What Does a New Grad Physio Cost a Clinic?

Under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award, a new graduate physiotherapist starting full-time in February 2027 costs a clinic at least $1,308.80 a week in wages, the Level 1 first-year minimum: about $68,100 a year, or $76,200 with 12% super. On an assumed 4% annual wage review, the same person costs about $122,700 a year with super by mid-2030.

That is a 61% rise in wages plus super, and none of it is a promotion. In this model the graduate stays at Level 1 throughout, with no senior role. Three things lift the pay and they stack: the award's staged increases on 30 June, the Annual Wage Review on 1 July, which in most payrolls land as one step, and the experience bands, which move on the anniversary of the employee's experience in the profession. The award's key dates and every source behind them are on the Health Professionals Award hub.

One graduate, eight dates

Full-time, 38 ordinary hours a week, rounded to the nearest $100. From 1 October 2026, Schedule B lists physiotherapy at one AQF level, AQF 7, so under clause B.2(a) that is the qualification level for a new graduate physiotherapist, unless the employer requires a higher qualification for the role, in which case clause B.2(d) applies that level. The profession-by-profession list is in AQF levels by profession under the Health Professionals Award.

What is settled and what is projected

Settled. The 1 October 2026 rate is set by PR814029. The Commission's staged appendix at [2026] FWCFB 216 publishes the rates for all five stages, inclusive of the 2026 Annual Wage Review and before any later one.

Projected. The 4% a year for 2027 to 2030 is our assumption, not a determination. Every figure from July 2027 onward carries it and moves if the actual reviews differ. Read the shape of the curve as the finding and each figure as a planning estimate. Figures are nominal, as payroll will show them. Strip the assumption out and the appendix alone still takes the same person to $1,801.00 a week at stage 5 in the 4th–6th year band: about $93,700 a year, or $104,900 with super, a 38% rise on the starting floor before a single future review is counted.

Our modelling choice. The award bands Level 1 by years of experience in the profession. This model counts whole years from a February 2027 start, with no prior experience counted, which is why nothing moves at the February 2029 anniversary. How a particular person's experience is counted can move the dates.

The floor, not the payroll. Every figure here is the award minimum. A clinic already paying above it starts from its own offer, and the contract sets how that offer moves. The floor still rises by these steps underneath it, and the margin between the offer and the floor narrows at every one unless the offer moves too.

What these figures leave out

These are annualised rates in force at each date, not cash paid across a calendar year, and they cover base wages and super only. They exclude:

• Annual leave loading: 17.5% on four weeks, about 1.35% of base, roughly $900 a year at the starting rate
• Workers compensation premium
• Payroll tax, where the wages bill crosses the state threshold
• Registration, insurance and CPD
• Supervision and onboarding time, which is heaviest in the first year
• Recruitment cost

A model built on the wage figure alone is built short.

The billings the role has to produce

A wage only becomes a problem relative to what the role produces. What this person has to bill depends on the share of billings a clinic lets wages plus super consume.

Per billable hour assumes 48 revenue-generating weeks of 25 billable hours. The 25 hours are completed, revenue-producing appointments, not rostered hours, and the 48 weeks allow for four weeks of annual leave only: public holidays, sick leave and empty slots come out of the same 25. At 45%, the $227 an hour the role needs by mid-2030 is about $114 for a completed 30-minute appointment or $76 for a 20-minute one. On the same ratio, the same person has to produce roughly $100,000 a year more in billings by mid-2030 than on the day they start, and none of that is a promotion. It is the floor rising underneath them.

Shane Gunaratnam, Culture of One's founder, treats 50% as the ceiling rather than the target: wages plus super at half of billings is the most a clinician should cost, so the role bills at least twice its cost. Clearing it is not profit; the other half still has to carry rent, admin, equipment and the owner's margin. His view on timing is that the first year's target should already point at the end state. In his words: "We don't set goals for year one that will be redundant by year two."

What to look at now

The question is not only whether a clinic can pay the starting wage, but whether the role still works once the bands change and the stages land. Many of these levers are easier to move before the increases arrive than after.

