From the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026, health professionals covered by the Health Professionals and Support Services Award move to an entirely new classification structure. For practice owners, this is a reclassification exercise, not a pay-rate update.
Most practice owners are used to the annual wage review. A percentage lands in July, payroll is updated, and the year moves on. What takes effect on 1 October 2026 is different, and treating it like a routine increase is where the risk sits.
As one of Prosperity’s key sectors, healthcare remains an area where we work closely with practice owners on the commercial, financial and operational challenges of running a practice. The upcoming Health Professionals and Support Services Award changes are one issue many practices are currently navigating.
What is actually changing
The Fair Work Commission has replaced the classification structure for health professionals under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award. The old pay-point system, built around years of service with an employer and broad duty descriptions, is gone.
In its place:
- Level 1 employees are classified on the qualification level required for their profession, measured against the Australian Qualifications Framework, and their years of experience in the profession. Schedule B of the Award now lists standard minimum qualifications for common health professions.
- Levels 2, 3 and 4 are classified on the role and duties performed, including specialist, supervisory and managerial responsibility.
- Experience counts across employers, not just service with you. A physiotherapist who worked four years elsewhere before joining your practice brings that experience with them.
- The requirement for casual and part-time professionals to progress after working 1,824 hours has been removed.
Minimum rates increase in five phases: the first from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026, then annually on 30 June from 2027 through to 2030. This is a structural adjustment to the Award, separate from the annual wage review, so both will apply in future years.
Existing employees are protected. Where the new structure would produce a lower rate, retained rates provisions mean staff keep the higher of the two.
Why the reclassification is the real work
Every affected employee has to be mapped into the new structure before their first full pay period on or after 1 October. That means knowing each person’s qualification, the AQF level attached to their profession, their total years in the profession, and what they actually do day to day.
Get the translation wrong and the practice underpays without intending to. The underpayment is real regardless of whether the error was deliberate, and it compounds every pay cycle until someone notices.
There is a second issue specific to allied health and practice settings. Many practices have paid comfortably above the Award for years and never had reason to check the floor. With rates moving five times between 2026 and 2030, that margin narrows. A salary that sat well clear of the minimum in 2025 may not in 2028.
This is not the only change this year
New classifications and rates for dental assistants and pathology collectors commenced on 1 April 2026, with a further stage due from 1 January 2027. Practices that missed that change are already exposed. Payday Super also commenced on 1 July 2026, changing when employers must pay superannuation.
What to do before 1 October
- List every employee covered by the professional stream of the Award.
- Confirm each person’s qualification and the AQF level for their profession against Schedule B.
- Establish total years of experience in the profession, including time with previous employers.
- Map each employee to their new classification and record how you reached it.
- Advise employees of their new classification.
- Update payroll, contracts and position descriptions, and check rosters and timesheets feed payroll correctly.
- Build the staged increases through to 2030 into your wage budget.
Where the pressure usually lands
In most practices this work falls to the practice manager or the principal, alongside rosters, recruitment and running the practice. It is detailed, it is time-bound, and it sits outside what most practice managers were hired to do.
If you would like a second set of eyes on where your practice stands, Prosperity People Solutions offers a complimentary HR Operations Health Check — a 30-minute conversation with Dominic Roberts, followed by a short written summary of what is working, where risk may sit and what to prioritise. It covers Award coverage and classifications, contracts and policies, the connection between rosters, timesheets and payroll, contractor arrangements, recruitment and retention, and key person risk.
Book a 15-minute discovery call with Dominic Roberts, or email him directly.