Cleaning Services Award Pay Rates 2026-27: Every Level
Minimum rates under the Cleaning Services Award 2020 (MA000022), effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.
The short answer
A cleaning services employee at Level 1 is paid $27.08 an hour or $1,028.90 a week full-time. A casual at the same classification is paid $33.85 an hour, including the 25% casual loading. On that full-time wage, take-home pay after income tax and the Medicare levy is $45,862 a year, or $1,764 a fortnight.
MA000022 rates by classification.
All 3 classifications, with the casual rate the award publishes and what each one actually takes home after tax.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | $1,028.90 | $27.08 | $33.85 | $45,862 |
| Level 2 | $1,062.90 | $27.97 | $34.96 | $47,064 |
| Level 3 | $1,119.10 | $29.45 | $36.81 | $49,051 |
Across this table, full-time gross pay runs from $53,503 to $58,193 a year, which is $45,862 to $49,051 after income tax and the Medicare levy, or $59,923 to $65,176 once the 12% Superannuation Guarantee is paid on top. Select any take-home figure to open it in the Wage Calculator with that rate already entered.
Take-home is an estimate for a single Australian resident for tax purposes with no study loan debt and no Medicare levy surcharge, calculated with the same Wage Calculator used across this site. Superannuation is paid by your employer on top of these rates and is never deducted from them.
What $27.08 an hour leaves on a payslip.
A full-time week at the cleaning services employee at Level 1 rate is $1,028.90 before tax. The ATO weekly withholding schedule for 2026-27 takes $147.00 from it when the tax-free threshold is claimed, so $881.90 reaches your account. Paid fortnightly, it is $1,763.80.
| 38 hours a week | Gross a week | Tax withheld | Take-home a week | Take-home a fortnight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time$27.08 an hour | $1,028.90 | $147.00 | $881.90 | $1,763.80 |
| Casual, same hours$33.85 an hour | $1,286.30 | $230.00 | $1,056.30 | $2,112.60 |
Withholding is the payslip figure, not the year’s tax: the schedule rounds each pay to the dollar and leaves offsets to the tax return, which is why it differs a little from the take-home a year above. Super is paid on top. For a different number of hours, the Weekly Pay Calculator opens with $27.08 and 38 hours filled in, and the Overtime Calculator adds hours at time and a half and double time to the same rate, before any award-specific overtime rules.
MA000022 junior rates by age.
The award pays a junior employee a percentage of the adult rate. The percentages below are read from the award text, and the dollar figures are worked out from the adult weekly rate. Each table says exactly how, and which of its figures were checked against rates the award itself prints.
Clause 15.2: Junior rates (employees of shopping trolley collection contractors)
What each percentage is a percentage of, in the words of the clause: “An employer who is a shopping trolley collection contractor must pay a junior employee aged as specified in column 1 of Table 3, Junior rates (employees of shopping trolley collection contractors) the minimum percentage specified in column 2 of the minimum rate that would otherwise be applicable under Table 2, Minimum rates:”
| Age | Percentage of adult rate |
|---|---|
| Under 16 years of age | 45% |
| 16 years of age | 50% |
| 17 years of age | 60% |
| 18 years of age | 70% |
| 19 years of age | 80% |
| 20 years of age | 90% |
| Classification | Under 1645% | 1650% | 1760% | 1870% | 1980% | 2090% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | $12.18$463.01 a week | $13.54$514.45 a week | $16.25$617.34 a week | $18.95$720.23 a week | $21.66$823.12 a week | $24.37$926.01 a week |
| Level 2 | $12.59$478.31 a week | $13.99$531.45 a week | $16.78$637.74 a week | $19.58$744.03 a week | $22.38$850.32 a week | $25.17$956.61 a week |
| Level 3 | $13.25$503.60 a week | $14.73$559.55 a week | $17.67$671.46 a week | $20.62$783.37 a week | $23.56$895.28 a week | $26.51$1,007.19 a week |
Each cell is the hourly rate, with the full-time weekly rate beneath it. The award prints the percentages. The dollar figures are worked out from them, as follows.
Each weekly figure is the adult weekly rate multiplied by the percentage, rounded to the nearest cent with an exact half cent rounding up. Each hourly figure is that weekly figure divided by the 38 ordinary hours in a full-time week, rounded to the nearest cent.
Every figure in this table matches the award. All 18 junior rates are printed in Schedule B of the award, and each printed figure agrees to the cent.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Award
- Cleaning Services Award 2020 (MA000022)
- Effective from
- 1 July 2026
- Consolidated to
- 1 July 2026
- Determinations
- PR799280, PR799303, PR799460
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-09
- Cross-checked
- 3 of 3 rates against Schedule B
Every rate above was read from the award text at the Fair Work award library and then checked a second time against Schedule B of the same award, which republishes the hourly rates. Casual rates are the award’s own published figures rather than our multiplication, because the award rounds differently from a calculator. The junior percentages were read from the award in the same way. The junior dollar figures are worked out from them, and each junior table says which of its figures were checked against rates the award itself prints. Nothing here is copied from another pay site.
What this page does not cover.
Listed as plainly as what it does, because a rate page that hides its gaps is how the wrong number ends up on a payslip.
Penalty rates
Shift, weekend, public holiday and overtime loadings are set separately in the award.
Junior casual and penalty rates
The junior figures on this page are ordinary-hours minimums. Casual loading, weekend, public holiday and overtime rates for juniors are not worked out here.
Allowances
Every allowance the award sets sits in a separate clause. No allowance figure is published here.
Cleaning Services Award Pay Rates questions, answered.
What is the award wage for a cleaner in Australia?
Under the Cleaning Services Award 2020, the minimum is $27.08 an hour, or $1,028.90 a week full-time, at Level 1. That is the legal floor for work the award covers, not an average or an advertised rate. A Level 1 casual is paid $33.85 an hour, which includes the 25% casual loading. How the 3 levels apply to contract and commercial cleaning, with what each leaves after tax, is set out on Cleaner Pay Rate.
What is the cleaning services award rate for 2026?
The current rates take effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. Level 1 is $27.08 an hour, Level 2 is $27.97 an hour and Level 3 is $29.45 an hour. Modern awards are national, so these apply in every state and territory.
What is a normal hourly rate for a cleaner?
That is a different question from the award rate, and this page cannot answer it honestly. The award sets the minimum an employer may lawfully pay, from $27.08 an hour. What cleaners are actually paid depends on the employer, the contract and the shift, and often sits above the minimum. No market rate is published here, because there is no primary source for it that meets the standard the rest of this page is held to.
How much do cleaners get paid in Australia per hour?
Under the award, between $27.08 and $29.45 an hour for ordinary hours full-time, depending on classification level, and between $33.85 and $36.81 an hour as a casual. Work outside ordinary hours is paid at a higher rate set separately in the award.
Why does this award have only 3 levels?
Because that is the whole scale. The award sets 3 classification levels and all 3 are in the table above. A short table here is the award's own structure, not a section missing from this page.
Do the cleaning award rates include penalty rates?
No. The figures on this page are ordinary-hours minimum rates. Shift, weekend, public holiday and overtime work attracts a higher rate set separately in the award, and none of those rates is published on this page.
See what an award rate leaves you with.
Enter your hourly rate and hours to work out take-home pay for your own roster.
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