The founder and chief executive officer of home-care franchise Just Better Care Australia, has expressed her disappointment at the proposed rate for the DisabilityCare scheme, claiming it simply isn’t workable.

According to Trish Noakes, the hourly rates released yesterday place the rights of people with disability at an extreme disadvantage.

“We question how this rate was arrived at,” Noakes said. “It is not a market rate; it is not a rate that is manageable. The rate of $34.05 per hour for personal care and support services is something that is not sustainable for any organisation that will provide staff who are trained, skilled and paid within the current modern award wage.

“The only way people with disabilities will probably be able to find these services is if they employ their own staff, putting the whole scheme at risk,” Noakes said.

Staff with disability care expertise at Just Better Care are currently being charged out at $43 per hour.

“The government has long argued that better skills and higher wages are needed in this vital area. But this rate is less than current market rates and is simply not workable.”

“All providers, whether private or non-profit, will face the same issue – and the ultimate losers will be the people with disabilities.”

Trish Noakes said the scheme, which was universally acknowledged as a great initiative, needs to be properly funded: “There are people on these schemes that have very complex disabilities who need constant 24 hour care. But with this rate people are likely to turn their back on it altogether.

“We must ensure the scheme provides people with enough funds to pay workers market rates, so we continue to attract the best people into these roles.

“The only way you can manage this at the rates proposed is to create a digital workforce, which could lead to frustration and a sub standard service especially for a service- related industry like Just Better Care. You would simply employ someone, do all the necessary checks, train them and place them on a website. From there on, you would step back and say: ‘Here you go – book them’. We can’t do anything more for you.”