Clubs Award Pay Rates 2026-27: Every Level

There is no single legal rate. Each modern award sets its own minimums by classification, and which one applies depends on the industry and the work. For work in a registered or licensed club the floor is the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020: $25.74 an hour at the Introductory level, rising to $40.53 an hour at Level 13, from 1 July 2026. A kitchen hand in a club is paid from this award rather than from the restaurant and hospitality scales set out on Kitchen Hand Pay Rate. A cooking apprentice is paid on the award's separate apprentice scale, set out by year on Apprentice Chef Wages, and a greenkeeping or gardening apprentice is paid the same percentages, compared with the gardening award on Apprentice Landscaper Wages. The award covers greenkeepers, ground attendants and gardeners on bowling greens and golf courses (clause 4.4(b)), but not landscape gardeners (clause 4.5(c)), who are generally on the award set out on Gardening and Landscaping Award Pay Rates.

Because the award lists it twice, and this page reproduces the award rather than tidying it. The adult minimum rates table carries 2 Level 6 rows: one for the general Level 6 classifications, and one for a club manager of a club whose gross annual revenue falls below the threshold the award sets. Both are paid the same, $1,221.10 a week and $32.13 an hour, so the rows look identical here. Neither has been dropped, because dropping one would make the table disagree with the award.

The same as everywhere else in Australia. This is a federal award and its rates do not vary by state or territory, so a club employee in Queensland is paid from the table above, exactly as one in New South Wales or Victoria is. State club industry bodies publish their own wage sheets, but the legal minimum is the federal award rate for the classification.

A casual at the Introductory level is paid $32.18 an hour, and the casual scale runs to $50.66 an hour at Level 13. Those are the award's own published casual figures, including the 25% loading, rather than our multiplication of the base rate. The loading is paid instead of paid leave, not on top of it. A casual fitness instructor, a Level 3 classification, is paid for at least 1 hour each time rather than the usual 2 (clause 11.5). An instructor employed by a gym or fitness centre business rather than by a club is covered by the Fitness Industry Award instead, set out on Fitness Award Pay Rates.

Against the award text itself, which is what the table above publishes, and against the Fair Work Ombudsman pay calculator, which also covers penalty rates and allowances. Check the classification first, because the award sets the level by the work actually done rather than by the job title on a roster. If a payslip sits below the rate for that classification, the award rate is a legal minimum rather than a starting offer. Check the award as well, because a hotel or pub is covered by a different one, set out on Hospitality Award Pay Rates.

No. The figures on this page are ordinary-hours minimum rates. Evening, weekend, public holiday and overtime work are paid at a higher rate set separately in the award, and none of those rates is published here.