Are you prepared? Aged care nurse wages to rise on March 1

Aged care providers have less than a fortnight to prepare for increases to minimum award wages for registered and enrolled nurses as the Fair Work Commission’s final determination in the Aged Care Work Value Case comes into effect.

Key points

• The Fair Work Commission handed down its final decision in December 2024, confirming new minimum rates and classification structures for enrolled and registered nurses would be implemented from March 1, 2025
• This is the final outcome for the Aged Care Work Value Case commenced by the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation (ANMF) in 2021
• Previous award rate decisions related to personal care workers and all other aged care employees with total increases from 4.2% – 25.5% passed on
• Registered and enrolled nurses will see their increases, where applicable, come into effect over three tranches: March 1 and October 1, 2025, and August 1, 2026

ANMF, the driving force behind this work value case, said the pay increase is ‘great news for all Ens and RNs working in aged care’ with the decision coming after years of hard work and persistence. 

“The ANMF sought increases in minimum award wages for nurses working in aged care, on the basis that the work has never been properly valued due to gender-based undervaluation and has increased in complexity and skill over decades,” the organisation said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Aged Care said a valued workforce with the right skills and knowledge is critical to reform the aged care system. 

“A more skilled and diverse workforce will deliver safe, consistent, high-quality aged care services for in-home care recipients and aged care residents. Building our aged care workforce will help the sector deliver 24/7 registered nurse care, increased care minutes for residents, culturally safe practices, and increased system transparency,” it explained.

“In addition, a valued and happy workforce means employees are more likely to stay in their workplace for longer. This helps to improve compliance results, including care minutes, 24/7 registered nurse care requirements and Star Ratings of residential aged care providers, and provide better outcomes, including meeting the needs and rights of older people.”

With March 1 closing in, these are the key changes aged care providers and workers need to be aware of regarding award wages.

New classification structures

The Fair Work Commission determined that the current classification structure for nurses under the Nurses Award 2020 (Nurses Award) is not reflective of work value or a contemporary way of providing career progression. Therefore, a new structure will come into effect from March 1, significantly changing how employees are listed.

Enrolled nurse: Five pay points for ENs will be reduced to a single pay point. The translated classification will be ‘Enrolled nurse supervising other direct care employees’. 

RN Level 1: Eight pay points will be reduced to three pay points with pay point one covering the first year of employment classified at this level, while pay points 2-4 cover 1-4 years of employment and 5-8 covers 4+ years of service. The existing rate for an RN pay point 8+ will be preserved, as it is currently higher than the rate set.

RN Level 2: Four pay points are reduced to two pay points. Pay points 1-3 cover the first 3 years of employment while pay point 4 and thereafter is for excess of 3 years of employment at this level. 

RN Level 3: Four pay points will be reduced to a single pay point.

RN Level 4: Three grades will be reduced to a single level. The existing Level 4, Grade 3 pay point will be preserved, as it is higher than the single rate.

RN Level 5: Six grades will be reduced to a single level. The existing Level 5, Grade 5 and Grade 6 will be preserved, as it is higher than the single rate. 

Nurse Practitioner: The current 1st year and second year pay points remain and there is no increase to the current award rate.

As per the ANMF, wage rates can be no less than the minimum and nurses covered by an enterprise agreement should see their rates increase. The percentage may vary depending on current rates, while enterprise bargaining negotiations may influence the increase. 

Minimum award rates

From the first full pay period on or after March 1, minimum award wages will increase alongside classification changes for many enrolled and registered nurses employed in aged care who are paid under the Nurses Award. 

Providers employing workers under this award must be aware of the changes to award wages and classifications to ensure they are meeting their legal obligations to comply with minimum award wages under the Fair Work Act 2009. 

This legal obligation means providers must ensure they have followed the Fair Work Commission’s instructions in translating employees to the new award classification structures and that they are complying with the correct new award wages for each employee.

A summary of minimum hourly rates can be found on the Fair Work Commission website, and the department has also produced guidance materials. 

Key dates

Registered nurse and enrolled nurse wages will rise across three tranches over the next 18 months:

• March 1, 2025
• October 1, 2025
• August 1, 2026

The information provided by the department is only applicable to tranche one. It will work with Ageing Australia (formerly the Aged & Community Care Providers Association) and unions to support implementing the second and third tranches. 

Government funding support

The government remains committed to fully funding aged care wages. The Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) price will increase from March 1 to assist residential aged care prices. Meanwhile, the Home Care Packages subsidy will also increase to support Home Care Package providers. 

The government reinforced that it expects providers to pass on all additional funding to support the implementation of higher award rates. It expects the funding to support on-costs such as superannuation, leave entitlements, penalties and allowances. 

Where enterprise bargaining agreements are relevant, periodic wage increases should be drawn from provider revenue. The government does not support absorbing these periodic increases under the funding provided in support of implementing the 6 December 2024 decision for these employees.

Maintaining accountability 

Lastly, the department has reinforced that aged care providers must clearly inform aged care workers of the award wage increases and any classification changes in writing. 

It will continue to closely monitor data and information in the Quarterly Financial Report to ensure providers have passed on all funding for award wage increases to employees. Providers who report an hourly wage below the minimum pay points in relevant awards will be referred to the Fair Work Ombudsman. 

All guidance information can be found on the department’s website by clicking here, while ANMF has also published a suite of information.