Client Alert: Major Pay & Award Changes Coming

Issued: April 2025Applies to: Community Services, Health, Aged Care, Childcare, Pharmacy, and Disability Sector Employers

Pharmacies will need to increase minimum wages from 30 June 2025.

The Fair Work Commission has handed down a landmark decision:

The Commission declares that several modern awards have undervalued work in female-dominated industries (for decades).

If you’re an employer in these sectors, buckle up. Minimum rates are going up, classification structures are changing, and in some cases, the Equal Remuneration Order (ERO) is being scrapped and replaced entirely.

Why has this come about? Under the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act rolled out by the Labor government in recent years, the legislation requires the FWC to eliminate gender-based undervaluation in modern awards.

Affected Awards & Roles

The following awards were found to have entrenched gender-based undervaluation:

• Pharmacy Industry Award 2020

• Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020

• Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (SCHADS)

• Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health Workers Award 2020

• Children’s Services Award 2010

What’s Changing?

Wage Increases:

• Pharmacists: +14.1% over 3 years (from 30 June 2025)

• Children’s Services Employees (CSEs): +5% from 1 August 2025, with full phase-in over 5 years

• Other roles: Proposed uplift to new “benchmark rates” pending consultation

Award Rewrites

• SCHADS Award:

  • 5 different classification structures to be replaced by a unified, simplified structure

  • Equal Remuneration Order revoked and baked into base award rates

  • Pay aligned to “Caring Skills Benchmark” ($1269.80/week for Cert III roles)

    
    

• Health Professionals & Dental Assistants:

  • Reclassified and aligned with C1(a) benchmark rates ($1525.90/week for degree-qualified roles)

    
    

• ATSIHW Award:

  • Dental assistants reclassified under existing Health Worker levels

  • New wage structure for dental/oral therapists introduced

    
    

When Does It Start?

• Pharmacy: Phased increases from 30 June 2025

• CSEs: First increase 1 August 2025

• Other sectors: Final variations pending after consultation, but changes are coming quickly

  
  

What Should You Do Now?

• Budget for wage increases across covered roles

• Review your current classification structures, many will be outdated soon

• Prepare for compliance once the new minimums are locked in

• Watch for FWC updates, some provisional decisions are still under review

  
  

Our Advice

If you employ staff under any of these awards, get proactive. This isn’t a small correction, it’s a structural overhaul.

Let’s talk about how this affects your enterprise, your risks, and your options.

Need Help Navigating the Changes?

We’ve got you. Book a consult or request a tailored compliance briefing.

We’ll protect you, proactively.... The HR Cartel