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 |
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.
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. 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 rates
Where the award sets a percentage scale for employees under 21, it is not published here. The figures above are adult rates.
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.
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.
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