The Aged Care Work Value case final decision has been handed down. What does it mean for Victorian nurses working in aged care?

On 20 December 2024 the Fair Work Commission (FWC) published its final determination in the ANMF’s work value case for nurses working in residential and home care aged care.

This decision applies only to nurses, not carers, and builds on the Commission’s previous determinations (see below) including the 15% interim ACWV Stage 2 increase to Award rates which applied from July 2023.

The Commission acknowledged then that further wage increases were warranted, and in March 2024 published its initial decision in Stage 3 of the case. This decision contained additional wage increases for personal carers – up to 6 percent, with the first instalment from 1 January this year – but it deferred the final decision (until December 2024) on award rate increases and classification structures for nurses working in aged care.

The December decision will result in an increase in minimum rates for most classifications and pay points, but not all. The total increases vary from 4.2 per cent to 25.5 per cent and are on top of the 15 per cent increase to Award rates granted in July 2023 (which then flowed to Victorian enterprise agreement rates).

The Commission’s decision also determined to change the award classification structure by flattening the structure (see the table below) by removing most pay points reflecting years of experience. This is something the ANMF did not seek and find very disappointing. Except for nurse practitioners, many pay points within levels have been removed, with some Award classifications being reduced to a single pay point (e.g. EN and RN Levels 3, 4 & 5).

All applicable increases will be applied in three equal tranches. These increases will be implemented on 1 March 2025, 1 October 2025 and 1 August 2026.

The new classification structure determined by the Commission will come into effect from 1 March 2025. You need to check to make sure your minimum rate is at least equal to the new Award rate

Will my pay increase?

All enrolled nurses and most registered nurses will see their wages increase.

The decision means there will be one Award pay point for all aged care ENs of $1,422.20 per week under the Award (compared to the current range of $1209.10 at Pay Point 1 through to $1272.00 at Pay Point 5). From 1 March the rate will be $1301.60.

A graduate RN Level 1 pay point 1 in aged care under the Award will be $1,449.60 (compared to the current graduate RN rate of $1293.60). From 1 March the rate will be $1345.60.

Some RN classification levels will not receive an award rate increase, however, as the FWC considered the ‘interim’ 15 per cent increase in July 2023 was sufficient to recognise work value increases. These award classification levels are:

• Level 4, Grade 3 (Deputy Director of Nursing)
• Level 5, Grade 5 and Grade 6 (Director of Nursing)
• Nurse Practitioners.

Due to the calculation method adopted by the FWC, RNs at Level 1 pay point 8 will not receive an increase in the first tranche of increases on 1 March but will in the October 2025 and August 2026.

I’m employed under an enterprise agreement. Will the award increases affect me?

The rates mentioned below are payable under the Nurses Award 2020: the federal minimum. Victorian Aged Care enterprise agreements will already have wage rates higher than the award rates – they cannot legally be lower. However, almost all nurses covered by an enterprise agreement will also see their rates increase further. If your agreement rate is lower than the new Award rate, it must be increased to at least match the new Award rate at 1 March (regardless of what rate the EBA prescribes).

ANMF expects that the Commonwealth will fund increases to EN and RN rates of pay on top of current enterprise agreement rates. All ENs and most RNs should get a boost to pay rates, no matter how far above the award rate your current EBA rate is.

The Independent Pricing Authority (IHACPA) is currently calculating the new Australian National Aged Care Classification funding model (AN ACC) pricing for all employers, which will incorporate the funding for the 1 March 2025 aged care work value case Stage 3 increase for nurses. There will be further funding increases for the implementation of the 1 October 2025 and 1 August 2026 increases.

In the meantime, the Commonwealth Department of Health (in consultation with ANMF and ACCPA, the peak employer body) is working on new Wages Guidance that will advise employers how much they should be increasing hourly rates by on 1 March. The figures in the right-hand column in the table below are our best estimate at this point. This Guidance should be finalised and available by mid-February.

Clearly, the new flat classification structure for ENs and RNs outlines below complicates the funding provided by the Commonwealth and what nurses will receive at various pay points in our EBA classification structures. What individual nurses will receive will depend in large part on how your enterprise agreement classification structure maps against the old and new Award structures.

It is likely that on 1 March those at the bottom of the EBA classification structures will receive more than experienced nurses at the top of the structure. This is an unfortunate consequence of the decision made by the Fair Work Commission to flatten the structures. The ANMF is consulting with employers to try to ensure that the available funding is distributed equitably between like classifications – for instance, all ENs, all Grade 1-3 RNs, all Grade 4 and 5 RNs receiving similar increases in their hourly pay rather than the precise increases in the right-hand column below.

We will communicate further with all aged care nurses as soon as we have a clearer picture of the amounts you should receive on the first full pay period on or after 1 March 2025.

We will also publish closer to the time the higher October 2025 and August 2026 new Award rates.

Aged care nurses pay rates: minimum Award rates from 1 March 2025

Will there be further changes?

Not as a result of the aged care work value case, but ANMF still has the general Nurses Award case in front of the Commission. This case seeks to increase the Nurses Award, for all nurses other than aged care nurses, by 35 per cent.

If successful, this application will ensure that the recognition of work value given to nurses and personal carers in stage 2 and 3 of the aged care work value case will be extended to all award-covered nurses, midwives and personal carers.

ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler said ‘We contend that award rates are set too low, stemming from the historic, gender-based undervaluation of nursing and midwifery care work.

‘Nurses and midwives make up over 50 per cent of Australia’s registered health professionals and are, without exaggeration, the backbone of our health and aged care systems. They are predominantly women, with approximately 89 per cent of nurses being female, and nearly 100% per cent of midwives.

‘On top of that, the nature of their work has changed dramatically. It’s more complex and the settings in which they work, more varied. The need for nursing and midwifery care has expanded, as people live longer and with greater levels of chronic disease. The Australian population has become more diverse, and expectations for a long and healthy life – supported by information, education and preventative care – are now the norm. Delivery of person-centred care is now the guiding principle under which healthcare operates.

‘The training, skill and responsibility required to deliver that quality care has grown commensurately with the ever-changing demands of the healthcare system. The ANMF says it is time the work of nurses, midwives and carers is properly recognised and valued.’

The work value case for general nurses should be finalised by the end of 2025.