Grad Progression Calculator
What your grad costs as they grow
Hire a graduate physio today and slide forward. Each year they gain experience and climb the award bands — and the new rates phase in underneath them. One hire, watched over time.
Hourly rate
Per week
Per year (base)
Two things lift the cost at once
As the grad gains experience they move up the bands — 1st year, then 2nd–3rd, then 4th–6th, then 7th year and beyond. At the same time, the new award rates phase in from 1 October 2026 to 30 June 2030. The person climbs and the rates climb, so the cost rises faster than either on its own.
The jumps are the band crossings
Most years are a steady single-digit rise. The big steps land when they cross a band — around year 4 (into 4th–6th) and year 7 (into 7th year+). A grad is not a fixed cost. They are an escalating one, and the steps are the part owners do not see coming.
What is locked, and what is your call
The base is the published 1 October 2026 rate with the confirmed 4.75% review applied. The 2028–2030 steps are interpolated between the two figures the Commission has published, and everything past 4.75% is your inflation assumption — drag the slider. Each phase-in step lands on 30 June, so the back half of a year runs one step higher than the front half. Figures are base wage plus 12% super; leave loading, penalties and bonus sit on top.
The cost only climbs. Get ahead of it.
The calculator shows you where a grad's pay lands in five years. Designing for that now — the structure, the roles, the margin — is how you stay profitable while the rates rise. That's what the advisory is for.
Fix My WagesAbout this information
These figures model a new graduate starting on the first-year rate — don't use them to set pay for anyone already on your team, because an existing employee keeps their old rate as a floor where it's higher, and this calculator doesn't check that.
Culture of One is a business advisory firm, not a law firm. This is general information about the Health Professionals and Support Services Award — not legal or workplace-relations advice — and it doesn't take account of your clinic, your contracts, or any individual's circumstances. Forward dollar figures are estimates, not final rates: the FY2027–FY2029 figures are interpolated, and every figure firms up only when the Fair Work Commission publishes its determination after each year's annual wage review. Before you change anyone's classification or pay, get advice on your own situation.
Current as at 28 July 2026.
The grad you hire today is not the cost you signed up for. — Culture of One