Admin and Receptionist Award Rates: MA000027

These are the minimum rates for administrative, reception, clerical and cleaning staff under the Support Services stream of the Health Professionals and Support Services Award (MA000027), from the first full pay period that starts on or after 1 July 2026. They are a different classification structure and a different rate track from the health professionals working in the same clinic, and the 1 October 2026 health professional reclassification does not touch them.

Source: MA000027 clause 16.2 and Schedule A.1 (award text)

The short version

• The October change is not an admin change. No AQF levels, no profession schedule, no staged increases to 2030. Support Services rates move with the Annual Wage Review each 1 July, and the October reclassification does not touch them.
• A standard clinic front desk reads onto Level 3 — $29.11 an hour full-time or part-time, $36.39 an hour casual. The award lists Receptionist as an indicative role at that level. A desk carrying billing, records or supervisory work can sit higher.
• Duties decide the level, not the job title. The definitions turn on accountability, discretion, supervision and the training the role requires.
• Levels 1 to 7 are single rates. Only Levels 8 and 9 have pay points inside them. Below Level 8 the only thing that can move is the classification itself, and that follows the work the employee actually performs.
• In a physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathic, medical, dental or pathology practice the day-worker span of ordinary hours runs to 9.00pm on weekdays and takes in Saturday to 4.30pm. Evening reception work inside that span is ordinary time. Practices outside that list are on the standard 6.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday span, which changes the answer.

What do I pay a receptionist or admin employee in an allied health clinic?

Reception, administration and clerical staff in a private allied health practice are covered by the Support Services stream of the Health Professionals and Support Services Award (MA000027), because the award covers employers in the health industry — those whose business is the delivery of health care, medical or dental services — for the classifications in its Schedule A. That is a separate classification structure and a separate rate track from the health professionals working in the same clinic. A standard clinic front-desk role — bookings, arrivals, payments, general patient enquiries — matches the Level 3 description of an administrative or clerical employee undertaking a range of basic clerical functions within established routines, and Receptionist is an indicative role the award lists at that level. At Level 3 the award minimum from the first full pay period that starts on or after 1 July 2026 is $29.11 an hour for a full-time or part-time employee, $1,106.20 a week full-time, and $36.39 an hour casual. The health professional reclassification that starts on 1 October 2026 does not change any of these rates.

Source: MA000027 clause 16.2 and Schedule A.1 (award text)

Our reading, not the award's words: Reading a standard front-desk role onto Level 3 is our application of the classification definitions to a typical allied health practice, not a statement in the award. The award lists Receptionist as an indicative role at Level 3; it does not say where any particular employee belongs, and a front desk carrying billing, records, coordination or supervisory work can sit higher.

Work out the level and the rate for one employee

The full rate table is further down this page. This tool is for placing one person in it: 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 that follows. Duties decide the level, so the tool is built in that order.

Support Services minimum rates, MA000027, from 1 July 2026

All nine general Support Services levels, with the three pay points inside each of Levels 8 and 9 — 13 rates in total. They apply from the first full pay period that starts on or after 1 July 2026. Casual figures already include the 25% loading. Dental assistants and pathology collectors are not on this table — they have their own rates, covered further down.

Source: MA000027 clause 16.2(a) (award text); figures as published in the Fair Work Ombudsman Pay Guide for MA000027, effective 1 July 2026

Weekend and public holiday rates for admin staff

Ordinary hours on a weekend are paid at 150% of the minimum hourly rate for a full-time or part-time employee; a casual who works a Saturday or a Sunday is paid 175% and does not also receive the 25% loading. In the practice types the award gives an extended span to, the day-worker span reaches Saturday but not Sunday, so for a full-time or part-time day worker the Saturday column is the one that normally applies and Sunday hours fall to the overtime provisions instead.

Source: MA000027 clauses 26.1 and 25.2(b) (award text); figures as published in the Fair Work Ombudsman Pay Guide for MA000027, effective 1 July 2026

Does the 1 October 2026 health professional reclassification change admin wages?

