Aged Care Worker Pay Rate 2026-27
Aged care work is split across two awards. This page publishes the home care scale set by the SCHADS Award, which is the one that applies when care is delivered in a person's own home.
Home care only, not residential aged care
The rates on this page come from the home care aged care scale of the SCHADS Award (MA000100), which covers aged care delivered in a person’s own home. Work in a residential aged care facility is covered by a different instrument, the Aged Care Award (MA000018), with its own classification structure and its own rates.
This site does not yet publish MA000018, because its rates have not been verified against the award text here. Nothing on this page should be read as the minimum for residential aged care work.
The short answer
A home care aged care worker is paid from $32.61 an hour at level 1, or $1,239.00 a week full-time, rising to $40.58 an hour at level 6. A casual at level 1 is paid $40.76 an hour, including the 25% casual loading. This scale covers care delivered in a client’s own home; residential aged care sits under a different award, which this site does not yet publish.
Award floor
$32.61
Level 1, an hour
Top of the scale
$40.58
Level 6, an hour
Casual, at the floor
$40.76
Includes the 25% loading
Take-home a year
$53,291
$2,050 a fortnight, at the floor
These are legal minimums set by a modern award, not a market average. This site does not publish average or advertised salaries, because the number that matters on a payslip is the floor an employer cannot go below. Many employers pay more, and an enterprise agreement can set a higher rate again.
Home care aged care rates, level by level.
Six levels, no pay points. Unlike most SCHADS scales there is no automatic annual step inside a level, so movement comes from a change in the work rather than from time served.
Home care — aged care
1 July 2026 · PR799380
Schedule F of the award, for employees providing aged care services to a person in a private residence.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | $1,239.00 | $32.61 | $40.76 | $53,291 |
| Level 2 | $1,307.80 | $34.42 | $43.03 | $55,724 |
| Level 3 | $1,376.70 | $36.23 | $45.29 | $58,160 |
| Level 4 | $1,431.70 | $37.68 | $47.10 | $60,105 |
| Level 5 | $1,486.80 | $39.13 | $48.91 | $62,053 |
| Level 6 | $1,541.90 | $40.58 | $50.73 | $64,002 |
Hourly figures are the weekly rate over 38 ordinary hours. Take-home is an estimate for a single Australian resident for tax purposes with no study loan debt and no Medicare levy surcharge, worked out 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.
Which award covers aged care work.
Aged care is one of the clearest cases in the award system of the same job title sitting under two different instruments. What decides it is not the employer or the funding stream but where the care is delivered.
Care delivered in a person’s own home falls under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (MA000100), on the home care aged care scale in Schedule F. That is the scale published above. Care delivered in a residential aged care facility falls under the Aged Care Award (MA000018) instead, which sets its own classifications for personal care workers and support staff.
A third case sits outside both. An enrolled or registered nurse working in aged care is covered by the Nurses Award, not by either of the awards above, and is paid on the nursing scale for the setting. If that is your role, the Enrolled Nurse Pay Rate page has those figures.
Within the home care scale, level is set by the work: the qualification it calls for, the degree of direction you work under, and whether you co-ordinate rosters or supervise other staff. If your duties have moved beyond your level, that is a reclassification question and worth raising in writing, separately from a question about the rate itself.
Every classification in this award, including the ones this page leaves out, is listed on the SCHADS Award Pay Rates page.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Award
- Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (MA000100)
- Effective from
- 1 July 2026
- Consolidated to
- 2026-09-01
- Determinations
- PR799380, PR813674
- Retrieved
- 6 September 2026
- Ordinary hours
- 38 a week
Every rate above was read from the award text at the Fair Work award library and nothing on this page is copied from another pay site. Rates change from the first full pay period on or after the effective date, so a payslip covering the changeover can lawfully carry the older figure for part of the period.
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.
Residential aged care
MA000018 sets those rates. They are not published on this site yet, and no figure here should be substituted for them.
Nursing classifications
Enrolled and registered nurses in aged care are paid under the Nurses Award, on a scale that differs from both aged care awards.
Penalty rates
Evening, weekend, public holiday, overtime and shiftwork loadings are set separately in the award and are not in this table.
Travel between clients
Home care work attracts a travel time and vehicle allowance under the award. Both are published on the award page rather than here.
Enterprise agreements
A registered agreement can set higher rates and different conditions, and where one applies it displaces the award rate.
Market or advertised pay
This page publishes the award floor only. It is not an average, a median, or what a given provider actually offers.
Aged Care Worker Pay Rate questions, answered.
What is the hourly rate for a home care aged care worker?
Under the home care aged care scale of the SCHADS Award, rates run from $32.61 an hour at level 1 to $40.58 an hour at level 6. Weekly, that is $1,239.00 to $1,541.90 for 38 ordinary hours. These figures apply to aged care work delivered in a person's own home.
Do these rates apply in a residential aged care home?
No. The SCHADS Award covers home care, meaning aged care delivered in a person’s own residence. Work in a residential aged care facility is covered by the Aged Care Award (MA000018), which is a different award with its own classifications and its own rates. This site does not yet publish MA000018 figures, so do not read a SCHADS rate as the minimum for residential work. Until that award is published here, check the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool for a residential rate.
What is the casual rate for a home care aged care worker?
A casual is paid one thirty-eighth of the weekly rate for their level plus a loading of 25 per cent. That is $40.76 an hour at level 1 and $50.73 an hour at level 6. The loading replaces paid annual leave, paid personal leave and notice of termination, which casual employees do not get.
What level is a home care worker on?
The home care aged care scale has six levels and no pay points, so there is no automatic annual step within a level. Your level follows the work itself: the qualification it requires, how much direction you work under, and whether you co-ordinate or supervise other staff. A change in duties, not time served, is what moves you up.
When do aged care award rates change?
Minimum rates change from the first full pay period on or after 1 July each year, following the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review. Separate determinations can vary rates or allowances part-way through a year, which is why the tables on this page carry both an effective date and the determination they came from.
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