From the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026, the health professional classifications in the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (MA000027) have been replaced. Not adjusted. Replaced.

The change comes from the Fair Work Commission's Gender-based undervaluation priority awards review. The new classification structure and first stage of pay rates start on 1 October 2026 rather than 30 June 2026, under a decision issued on 26 May 2026, with further increases from 30 June in each of 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030. The clauses translating existing health professionals into the new structure sit in determination PR814029.

If you place allied health staff, this is not a rate rise you can apply as a percentage. The structure underneath your quotes has changed shape.

What actually changed

The old pay point system for health professionals is gone. From the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026, Health Professional Level 1 is classified by the AQF level of the profession's standard minimum qualification, set out in Schedule B and running from AQF 5 to 9, combined with years of experience in the profession across four bands, with no pay points. Levels 2.1, 2.2, 3 and 4 are single rates by role.

So a graduate physiotherapist and a graduate psychologist no longer sit in the same place. Each profession has a standard minimum qualification level, and experience counts across the profession rather than only time with your business.

Who it affects, and who it doesn't

Reception, administration, clerical and cleaning staff are classified under the award's Support Services stream, which keeps its existing classification structure.

That distinction matters if you place across both. One half of your placements needs reclassifying and the other does not.

Note also that this is separate from the earlier changes in the same review. Changes affecting dental assistants and pathology collectors took effect from 1 April 2026, moving those roles within the support services classification structure.

Why this one is harder than a normal wage change

A general wage increase is a multiplication. Old rate, times the percentage, done.

This is different. The old and new classifications do not have a direct one-to-one relationship, so nothing can translate them automatically. Each employee has to be assessed individually: their qualification, their years in the profession, and the duties they actually perform.

Two people who sat in the same old classification can land in different new ones. That is the expected result of classifying by qualification and experience rather than tenure in a pay point.

What this means for your quotes

Every quote covering health professional work performed from 1 October 2026 is priced on a classification that no longer exists. That has two consequences, and most people only think about the first.

The pay rate. An employee paid against a removed classification is an underpayment risk from the first full pay period after 1 October.

The charge rate. If the client quote was built on the same classification, your charge rate is wrong too. Whether you can correct it depends on what your contract says about rate changes. With no escalation clause tied to award movements, the difference comes out of your margin for the rest of the term.

It doesn't stop here

The new rates phase in over five stages running to 2030, layered on top of the usual Annual Wage Review increases, which stack rather than offset. Any multi-year allied health contract you price now will cross several of them.

One more thing to check rather than assume. The new structure contains lower rates at some AQF Level 5 and 6 pay points, and the Commission puts the range of those structural decreases at 0.36 to 7.8 per cent. Most people go up. Not everyone.

What to do this week

List every health professional placement, separating the health professional stream from Support Services.

• Reclassify each person individually: qualification, AQF level for their profession under Schedule B, years of experience in the profession, and actual duties.
• Check the effective date. It is the first full pay period starting on or after 1 October, not 1 October itself.
• Requote the affected work.
• Check your contracts to see which clients you can pass the change through to.
• Record your reasoning for each employee, so a classification can be explained later.

The Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool and the MA000027 pay guide are the place to confirm the rates that apply to each new classification.

If you use RatesCalc ( you are fortunate)

Because the classifications do not map one to one, we cannot link your existing jobs to the new classifications automatically, and we would not want to guess on your behalf. You will need to review each employee against the new structure and add the relevant new job to your quote.

We have sent affected customers a Health Professionals Award New Classification Guide, showing the new classifications alongside how employees were previously classified. Treat the previous classification column as a guide only. The same old classification can lead to different new ones depending on qualification, experience and duties.



If it landed in your spam folder, or you want a hand working through your quotes, get in touch and we will go through it with you.