and contract workers up to 38 hours of sick and carers’ pay annually, paid at the minimum wage, in an effort to reduce workplace illnesses and accidents.

The program was launched in March 2022 and, by July, had registered 30,000 applications. It is now topping 55,000.

The two-year pilot was funded to the tune of $245.7 million, which currently comes from taxpayers’ funds.

Retail and sales assistants, hospitality workers, as well as aged and disability care workers make up the highest percentage of workers who have signed up.

The program also covers supermarket and supply chain workers, cleaners, laundry workers, security guards, food trades workers, cooks, bakers, fast-food workers, and kitchen hands.

So far, the government said it had supported 80,000 claims at a cost of $19 million.

“This scheme creates more security for Victorian casual and contract workers, supporting them when they’re sick or caring for a loved one,” said Employment Minister Ben Carroll.

“Workers shouldn’t feel forced to go to work sick because they can’t afford to miss a day’s pay — that’s why we’re ensuring it’s a choice they never have to make through our nation-leading Sick Pay Guarantee.”

There were concerns from leading business advocates that at the end of the two-year pilot, businesses who registered with the scheme will have to pay a levy to continue.

In its latest announcement, the Victorian government has yet to confirm where it will pool the fund for the scheme’s future.

Mr Carroll said the government is looking into long-term solutions to fund the program once the pilot run ends in March 2024.

“We will make all of those assessments ... at the end of the trial,” Mr Carroll said.

“I don’t want to pre-empt anything except to say we’re at the halfway mark, the data is very strong, it’s been well resourced, well-funded ... and we’ll have more to say in another 12 months when the scheme gets to its final months.”

However, he alluded to the Victorian government extending its funding of the scheme after the trial ends in March 2024, saying that the scheme had cost far less than first anticipated and suggested it was highly likely businesses would not be taxed to continue funding the scheme beyond the two-year trial.

“We are very focused on what the trial has been able to show to date — that for less than $20 million, we have been able to support some 80,000 claims,” he said.