If you are currently in receipt of the Worker Retention Payment (WRP) and wish to opt out of the grant, there are several points you should consider before doing so.
This blog article will outline your obligations and considerations when it comes to opting out of the WRP.
For more details instructions on opting out, please download and review our factsheet.
The first point you must consider and action accordingly is the compliant workplace instrument you used when making your WRP application.
If you applied for the WRP utilising the ACA’s resources, you likely used an Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFA) or opted in to the Multi-Employer Agreement (MEA).
Please note – if you utilised an Enterprise Agreement (EA), you will need to seek advice from either the ACA Workplace Relations Advice line if you are a member. If you are not a member, we recommend seeking independent industrial legal advice.
Both instruments have different requirements & considerations when it comes to opting out of the WRP.
If you utilised an IFA, you should….
- Notify the Department of your intention to opt out of the WRP via an email to the ccshelpdesk@education.gov.au
- Issue a notice of termination for your IFA to staff (can be as simple as an email to each employee) outlining that the IFAs will be ceasing, and you are opting out of the WRP.
- The Department will then respond to your request with further steps on finalizing the termination of your WRP funding accordingly. Please note each case is assessed on a case-by-case basis by the Department.
If you utilised the MEA, are required to…
- Make an alternative fee growth cap application & have it rejected
- Once the above has been completed, you should notify the Department of your request to opt out of the WRP via an email to ccshelpdesk@education.gov.au
- Provide eligible employees with 8 weeks’ notice of intention to cease paying the WRP
- The Department will then respond to your request with further steps on finalizing the termination of your WRP funding accordingly. Please note each case is assessed on a case-by-case basis by the Department.
Your payments to staff
Once you have opted out of the Worker Retention Payment, unless the WRP rates have been built in to your employment contracts – your obligation will be only to pass along the relevant minimum award rates or a higher rate (over award), if this is required by your employment contract.
You may also continue to pay the WRP amounts to staff, if you wish, in lieu of the funding.
If you choice is to cease paying the WRP allowances to staff, it is important that this is communicated clearly to your employees in a clear & timely manner.
It is crucial that you communicate your decision to opt out of the WRP to staff in a clear manner. This may include providing notification to them of:
- when the service is opting out of the grant
- whether your service will continue funding the WRP amount or whether the payment will cease
- how the change will affect employees’ overall pay
Staff notification is particularly important whereby you are choosing not to continue the WRP allowance after option out. Changes to employees rates of pay should be outlined ASAP.
- A Worker Retention Payment funding review
- This is best suited to providers whose WRP funding is consistently not covering the cost of implementing the wage rises to your workforce
- This may have occurred due to low occupancy, being a new service, having a unique staffing profile and more
- To apply, email the ccsheldpesk@education.gov.au with the subject line WRP funding review and provide them with your WRP agreement, and a request to apply for a WRP funding review
- The Department will assess your initial request and if appropriate, provide you with access to a funding review form
- If you are successful in being approved for a funding review, the Department will review your grant funding and wage costs on a quarterly basis, providing top ups where necessary
- An alternative fee growth cap
- This is where the Department allow you to raise your fees past the outlined fee caps in the grant guidelines
- To be eligible for this review, you must be able to demonstrate that obtaining a higher fee growth cap is essential to the financial viability of your business
- You will be required to provide supporting financial information that reflects the above (i.e, profit and loss statements outlining losses at a provider level)
- To apply, open a "variation" form in SmartyGrants and select alternative fee growth cap
It is important you are reconciling your WRP funds appropriately to understand if the grant is appropriately covering your wage costs. We recommend that you review whether:
- You are reconciling wage costs with the correct WRP funding period (available to review here)
- You are paying staff the correct WRP allowance
- You are reconciling the correct eligible on-costs, and aware the the WRP will only contribute a maximum of 20% toward your on-costs
- You are not reconciling pay items that the grant does not cover (i.e, bookkeeping & accounting expenditure, paid leave accrual, etc).
The WRP subsidises gender-based undervaluation increases for employees under the Children’s Services Award (CSA). If you choose to opt out of the WRP, you will have to fund these base award rate increases because of the determination, yourself.
Should you choose to opt out & subsequently increase fees, be mindful of exceeding the CCS hourly rate cap.
