Health Professionals & Support Services Award Rates 2025/2026

Quick summary for time-poor managers

The four compliance pillars that drive most underpayments

Most underpayments trace back to one (or more) of these:

"Sanity check" minimum adult hourly rates (ordinary weekday hours)

Support Services employees:

• Support Services Level 1: $25.74/hr
• Support Services Level 5: $29.07/hr
• Support Services Level 9 (PP3): $37.63/hr

Health Professional employees:

• Health Professional Level 1 (PP2 – 3-year degree entry): $30.64/hr
• Health Professional Level 2 (PP1): $37.53/hr
• Health Professional Level 3 (PP1): $43.81/hr
• Health Professional Level 4 (PP1): $53.05/hr

Headline "big lever" penalties (where eligible)

• Weekend (Sat/Sun) ordinary hours (FT/PT): 150%
• Public holiday (FT/PT): 250%
• Shiftwork (FT/PT): 115% (15% loading)
• Casual ordinary hours: 125% (includes casual loading)
• Casual Sat/Sun: 175% (inclusive)
• Casual public holiday: 275% (inclusive)

Most searched roles — typical Award classification & rates (indicative)

Classification depends on duties, not job title. The classifications below are common outcomes only and must be confirmed against the Award definitions.

Award coverage

Award coverage must be confirmed

This guide assumes the Health Professionals and Support Services Award (MA000027) applies. In Fair Work summaries it's often referred to informally as the "Health Services Award". See the Award summary (MA000027) or view the consolidated Award text.

Naming note: References in this guide to the "Health Services Award" are informal descriptions only and refer to the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (MA000027).

Does the Award apply? (quick self-check)

It covers:

• Employers in the health industry and their employees in classifications in the award, and
• Employers engaging a health professional employee.

"The health industry" includes delivery of health care, medical services, pathology services and dental services.

Who it doesn't cover (common exclusions)

• Nurses (generally Nurses Award)
• Paramedics (Ambulance Award)
• Medical professionals (doctors/GPs/surgeons)
• Disability support workers (generally SCHADS Award)
• Aged care workers in residential facilities (generally Aged Care Award)

What is the Health Professionals & Support Services Award?

The Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (MA000027) is a modern award made by the Fair Work Commission that sets minimum pay rates and conditions for many private health and allied health workplaces. It includes two main classification "streams":

• Support Services employees (admin, reception, pathology collectors, dental assistants, cleaners, cooks, etc.)
• Health Professional employees (e.g., physiotherapists, psychologists, dietitians, radiographers, pharmacists, podiatrists, etc.)

Who it covers (and who it doesn't)

Classification depends on duties, not job title

Final classification must be determined by comparing the employee's actual duties, responsibility, skill, and qualifications against the Schedule A classification definitions (and the Health Professional structure). Employers must also advise employees in writing of their classification on commencement and any subsequent changes.

Examples of covered roles (high-level)

Fair Work's summary list includes, for example:

• Support services: medical receptionists, cleaners, dental assistants, laboratory assistants, pathology collectors
• Health professionals: physiotherapists, psychologists, dietitians, radiographers/sonographers, pharmacists, podiatrists

Classifications and pay points (Support Services vs Health Professionals)

Below are common private-practice roles mapped to a "most likely" stream/level shortlist. Not definitive—always classify to actual duties and Schedule A descriptors.

Health Professionals Award pay rates 2025/26 (MA000027)

Correct stream selection is essential

You must choose Support Services or Health Professional (not "mix and match"), then apply the correct level and (where applicable) pay point.

Support Services employees (weekly + hourly)

Note: The pay rates shown below are examples of minimum Award rates only. They do not take into account higher contractual pay, enterprise agreements, individual flexibility arrangements, guarantees of annual earnings, or other industrial instruments that may apply.

Health Professional employees (weekly + hourly)

Level 1 (entry depends on qualification)

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Pay point progression (don't forget this)

Where a classification has pay points, progression is generally:

• Full-time: annual movement
• Part-time/casual: after 1824 hours of similar experience (skills-based considerations apply)

Employment & rostering

Employment types (and the paperwork that drives payroll outcomes)

Part-time: written agreement is not optional

Before commencing, the employer and part-time employee must agree in writing on a regular pattern of work (hours per week, days worked, etc.). Consider using digital employment contracts to store part-time agreements securely.

Casual: minimum engagement (easy-to-miss underpayments)

Minimum engagement for a casual employee is 3 hours.

Cleaner exception: cleaners employed in private medical practices have a 2-hour minimum engagement.

Span of hours (where clinics often slip up)

Default day-worker span is commonly 6:00am–6:00pm Monday–Friday unless otherwise stated.

The Award also sets extended spans for some private practices, including:

• Private medical/dental/pathology/physio/chiro/osteopathic practices: 7:30am–9:00pm (Mon–Fri) and 8:00am–4:30pm (Sat)
• Private medical imaging (5.5 day): 7:00am–9:00pm (Mon–Fri) and 8:00am–1:00pm (Sat)
• Private medical imaging (7 day): 7:00am–9:00pm (Mon–Sun)

Rosters: posting + changes

• Rosters are posted at least 2 weeks before the roster period starts.
• Changes generally require 7 days' notice, but can be altered in emergencies/where specified.

Tools like auto-scheduling, roster templates, and a mobile rostering app can help manage roster changes and staff communication.

Breaks (common payroll/roster audit item)

• If an employee works more than 5 hours, they get an unpaid meal break of 30–60 minutes (timing can vary by agreement).
• Paid tea breaks: a paid 10-minute break each 4 hours (can be combined into a 20-minute break by agreement).

