Nursing Award Pay Rates 2026-27: Nurses Award (MA000034) and SCHADS
pay-calculator.au reproduces every classification rate in the Nurses Award from the first full pay period on or after 1 August 2026, a month later than every other modern award, and runs each rate through its 2026-27 tax engine. The SCHADS award is covered structurally, without figures, because pay-calculator.au has not published its rates.
Why Do Nursing Rates Change on 1 August, Not 1 July?
One month later than every other modern award, and it is deliberate.
Modern award minimum rates normally change from the first full pay period on or after 1 July, following the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review (decision [2026] FWCFB 3500, announced 2 June 2026). The Nurses Award (MA000034) is the exception: its 2026-27 rates are operative from the first full pay period on or after 1 August 2026, because of a separate Aged Care and Health Work Value assessment (Fair Work Ombudsman, Nurses Award pay guide, published 17 July 2026).
What that means in practice
- A July nurse payslip is correctly on the previous year’s rate, not underpaid.
- Checking a nurse payslip against the 1 July date used for other awards will be a month early.
- “First full pay period on or after” is not the calendar date: a fortnight that starts on 28 July runs to its end on the old rate.
- The later date reflects a work value case, not a delay or an administrative error.
What Are the Nurses Award Pay Rates for 2026-27?
Eight classifications, $1,050.70 to $1,878.60 a week.
The Nurses Award (MA000034) sets eight classifications, from a first-year nursing assistant at $1,050.70 a week to Registered Nurse Level 5 grade 1 at $1,878.60 a week, operative from the first full pay period on or after 1 August 2026. The hourly figures assume the 38-hour ordinary week set by the National Employment Standards.
| Classification | Weekly pay | Hourly rate | Casual hourly | Annual, 52 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nursing assistant, 1st year | $1,050.70 | $27.65 | $34.56 | $54,636 |
| Enrolled nurse, pay point 1 | $1,139.90 | $30.00 | $37.50 | $59,275 |
| Registered nurse Level 1, pay point 1 | $1,219.50 | $32.09 | $40.11 | $63,414 |
| Registered nurse Level 1, pay point 8 and beyond | $1,465.50 | $38.57 | $48.21 | $76,206 |
| Registered nurse Level 2, pay point 1 | $1,504.40 | $39.59 | $49.49 | $78,229 |
| Registered nurse Level 3, pay point 1 | $1,631.20 | $42.93 | $53.66 | $84,822 |
| Registered nurse Level 4, grade 1 | $1,861.70 | $48.99 | $61.24 | $96,808 |
| Registered nurse Level 5, grade 1 | $1,878.60 | $49.44 | $61.80 | $97,687 |
These are Nurses Award rates other than aged care. Casual hourly already includes the 25% casual loading, as published in the pay guide. The annual column is the weekly rate across 52 weeks, before tax. These are ordinary-hours base rates: shift, Saturday, Sunday and public holiday penalties apply on top. Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Nurses Award MA000034 pay guide, published 17 July 2026.
The Nurses Award contains intermediate pay points between the rows above, particularly inside Registered Nurse Level 1, where pay points 2 to 7 sit between the pay point 1 and pay point 8 figures shown. pay-calculator.au has not published those intermediate figures, so they are not stated here. The official pay guide carries the complete pay point ladder.
What Does a Nursing Award Rate Pay After Tax?
Fair Work stops at the gross rate. This is what lands in the bank.
Each classification below is the weekly award rate across 52 weeks, run through the same 2026-27 tax engine that powers every calculator on this site. Income tax is shown after the Low Income Tax Offset, the Medicare levy at 2%, and the 12% super guarantee separately because the employer pays it on top of the wage rather than out of it.
| Classification | Gross per year | Income tax | Medicare levy | Take-home per year | Take-home per fortnight | Super on top |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nursing assistant, 1st year | $54,636 | $6,730 | $1,093 | $46,813 | $1,801 | $6,556 |
| Enrolled nurse, pay point 1 | $59,275 | $8,192 | $1,185 | $49,898 | $1,919 | $7,113 |
| Registered nurse Level 1, pay point 1 | $63,414 | $9,495 | $1,268 | $52,650 | $2,025 | $7,610 |
| Registered nurse Level 1, pay point 8 and beyond | $76,206 | $13,382 | $1,524 | $61,300 | $2,358 | $9,145 |
| Registered nurse Level 2, pay point 1 | $78,229 | $13,989 | $1,565 | $62,676 | $2,411 | $9,387 |
| Registered nurse Level 3, pay point 1 | $84,822 | $15,967 | $1,696 | $67,159 | $2,583 | $10,179 |
| Registered nurse Level 4, grade 1 | $96,808 | $19,563 | $1,936 | $75,310 | $2,897 | $11,617 |
| Registered nurse Level 5, grade 1 | $97,687 | $19,826 | $1,954 | $75,907 | $2,920 | $11,722 |
Australian resident, tax-free threshold claimed, no study loan, no shift or weekend penalties included. The average tax rate runs from 14.3% on a first-year nursing assistant to 22.3% at Registered Nurse Level 5, while the marginal rate on the top row is 30%. Nurses with a study loan should note that every classification from Registered Nurse Level 1 pay point 8 upwards clears the $69,528 repayment threshold: see HECS repayment per pay. For the full profession breakdown, see nurse take-home pay.