No. The new AQF-based classification structure, the profession schedule and the staged wage increases running through to 2030 all sit in the health professional stream. Support Services employees continue to be classified under Schedule A.1 and paid under clause 16.2. Their rates move with the Annual Wage Review each 1 July, and none of the staged health professional increases reach them. The Full Bench said as much when it dealt with progression: clause 16.1 continues to apply to Support Services staff covered by the award. Two narrow Support Services groups are the exception and are dealt with separately: dental assistants and pathology collectors, who have their own rates.

Source: MA000027 clause 16.2 and Schedule A.1 (award text); [2026] FWCFB 123 at [73] (Full Bench finding)

Is MA000027 definitely the right award for my clinic's admin staff?

Usually, and it is worth confirming rather than assuming. The award covers employers throughout Australia in the health industry, and their employees in the classifications in Schedule A, to the exclusion of any other modern award. The health industry means employers whose business or activity is the delivery of health care, medical services and dental services — which is what a private allied health practice is. Three qualifications sit around that. The award does not cover employees excluded from award coverage by the Fair Work Act, or employees covered by a modern enterprise award or a state reference public sector award — narrow categories, and not the same thing as an enterprise agreement, which sits over an award rather than displacing coverage of it. And where an employer turns out to be covered by more than one award — because it runs more than one kind of business — the award clause that decides it is the one giving the classification most appropriate to the work the employee actually performs. A practice attached to a pharmacy, a gym or an aged care provider is the case worth checking.

Source: MA000027 clauses 4.1, 4.2, 4.6 and 4.7 (award text)

Our recommendation, not an award requirement: Resolving which award applies to a clinic that operates across more than one industry before rates are set is our recommendation, not an award requirement.

What Support Services level is my receptionist or practice administrator?

The award classifies on duties, accountability and experience, and it gives indicative roles at each level. Level 1 is an employee with less than three months' work experience in the industry performing basic duties under direct supervision; General clerk and Cleaner are indicative roles there. Level 2 covers an employee who can prioritise work within established routines with a limited level of accountability, and lists General clerk or Typist between three months and less than one year of service. Level 3 is where an administrative or clerical employee undertakes a range of basic clerical functions within established routines, methods and procedures, and Receptionist is an indicative role at that level, as is a General clerk or Typist in their second and subsequent years of service. Level 4 carries a medium level of accountability with skills or formal qualifications at Certificate III level, and lists Clerk (ward, casualty, medical records) and Medical imaging administration. From Level 5 an administrative employee is expected to have a comprehensive knowledge of medical terminology or a working knowledge of health insurance schemes, and to function semi autonomously with a substantial level of accountability.

Source: MA000027 Schedule A.1.1, A.1.2, A.1.3, A.1.4 and A.1.5 (award text)

Our reading, not the award's words: Where Culture of One describes what a level looks like in a clinic in plain English, that is our compression of the award's classification definitions for a clinic reader. The award's own words are the ones quoted in this answer, and they govern.

Does the employee's job title decide their award level?

No. Every employee covered by the award must be classified according to the structure and definitions in Schedule A, and those definitions turn on the work performed — the routines the employee works within, the level of accountability and discretion they carry, the supervision they work under, and the training or experience the role requires. The role names in the award are indicative, not definitional. Calling someone a practice manager does not lift them, and calling someone a receptionist does not hold them down. The employer must also advise the employee of their classification in writing when they start and whenever it changes.

Source: MA000027 clauses 12.1 and 12.2, and Schedule A.1 (award text)

Does an admin employee move up a level automatically as they gain experience?

Not through the rate table. Only Levels 8 and 9 have movement between pay points within a level, and the Full Bench confirmed that when it left the Support Services progression clause alone: those are the only Support Services classifications where there is movement between pay points. Levels 1 to 7 are single rates, so there is no pay point for an employee below Level 8 to move to. What can change is the classification itself. Every employee covered by the award must be classified according to the definitions in Schedule A, so the level follows the work the employee actually performs rather than an employer's view of it, and the employer must confirm the classification in writing on commencement and whenever it changes. Some of the award's indicative roles are themselves described by length of service: a general clerk or typist between three months and less than one year of service sits among the Level 2 roles, and one in their second and subsequent years among the Level 3 roles. So a clinic that never revisits a front-desk classification is not holding the employee still. It is running the risk that the classification on file stopped matching the work some time ago, and that the rate owed all along was the higher one. Where there is more than one pay point, progression is by annual movement for a full-time employee, or after 1824 hours of similar experience for a part-time or casual employee.