• Fee schedule. A fee rise that only tracks inflation does not close a gap in which the cost of the same person climbs by band as well as by review.
• Diary design and ramp plan. When in the first year the role is expected to reach the billings the table implies.
• Service mix. Where growing experience can be matched to work the clinic can charge more for.
• The hiring decision itself. The offer sets one number. Who is hired has a large bearing on whether the role reaches the billings the table implies.

To change the assumptions, the free New Grad Progression Calculator runs the same physiotherapy path on your own hours and wage review assumption. The free New Graduate Cost Calculator covers first-year cost for seven professions, from physiotherapy and occupational therapy to psychology. Neither determines the pay of someone already on your team.

The team you already have

A new graduate is the clean case: one qualification, one clock, no history. For an employee classified under the award on 30 September 2026, clause J.4.3 of PR814029 sets the new award minimum as the higher of two figures: the minimum for their translated classification, and the minimum for their old classification on that day. It compares two award minimums, not what someone is actually paid, and it runs one person at a time. What the October change does to a wage bill is in how exposed is your clinic to the 2026 award changes?, and the dates to line up before it are in your second pay rise hits October 1.

Questions owners ask

How much should I pay a new grad physio in 2027?

At least the award minimum. From 1 October 2026, a full-time first-year physiotherapist at Level 1, AQF 7, has a minimum of $1,308.80 a week, about $68,100 a year before super, until the next stage and wage review in mid-2027. Anything above it is your offer; the floor keeps moving.

What level is a new graduate physio under the Health Professionals Award?

Level 1, in the first-year experience band. From 1 October 2026, Schedule B lists physiotherapy at AQF 7 only, so that is the qualification level for a new graduate physiotherapist, unless the employer requires a higher qualification for the role (clause B.2(d)). Professions listed at a different AQF level, or at more than one, start on different rates.

What does a new grad cost after three years?

On an assumed 4% annual review, a physiotherapist who started in February 2027 enters the 4th–6th year band in February 2030, three years in, at about $114,100 with super, against $76,200 at the start.

When does a new grad get their first pay rise?

For a February 2027 start, award stage 2 and the Annual Wage Review, from the first full pay periods on or after 30 June and 1 July 2027, usually the same pay run: about $83,200 with super on a 4% review assumption. The next is the band move in February 2028.

How much does a new grad need to bill?

It depends on the ratio you run. At wages plus super of 45% of billings, a February 2027 graduate needs about $169,400 a year, or $141 per billable hour on 48 weeks of 25 hours. By mid-2030 the same person needs about $272,700, or $227 an hour.

Does this apply to other allied health graduates?

Partly. Level 1 rates under the award are set by AQF level and years of experience, and the July review applies to all of them, but the size and number of staged increases differ by AQF level and band. The figures here are for physiotherapy at AQF 7; the free New Graduate Cost Calculator covers first-year cost for seven professions.

Related reading

• The Health Professionals Award hub: the key dates, the rates and every source in one place.
• AQF levels by profession under the Health Professionals Award: which level each profession starts at.
• Your second pay rise hits October 1: what to line up before the reclassification starts.
• How exposed is your clinic to the 2026 award changes?: the margin question for the whole team.
• New graduate physio salaries in Australia: advertised graduate salaries set against the award and the billings a graduate can produce.
• Why new graduate physiotherapy wages aren't the real problem: why the starting number is the wrong thing to argue about.

Sources

• Fair Work Commission determination PR814029, made 7 September 2026 with [2026] FWCFB 231, operative 1 October 2026: the Stage 1 rates, printed inclusive of the 2026 Annual Wage Review.
• [2026] FWCFB 216 (14 August 2026): the Commission's appendix of the five staged rates.
• [2026] FWCFB 47 [6]: the staging method.
• PR814029 clause J.4.3(b): the higher-of comparison for existing employees.
• Health Professionals and Support Services Award, MA000027: awards.fairwork.gov.au/MA000027.

About this information

Culture of One is a business advisory firm, not a law firm. This is an illustrative planning model for a new hire and general information about the Health Professionals and Support Services Award, not legal or workplace-relations advice. It assumes the award covers the employment and no enterprise agreement applies, and this article does not assess any individual employee's classification or pay entitlements. Annual Wage Review percentages from 2027, and every figure derived from them, are projections subject to determination; check the current determination before relying on any forward rate.

Last updated 2 October 2026.