A new scheme that uses taxpayer cash to help sick casuals stay home has signed up 30,000

The Andrews government has revealed how many casual workers have been paid to stay home while sick under its Australian-first scheme.

More than 30,000 casual workers have tapped into $6 million worth of taxpayer-funded sick leave payments since an Australian-first scheme was established this year.

The ‘sick pay guarantee’ scheme was set up by the Andrews Government as a pilot program for two years, across industries such as hospitality, retail, aged and disability care, and security.

Payments are made at the national minimum wage of just over $20 an hour, up to 38 hours a week, and are supposed to help workers in insecure jobs stay home when sick during the pandemic.

Employment Minister Jaala Pulford said about $250 million had been set aside for the two-year program, and that about a fifth of the casual workers who have signed up to the scheme so far were in regional Victoria.

The ‘sick pay guarantee’ scheme was set up last year as a pilot program. Picture: iStock

Ms Pulford said many more people could still sign up under stage 1 of the scheme, with a total of 100,000 workers expected to benefit at some stage.

“I would say we are probably a little bit under the expectations that we initially had but not significantly,” Ms Pulford said.

Casual retail assistant Ava Grimshaw-Hall spoke on Friday about having received the payment when she severed tendons in her hand while cooking.

Ms Grimshaw-Hall said it was easy to sign up to the scheme and she could recover without having to worry about how she would pay the bills.

Employment Minister Jaala Pulford says workers can still sign up to stage 1 of the scheme. Picture: Nicki Connolly

“My advice to casual workers is to sign up to the program, get ahead of it, it’s there to help so you don’t ever have to suffer financially,” she said.

Once the two-year pilot expires, the government would need to decide whether to extend the scheme or shift the liability to business, potentially via another levy.

The Australian Industry Group has warned that a looming levy would “kill investment in Victoria and put a handbrake on the (pandemic recovery)”.

Casual workers can check their eligibility online.