Unions have warned nursing homes are under no obligation to pass on pay increases to aged care workers who are not on award wages, following the federal government's announcement it will spend $11.3 billion to pay for the "historic" increase.
Aged care workers will receive a 15 per cent pay increase from July following a ruling by the Fair Work Commission that the wage boost is "plainly justified".
It means 250,000 aged care workers on award wages will benefit from the increase, which will amount to a more than $10,000 rise for registered nurses, and more than $7,500 for enrolled nurses.
But there is no legal obligation for employers to pass on a pay rise for aged care workers not on the award wage.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation said it was concerned nursing home operators would not pass on the pay increase as intended.
Union secretary Annie Butler said there were no guarantees for the thousands of workers who were under enterprise bargaining agreements.
"We have good reason to be concerned about this because this is what has happened for the last 30 years when consecutive governments have given private aged care operators almost $2.5 billion, specifically to boost wages," she said.
Ms Butler said while many operators would do the right thing, the money could not be given to providers on trust.
"With this new funding, providers will be free to use the funding to boost their bottom line, rather than paying their workers," she said.
"We're urging the government not to allow providers to 'game' the system, and use the budget to set the rules and introduce accountability for a massive amount of public money."
HammondCare CEO Mike Baird has already committed his organisation to spending "every dollar" that flows to the organisation, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers says several other providers have already made similar commitments.
Pay rise tipped to add 10,000 workers, but shortages remain
Even with the pay increase, the federal government has conceded it will not be able to attract enough workers to meet its election promise to have all aged care facilities staffed 24/7 with registered nurses by July.
Aged Care Minister Anika Wells previously acknowledged about 5 per cent of facilities, particularly in rural and remote areas, would not be able to meet the target.
But she said today's pay rise was expected to bring another 10,000 workers to the sector.
"Today we are pulling an $11.3 billion lever to lift wages for aged care workers," Ms Wells said.
"It will take a while for these things to wash through but I don't think by any measure you can say we are not backing in the aged care sector."
Mr Chalmers said despite pressures on the budget he was "proud" to make room to pay for the wage rise.
"The pressures on the budget are substantial," he said.
"We have gone out of our way here to make sure that we can afford, and that we can work through in a responsible and methodical way, this historic pay rise for aged care workers today."
