Aged care wages have risen more in the past three years than in the previous decade, through a series of overlapping decisions that are genuinely confusing to track. With the final instalment landing on 1 August, here’s the complete guide to every increase, who receives it, and what to check on your payslip.
The Work Value Case: The Historic One
The centrepiece is the Fair Work Commission’s Aged Care Work Value Case, launched by unions in 2020 on the argument that aged care work had been historically undervalued for gender-based reasons. The Commission agreed, and the result was the largest pay correction in the sector’s history, now fully decided and costing the government $17.7 billion to fund.
It arrived in stages. Direct care workers received an interim 15 per cent increase in 2023. The final stage awarded further rises of between 3 and 13 per cent on top of that for direct and indirect care workers, including cooks, cleaners and lifestyle staff, paid in instalments through January and October 2025.
“Approximately 400,000 aged care workers have benefited from increases to their award wages,” the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing states.
The 1 August Increase: The Last Piece
Nurses working in aged care received their own determination: increases of between 4 and 25 per cent on top of the original 15, paid in three tranches. The first two landed in 2025, and the third and final tranche takes effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 August 2026.
If you’re a registered or enrolled nurse in aged care, that means one more award rise is weeks away. It’s worth checking your payslip in August, and if you’re on an enterprise agreement, confirming your rates still sit above the new award minimums, agreements can’t legally pay less than the award.
The July Rise: The Annual One
Separately, the Commission’s Annual Wage Review lifted all modern award wages by 4.75 per cent from 1 July 2026, with the lowest-paid award workers receiving around 6 per cent and the National Minimum Wage rising to $26.44 an hour. Because aged care is one of the most award-reliant sectors, personal care workers, home care staff and nursing assistants under the Aged Care and SCHADS awards feel this rise directly.
The two processes stack for eligible workers, but not everyone receives both in full, it depends on your award, classification and employer arrangements. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s pay guides and calculator are the authoritative check, via the Aged Care Work Value Case page.
Why It Matters Beyond the Payslip
For families, these rises are quality-of-care policy as much as wages policy. Pay is the single biggest lever on whether skilled workers stay in aged care, and staffing consistency, familiar faces who know your parent, is one of the strongest predictors of good care. The government funds the increases precisely because a workforce that can’t be retained can’t deliver the reforms being built around it.
The honest caveat: providers face higher costs, and some flow-through to fees over time is likely. And unions argue there’s more to do, particularly for home care workers whose travel time and conditions remain contested.
What to Do
Workers: check your payslip against the current award rates in August, and query anything that looks light, the Fair Work Ombudsman is free to contact. Families: understand that wage costs sit behind some fee movements, and that a provider paying properly is a feature, not a flaw. Official detail on the wage reforms is on the Department of Health’s wages page.
Epik Wire covers aged care workforce and reform in plain language. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.