What About the SCHADS Award (MA000100)?
pay-calculator.au has not published SCHADS rates, so none are stated here.
The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (MA000100), usually shortened to SCHADS, covers community services, home care and disability support workers. It sits beside the Nurses Award in most people’s searches because the two awards cover adjacent workforces, and disability and home care staff frequently work alongside enrolled and registered nurses.
No SCHADS pay rate appears on this page. pay-calculator.au reproduces rates only from Fair Work pay guides it has verified, and MA000100 is not among them. Its structure is more complex than the Nurses Award: several separate streams, each with its own classification levels and pay points, plus rules on broken shifts, minimum engagement periods and travel time that change what a shift is worth. Publishing a plausible-looking figure here would be worse than publishing none.
Get the SCHADS rate from Fair Work
The official pay guide carries the current MA000100 rates for every stream and level.
Official Fair Work pay guideThen work out what it pays after tax
Once you have the weekly or hourly figure, the weekly pay calculator and the hourly pay calculator give the 2026-27 take-home for it, including HECS-HELP if you have a study loan.
Aged care sits elsewhere again
Personal care workers in residential aged care are generally under the Aged Care Award (MA000018), not SCHADS and not the Nurses Award. See aged care worker take-home pay for the grade structure and why the published median overstates a residential carer.
Do Most Nurses Actually Get Paid These Rates?
No. The award is a floor, and most public-hospital nurses sit above it.
The Nurses Award is a safety net. Most public-hospital nurses are covered by a state or territory enterprise agreement negotiated between the health service and the relevant nursing union, and those agreements generally pay above the award, sometimes well above it. An enterprise agreement cannot leave an employee worse off overall than the award it displaces, which is why the award still matters even when it is not the number on the payslip.
Three groups are most likely to be paid at or near the award rate: private and not-for-profit aged care and community nursing employers without an agreement, agency and casual nursing staff, and small private practices. If you work in a public hospital and your rate matches the table above exactly, check whether your agreement has been applied. For the profession picture across sectors and states, see nurse take-home pay.
What This Page Does Not Cover
Four things pay-calculator.au has not published for these awards.
SCHADS pay rates
No MA000100 figure appears on this site. Use the official Fair Work pay guide linked above.
Shift and weekend penalties
Nursing is shift work, so afternoon, night, weekend and public holiday penalties are a large share of real earnings. The exact Nurses Award percentages are not published here.
Intermediate pay points
Registered Nurse Level 1 runs across multiple pay points. Only pay point 1 and pay point 8 and beyond are reproduced above; the ladder between them is in the official pay guide.
Aged Care Award rates
MA000018 has its own pay table for personal care workers and assistants in nursing, which is not reproduced on this page.
Nursing Award Rates FAQ
Common questions about Nurses Award MA000034 pay and the SCHADS award.
Sources for This Page
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Pay Guide, Nurses Award MA000034, published 17 July 2026, operative from the first full pay period on or after 1 August 2026. This is the source for every weekly, hourly and casual rate in the table above.
- Fair Work Commission, Annual Wage Review 2026 decision [2026] FWCFB 3500, announced 2 June 2026 (the 4.75% increase to all modern award minimum rates, and the standard 1 July operative date the Nurses Award departs from).
- Fair Work Ombudsman, award summary, Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award MA000100. Linked, not reproduced: pay-calculator.au has not verified SCHADS rates and states none.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, award summary, Aged Care Award MA000018. Linked, not reproduced, for the same reason.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Casual employees, updated 12 May 2026 (the 25% casual loading already included in the pay guide casual column).
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Hours of work, updated 19 December 2025 (the 38-hour ordinary week behind the hourly figures).
- ATO, resident tax rates 2026-27, with the 15% first marginal rate under the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, the 12% super guarantee, and the $69,528 study and training support loans repayment threshold.
Last verified 4 August 2026. Award rates are reproduced from the Fair Work pay guide and are not calculated by pay-calculator.au. Take-home figures are computed at render from the 2026-27 tax engine. pay-calculator.au is not a registered tax agent and this page is general information, not advice.
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