Source: MA000027 clause 16.1 (award text); [2026] FWCFB 123 at [73] (Full Bench finding); MA000027 clauses 12.1 and 12.2, and Schedule A.1.2 and A.1.3 (award text)

Our reading, not the award's words: That an unreviewed classification is an exposure rather than a saving is our observation about how the structure behaves in practice, not an award provision.

Do casual admin employees get a 25% loading?

Yes. For each ordinary hour worked a casual employee is paid the minimum hourly rate for their classification and pay point plus a loading of 25% of that rate. At Level 3 that is $29.11 plus 25%, so $36.39 an hour. The loading is paid instead of the entitlements casuals are excluded from, not on top of them. Published casual rates for this award are loaded rates: the 25% is already in them, so it is never added a second time.

Source: MA000027 clause 11.4 (award text)

What is the minimum shift you can roster a casual admin employee for?

Three hours. The award sets a minimum period of engagement of three hours for a casual employee, with one exception that matters in a clinic: cleaners employed in private medical practices have a minimum engagement of two hours. A one-hour close-up shift is not available for either.

Source: MA000027 clauses 11.2 and 11.3 (award text)

Do weekend penalty rates apply to reception staff, and is there an evening rate?

Yes, and Saturday is the one that comes up. In private medical, dental, pathology, physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathic practices the span of ordinary hours for a day worker runs 7.30am to 9.00pm Monday to Friday and 8.00am to 4.30pm on Saturday. That list is exhaustive: a practice outside it — an occupational therapy, speech pathology, exercise physiology or podiatry practice, for instance — uses the standard day-worker span of 6.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday, with no Saturday in it at all, which changes both answers below. Within the listed practices, Saturday hours inside the span are ordinary time, and ordinary hours on a weekend are paid at 150% of the minimum hourly rate for a full-time or part-time employee — $43.67 an hour at Level 3. That span has no Sunday in it. So for a full-time or part-time day worker in one of those practices, Sunday hours are not ordinary hours; they are hours in excess of ordinary hours, and the overtime provisions apply to them instead. Casuals are simpler: a casual who works on a Saturday or a Sunday is paid 175% of the minimum hourly rate and does not also receive the 25% loading, which is $50.94 an hour at Level 3. If a casual's weekend hours are also overtime — more than ten in the shift, or more than 38 in the week — the overtime rate applies to those hours instead of the 175%, never on top of it. Evenings run the other way from what owners expect. Because the weekday span reaches 9.00pm, a receptionist rostered until 8.00pm on a Tuesday, within their agreed ordinary hours, is working ordinary hours rather than overtime, and no evening loading attaches. The 115% penalty in the award is a shiftworker provision, not a general evening rate.

Source: MA000027 clauses 13.2(a) and 13.2(b), 25.1, 26.1 and 26.3 (award text)

Our reading, not the award's words: Which of these an individual roster triggers is our reading of the span, penalty and overtime clauses applied to a clinic pattern. The award does not describe clinic rosters; it sets the span and the rates.

When does overtime start for admin staff, and what does it pay?

Overtime is paid where a full-time employee works in excess of their ordinary hours or more than 10 hours in a shift; where a part-time employee works in excess of their agreed ordinary hours, except where an agreement has been reached under the award's part-time variation provision, or more than 10 hours in a shift, or more than an average of 38 hours a week over the cycle; and where a casual employee works more than 10 hours in a shift or more than 38 hours in a week. For a full-time or part-time employee the rates are 150% for the first two hours Monday to Saturday and 200% after that, 200% on Sunday and 250% on a public holiday. For a casual the rates are 187.5% for the first two hours Monday to Saturday and 250% after that, 250% on Sunday and 312.5% on a public holiday — the casual loading is added to the hourly rate before the overtime multiplier, not after. Overtime rates are paid instead of the weekend and shift penalties for those hours, never on top of them.

Source: MA000027 clauses 25.1, 25.2 and 25.3 (award text)

Does superannuation sit on top of these rates?

