The week when everything lands at once
A fall, a hospital admission, a discharge planner saying home is no longer safe. There is an assessment to arrange, homes to tour, paperwork to work through — and you are working.
Most families burn annual leave, then start taking unpaid days. There are entitlements built for this, and one detail about them that catches nearly everyone.
The catch: it is one balance, not two
Full-time employees accrue 10 days of paid personal/carer’s leave a year — and that is the point people miss: it is a single balance shared with sick leave.
If you had a bad flu in March and took four days, you have six left for your mother in October. It is not a separate carer’s allocation sitting untouched. Check your balance before you plan anything, because that number is the real constraint.
Two more entitlements sit alongside it:
- Two days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion, available once your paid balance is exhausted. Casual employees are entitled to this unpaid leave too.
- Two days of compassionate leave per occasion, paid for permanent employees, where a member of your immediate family or household has a life-threatening illness or injury. This is separate from carer’s leave and does not come out of the same balance — and it is the one families most often fail to claim.
The request that changes the next six months
If this is going to run for months rather than days, the most valuable thing available to you is not leave at all. Under the Fair Work Act, employees who are carers can request flexible working arrangements — changed hours, changed patterns, working from home.
What makes it real:
- The employer must respond in writing within 21 days.
- They can only refuse on reasonable business grounds, after discussing it with you and genuinely trying to reach agreement — and a refusal has to explain those grounds.
- A dispute can be taken to the Fair Work Commission if it is refused or ignored.
An hour later each morning, or a fixed afternoon each week, is worth more than a scattering of leave days: it is what makes tours, assessments and case conferences possible without each one costing a day.
The payments, and who they are really for
- Carer Payment is income support for someone who cannot work substantially because they provide constant care. It is income and assets tested and is not designed for the few weeks of organising a placement.
- Carer Allowance is a supplementary fortnightly payment for someone providing daily care at home, and it is not means tested in the same way. Many families providing heavy care at home while waiting for a place qualify and never apply.
Note the direction of travel: once your mother moves permanently into residential aged care, the basis for these payments generally falls away. They are for the period before — which is exactly where you are now.
What to do in the first week
- Check your personal/carer’s leave balance before promising anyone anything.
- Use compassionate leave if the situation is life-threatening — it is separate and paid.
- Put in a flexible working request in writing, saying you are requesting it as a carer. The 21-day clock starts from the request.
- Check Carer Allowance with Services Australia if you are providing daily care while waiting for a place.
- Read the enterprise agreement or company policy. A growing number of employers provide additional paid carer’s days, and they go unclaimed.
The practical point
Know your balance — the ten days are shared with sick leave. Claim compassionate leave separately where it applies. And put the flexible working request in writing early, because it is the entitlement with teeth: 21 days to answer, reasonable business grounds only, and the Commission if that fails.
While you buy that time, the search for a place does not wait. Curalune Care Help gives you the starting point: 3 to 5 suitable homes matched to the real situation within 24 working hours, with contact details, links and a ready-to-send message to all of them at once. A$109, one-off. If you don't receive at least 3 homes matching the area and criteria you gave us, we refund you in full. Start here
Leave entitlements, accrual rules, eligibility for flexible working requests and dispute processes are set by the Fair Work Act and the national employment standards and are revised periodically; awards and enterprise agreements may provide more. Carer Payment and Carer Allowance rules, tests and rates are set by social security law and administered by Services Australia. Speak to the Fair Work Ombudsman, Services Australia and your HR department. This article is general information and is not legal, employment or financial advice. Curalune does not allocate places and does not guarantee availability.