MA000027 · Award resource hub
One table for every dated change to the award's classification structure and minimum rates — the July wage increase, the 1 October 2026 reclassification of health professionals, and the staged increases running to 2030 — plus the reason the October reclassification never reaches your front desk.
Culture of One · Written by Shane Gunaratnam, Founder · Last updated 14 August 2026
MA000027 — the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 — is the award a private allied health practice in Australia is normally covered by. It covers employers in the health industry for the classifications set out in its Schedule A, and it covers health professionals occupationally. Coverage attaches to those classifications rather than to everyone an employer happens to engage, so the practice's industry is not on its own the answer for every role on the payroll. The list of professions the award names in its determination Schedule B.3 is indicative: the Fair Work Commission has said that schedule does no more than provide an indicative list of common health professionals and their qualifications, and that it does not define the extent of the award's coverage.
Source: MA000027 clause 4.1; [2026] FWCFB 123 at [20] (held)
The single most useful thing to know about MA000027 in 2026 is that it holds two separate classification structures, and only one of them is changing.
Which half of that split you are in decides everything else on this page.
| Date | What happens | Who it reaches | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 July 2026 | The Annual Wage Review increase to the award's minimum rates takes effect, from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026. The current figures are published in the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay Guide for MA000027, effective 1 July 2026. | Both streams | Fair Work Ombudsman Pay Guide, MA000027, effective 01/07/2026, published 24 June 2026 |
| 1 October 2026 | The new health professional classification structure and the first stage of the new minimum rates come into operation. For any individual employee the change takes effect from the start of their first full pay period starting on or after 1 October 2026 — so if your pay period does not begin on 1 October, it starts later that month. | Health professionals | [2026] FWCFB 123 at [80] (held); the determination, Part B |
| 1 October 2026 | Every health professional employed on 30 September 2026 translates into the new structure, at that same first full pay period. An employee classified at Level 1 or Level 2 on 30 September is classified on the AQF level for their profession and their years of experience in the profession. An employee classified at Level 3 or Level 4 is classified on the roles and duties they perform and how long they have performed them. No one's award minimum rate falls: the employee is paid the higher of the new rate and the award rate they were on at 30 September 2026. | Health professionals | [2026] FWCFB 123, determination cl J.3.1 (previous Levels 1–2), determination cl J.3.2 (previous Levels 3–4) and determination cl J.3.3 (the higher-of rule) |
| 30 June 2027 | Second of the five stages of the phased increase to health professional minimum rates. | Health professionals | [2026] FWCFB 123 at [80] (held) |
| 30 June 2028 | Third stage of the phased increase. | Health professionals | [2026] FWCFB 123 at [80] (held) |
| 30 June 2029 | Fourth stage of the phased increase. | Health professionals | [2026] FWCFB 123 at [80] (held) |
| 30 June 2030 | Fifth and final stage. From this date the new minimum rates are fully in. | Health professionals | [2026] FWCFB 123 at [80] (held) |
| Every 1 July | Where the Annual Wage Review varies modern award minimum wages, the variation applies to this award as it does to any other. The staged health professional increases sit on top of it: the Commission rejected any submission that they be absorbed into Annual Wage Review increases, because absorbing them would defeat the purpose of the correction. | Both streams | [2026] FWCFB 123 at [76] (held) |
| No change | None of the October change and none of the phase-in reaches employees classified in the award's Support Services stream — reception, administration, clerical and cleaning staff. The new classification structure and the AQF schedule are written for Health Professional employees. Clause 16.1 continues to apply to Support Services staff and the Commission made no findings that would require it to be amended. Their award minimum rates move once a year, with the Annual Wage Review. | Support Services | [2026] FWCFB 123 at [73] (held); determination cl B.2; MA000027 clause 16.1 |
One thing the table cannot settle. The 1 October 2026 figures published with the May 2026 decision are stated before the 2026 Annual Wage Review, and the Commission said a further determination would be published after that review to incorporate any changes flowing from it. Read the published determinations and the Pay Guide for operative figures rather than computing them from the decision's tables.
Source: [2026] FWCFB 123 at [97] (held)
Start from the person you are asking about, not from the change.
The October reclassification applies to them. Three pages cover it end to end.
None of the October change reaches them. If that is the whole of your question, one page answers it and nothing else here applies to you.
Support Services staff are on the ordinary Annual Wage Review track. The next scheduled movement in their award minimum rate is 1 July, not 1 October.