Yes. Every figure here is a minimum wage rate. Superannuation is a separate obligation under the superannuation legislation, which the award deals with in its own clause, and it is paid in addition to wages rather than out of them. What it is calculated on is set by that legislation and not by the award, and it is not simply every figure here — overtime in particular is treated differently. The 17.5% annual leave loading an employee other than a shiftworker is paid for a period of annual leave also sits on top of the rate. When a clinic compares what an admin employee costs against what they are paid, the wage rate is the floor of that number, not the whole of it.

Source: MA000027 clauses 24.1 and 27.3 (award text)

Can I pay an admin employee above the award?

Yes. The award sets minimum entitlements, not maximums, and paying above the minimum is common in clinics competing for experienced front-desk staff. Two things do not go away when you do. The employee is still classified at a level and still has to be told that level in writing. And the award's other entitlements — penalty rates, overtime, loadings, minimum engagements — still have to be satisfied. This is where clinics get caught. The award does have a mechanism for rolling those entitlements into one figure, the annualised wage arrangement in clause 22, but it reaches only full-time Support Services employees at Level 8 or Level 9, and it requires a written agreement that specifies the wage, which provisions it satisfies, how it was calculated, and the outer limits of penalty and overtime hours it covers. For a Level 1 to Level 7 admin employee that mechanism is not available at all. A flat above-award hourly rate is not automatically a substitute for those entitlements either. Whether it satisfies them is a question about the actual arrangement and the actual roster, period by period — a rate that clears the award comfortably in a quiet fortnight can fall short in one with a Saturday and a few hours of overtime in it, because the entitlements move and the flat rate does not.

Source: MA000027 clauses 12.2, 22.1(a), 22.1(b) and 22.1(c) (award text)

Our recommendation, not an award requirement: Testing an above-award rate against a real roster, pay period by pay period, rather than assuming it clears the award, is our recommendation.

What about dental assistants and pathology collectors?

They are the exception to the general Support Services rules, and they are rare in a physiotherapy, occupational therapy or exercise physiology practice. Dental assistants classified at Levels 3, 5, 6 and 7, and pathology collectors classified at Levels 5, 6 and 7, are carved out of the general Support Services rate table and paid under their own provisions in clause 16.2. A clinic that employs either should read those provisions and the Pay Guide's separate tables rather than the general Support Services rates. For everyone else in a clinic's support team, the general table applies.

Source: MA000027 clauses 16.2(a), 16.2(b) and 16.2(c) (award text)

Where to check this against the primary source

The award text and every rate on this page come from two public documents. Where this page goes beyond them — describing what a level looks like in a clinic, or recommending a course of action — it is labelled as ours. If a decision about a real employee turns on what you read here, read the sources.

• The award and the current rates — Fair Work Ombudsman: Health Professionals and Support Services Award summary. This page links the award itself and the Pay Guide, which is republished each year after the Annual Wage Review and is the figure-by-figure authority for every rate above. In the award, clause 16.2 carries the Support Services minimum rates, Schedule A.1 the classification definitions, and Schedule C a summary of hourly rates including penalties.
• The decision behind the October change — Fair Work Commission, [2026] FWCFB 123 (26 May 2026). This is the decision and determination that rebuilt the health professional classification structure. It is here so you can confirm what it does and does not do to Support Services; paragraph 73 is the one that deals with Support Services progression.

Related reading

• Evidence-based economics for clinic owners
• The 2026 Health Professionals Award changes: what they actually cost your clinic — the other stream of the same award, and the one the October change applies to.
• Clinic owners: your second pay rise hits October 1 — what to do before the health professional reclassification starts. It does not affect the admin rates on this page.
• AQF levels by profession under the Health Professionals Award — the classification lookup for the clinical stream, not for support staff.

About this information

This page is general information about how the Support Services stream of MA000027 works. It is not legal or industrial-relations advice, and it does not take account of any particular clinic's circumstances. The award and the Fair Work Commission's determinations are the authority; where this page and those documents differ, those documents govern. Decisions about an individual employee's classification are worth taking advice on.

Rates current as at 14 August 2026. Support Services rates change once a year, from the first full pay period on or after 1 July.