Minimum engagement & span of hours (private medical and allied health practices)

Two rules that frequently cause underpayments in clinics:

Casual minimum engagement

• General rule: 3-hour minimum engagement for casual employees
• Cleaner exception: 2-hour minimum for cleaners in private medical practices

Use roster warnings for minimum engagement to flag short shifts before they become underpayments.

Span of hours by practice type

Work outside the applicable span may trigger overtime or shiftwork provisions:

Australia-wide coverage & public holiday differences by state

The Health Professionals and Support Services Award applies Australia-wide to national system employers.

While base rates, penalties, and allowances are national, public holiday entitlements depend on the public holidays observed in the employee's state or territory.

This means:

• A shift worked on a public holiday in NSW may attract penalties when the same date is not a public holiday in QLD, and vice versa.
• Employers operating across multiple states must configure payroll systems to apply state-specific public holiday calendars. Multi-site rostering can help manage rosters across locations with different public holiday calendars.

State-based public holiday guides (supporting pages)

To manage this correctly, see:

• Public holiday pay under the Health Services Award — NSW
• Public holiday pay under the Health Services Award — VIC
• Public holiday pay under the Health Services Award — QLD
• Public holiday pay under the Health Services Award — WA / SA / TAS / ACT / NT

Penalty rates & overtime (Saturday, Sunday, public holidays, shiftwork)

Weekend / public holiday work (ordinary hours)

For both Support Services and Health Professionals (where eligible), the Award provides the following penalty structure:

Overtime rates (and key triggers)

Overtime triggers (high level) may include working:

• in excess of ordinary hours,
• in excess of 10 hours per shift,
• for casuals: in excess of 38 hours/week or 76/fortnight (and other triggers),
• and certain break-between-shifts issues.

Full-time & part-time overtime rates

• Mon–Sat: 150% first 2 hours, then 200%
• Sunday: 200%
• Public holiday: 250%

Casual overtime rates (inclusive approach)

• Mon–Sat: 187.5% first 2 hours, then 250%
• Sunday: 250%
• Public holiday: 312.5%

Recall to work overtime (often missed)

If an employee is recalled to work overtime after leaving the premises: minimum 2 hours at the appropriate overtime rate.

On-call + "right to disconnect" (now a real operational issue)

Right to disconnect is in this Award

Clause 13A provides for the right to disconnect and applies from:

• 26 August 2024 for non-small business employers
• 26 August 2025 for small business employers

See Fair Work: right to disconnect for detailed guidance, or the right to disconnect law change for commencement dates.

On-call expectations must be paid (and it links to right to disconnect)

The Award expressly ties after-hours contact to paid on-call arrangements: an employer can require after-hours monitoring/responding where the employee is being paid the on-call allowance and contact relates to the on-call. Consider using an in-app team chat instead of informal WhatsApp groups, and policy management to document after-hours communication policies.

Health Services Award allowances (uniform, laundry, on-call, meals, vehicle)

Allowance eligibility depends on the clause conditions being met. Amounts below are those in Schedule D (as consolidated up to 1 July 2025).

Common allowances ("frequent flyers")

Board and lodging deduction (if applicable): e.g. $35.86/week for employees receiving the full adult rate (and other listed deductions).

Leave (Award + NES) – Award specifics worth knowing

Most leave entitlements sit in the NES, but this Award adds/clarifies key points:

Annual leave loading

• Non-shiftworkers: 17.5% of minimum rate
• Shiftworkers: higher of 17.5% or the weekend/shift penalties that would have applied if not on leave

Shiftworker definition (for NES annual leave purposes)

An employee regularly rostered to work Sundays and public holidays.

Shutdown directions (dental & medical practices)

There are specific rules allowing directions to take annual leave during a shutdown period in dental and medical practices, including a 28 days' written notice requirement (unless a shorter period is agreed with the majority of relevant employees).

HPSS Award compliance checklist (print this)

Use this as a quarterly internal audit checklist to reduce underpayment risk. Review your obligations under the Fair Work Act 2009 and ensure you meet Fair Work record-keeping requirements. For small businesses, see Fair Work small business record-keeping guidance. An AI Fair Work compliance assistant can help answer common award questions.

Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)

1) Wrong award entirely

Admin-heavy roles can drift into Clerks Award assumptions; clinical roles can be Nurses/Medical Practitioners/other instruments. Start with coverage.

2) Support Services vs Health Professional misclassification

A "clinic role" isn't automatically Health Professional. Stream selection drives the pay table.

3) Pay point progression ignored

Especially common at Support Services Level 8–9 and across Health Professional levels.

4) Casual minimum engagement missed (or cleaner exception missed)

3 hours generally; 2 hours for cleaners in private medical practices.

5) Weekend/shiftwork penalties misconfigured

This Award's weekend structure often surprises people (FT/PT: 150% across Sat/Sun), and shiftwork has a specific definition. Automated award interpretation can help ensure penalties are applied correctly.

6) On-call expectations without paying on-call allowance (and ignoring right to disconnect)

If people are expected to respond outside hours, treat it as a documented on-call arrangement and pay the allowance.

Final takeaways

• Confirm coverage first (Health Services Award / MA000027) and watch exclusions (nurses, doctors, paramedics).
• Pick the right stream: Support Services vs Health Professional.
• Don't forget pay points and progression rules.
• Minimum engagements matter (3-hour casual minimum; 2-hour cleaner exception in private medical practices).
• Most audits land on the edges: span of hours, shiftwork, weekends/PH, overtime substitution, recall minimums, on-call/right to disconnect. Automatic compliance warnings during rostering can help catch these issues before payroll runs.

Employers remain solely responsible for ensuring compliance with the Fair Work Act 2009, the National Employment Standards, the current Health Professionals and Support Services Award, and any other applicable industrial instruments, regardless of any guidance, summaries, examples or tools referenced in this guide.