Three free tools, no sign-up on any of them.
What a new graduate physiotherapist costs in wages and super, and the award settings that move the number.
How a new graduate's award minimum pay progresses year by year, and what that does to a wage-to-billings ratio as they move up.
Pick a level to read the award's own duty definitions for it, compare all nine levels side by side, and only then read the rate. It sits inside the admin and receptionist rates page, because duties decide the level and the rate follows.
Newest first. All of it is free and open.
The wider picture these sit inside — what the award does to a clinic's economics rather than what the rule says — is evidence-based economics for clinic owners.
Every answer on this page, and on every article and calculator it links to, is free and open. No sign-up, no download, no email. The answers are the deliverable.
REBUILD is the other thing. It is the October reclassification worked end to end — every clinician translated, floored and repriced, with the same worksheets we use with private clients. Self-paced, and built for a weekend rather than an afternoon, because doing this properly across a team is a project.
No. The 1 October 2026 reclassification under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award (MA000027) applies to health professionals. Reception, administration, clerical and cleaning staff are classified under the award's Support Services stream, which keeps its existing classification structure. Clause 16.1 continues to apply to Support Services staff and the Fair Work Commission made no findings that would require it to be amended ([2026] FWCFB 123 at [73]). Support Services award minimum rates move with the Annual Wage Review each 1 July.
The determination comes into operation on 1 October 2026, but it does not take effect in relation to a particular employee until the start of that employee's first full pay period that starts on or after 1 October 2026 (the determination annexed to [2026] FWCFB 123, Part B). A clinic whose fortnight begins on 5 October changes on 5 October, not on the 1st.
The new health professional minimum rates are phased in over five stages. The first stage commences with the new classification structure on 1 October 2026. The remaining four take effect from 30 June in each of 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030 ([2026] FWCFB 123 at [80]). Each stage's figures are set by the Fair Work Commission's published determinations.
No. An employee classified under the award on 30 September 2026 is paid the higher of the rate their new classification produces and the rate they were on at 30 September 2026 ([2026] FWCFB 123, determination cl J.3.3). That provision is why no award minimum rate falls on 1 October, including where a translated classification would otherwise produce a rate below the pay point the employee currently sits on.
No. The Fair Work Commission rejected any submission that the increases to health professional minimum rates be absorbed into future Annual Wage Review increases, on the basis that absorbing them would substantially vitiate the correction the increases exist to make ([2026] FWCFB 123 at [76]). The staged increases sit on top of the Annual Wage Review, not inside it.
Coverage is set by clause 4.1 of MA000027 read with the classification definitions in its Schedule A. The award's own list of professions is indicative — it is the table at determination Schedule B.3. The Fair Work Commission has said that schedule does no more than provide an indicative list of common health professionals and their qualifications, and does not define the extent of the award's coverage ([2026] FWCFB 123 at [20]). A profession's absence from that list therefore does not decide the question either way.
For someone hired on or after 1 October 2026, classification is set on commencement by the AQF level for their profession, and then by their years of experience in the profession. Where the award lists a profession at more than one AQF level, the level of the qualification the employee actually holds decides. For someone already employed on 30 September 2026 the route depends on their classification that day: previous Levels 1 and 2 translate on AQF level and years of experience, previous Levels 3 and 4 translate on the roles and duties they perform ([2026] FWCFB 123, determination cl B.2, determination cl J.3.1 and determination cl J.3.2).
Work out which of your employees are health professionals under the award and which are Support Services, classify each health professional under the new structure, compare the result against the rate they hold at 30 September 2026 and pay the higher of the two, and confirm each employee's classification in writing. The award requires an employee to be advised of their classification in writing on starting and when it changes (MA000027 clause 12.2). The order of those steps is our reading of what the award's requirements mean in practice; the award does not set out a checklist.
The dates and rules on this page come from the award itself, the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay Guide for it, and the Fair Work Commission's decision and the determination annexed to that decision. Where this page describes what a change means for a clinic rather than what those documents say, it says so. If a decision about a real employee turns on what you read here, read the sources.
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 does not take account of your clinic, your contracts or any individual's circumstances. The award and the Fair Work Commission's determinations are the authority; where this page and those documents differ, those documents govern. Before you change anyone's classification or pay, check the published determinations and get advice on your own situation.
Last updated 14 August 2026.