Overview:

In the 2010-11 Budget the Australian Government provided $59.9 million over four years for a national incentive program that will provide payments to eligible aged care workers who undertake further studies to enhance their career as a personal care worker, an enrolled nurse or a registered nurse. 

Who is eligible? 

In order to be eligible to receive an incentive payment, aged care workers must meet all the following criteria:

• Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident; and
• Be employed on a full time, part time or casual basis providing direct care in and by an eligible aged care service*:
  • at the commencement of their training (in order to receive the commencement payment);
  • at the successful completion of their training and during your training (in order to receive the completion payment).
• Have a commitment to working in the aged care sector; and
• Commence an eligible training course between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2014. Commencemeans the official start date of the eligible training course, not the date of enrolment.

*An eligible aged care service is a Commonwealth funded residential aged care service, a service providing Commonwealth funded community care or flexible care service including CACP, EACH or EACH-D, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flexible care services.

Eligible courses:

Vocational Education and Training courses (REDPATH offers)

How much will be paid? 

Eligible aged care workers who successfully complete a course will receive two incentive payments - a commencement payment and a completion payment.

Incentive payments are dependent on the level of study. Applicants undertaking eligible:

Vocational Education and Training courses

will receive $500 after commencement of the course and $500 on successful completion of the course.

To be eligible for an incentive payment, aged care workers must commence training on or after 1 July 2010. 

Payments are contingent on the availability of funds. The Department may at its discretion, defer or not make a payment once funding has been exhausted.

Please note that the tax treatment of incentive payments is yet to be determined. Further advice will be provided on this matter on the Department’s website in the near future.

Do these payments have to be used for a specific purpose?

No. The incentive payments are provided by the Commonwealth as financial assistance to aged care workers. Aged care workers do not have to spend incentive payments on training costs. It is entirely their choice on how to spend the incentive payments.

How to apply

Application forms are now available to download. There are two application forms, one for the commencement payment and one for the completion payment. If an aged care worker believes they are eligible to receive the incentive payments, they should download, print and complete the application forms, and return them to the address on the form. Aged care workers must lodge a commencement form before lodging a completion form.
Commencement Application Form (PDF 279 KB)
Completion Application Form (PDF 274 KB)

Please refer to the ACETI Guidelines for Applicants below for additional information regarding eligibility, course information and application requirements.
Guidelines for Applicants in HTML and PDF 

Further information regarding the Aged Care Education and Training Incentive Program can be obtained by contacting the Aged Care Information Line on 1800 500 853.

Payment related questions can be directed to the Medicare Australia Aged Care Enquiries Line on 1800 195 206 (after dialling, please select option 3).

Additional Information

The Aged Care Education and Training Incentive (ACETI) program