Worker-owned care firms could bring services to rural and remote areas

“Solving the shortfall in aged and disability care, especially in rural and regional Australia, might come down to helping care workers and community groups band together to form their own “social care” firms as they do in many other countries, with a trial under way to gauge worker and consumer interest.

The Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals has been given a $7m grant from the Albanese government to start a series of support programs in social care focusing on worker- or even client-owned businesses, rather than the current model of either for-profit or non-profit business ownership. Care Together will focus on regional, rural and remote areas where current models are not working.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said the government funded Care Together as part of its push to find “new ideas and innovation in aged care”.

“In some rural and remote areas, and some First Nations communities, current approaches to service delivery simply aren’t working as well as they should,” she said. “Quality, appropriate care and support services should be available to everyone, no matter where they are in Australia.”

Read the full article, Worker-owned care firms could bring services to rural and remote areas, The Australian, 6 August 2023.