Blue Care Pay Rates 2026: Carer, Nurse & Support Staff Pay

Blue Care is the aged and community care arm of UnitingCare Queensland, one of the state's largest employers, running residential aged care, home care and community services alongside UnitingCare's hospitals (The Wesley, St Andrew's and others). Personal carers, home care workers, nurses and support staff make up most of the workforce.

UnitingCare Queensland bargains through large multi-site enterprise agreements, and the award safety net for Blue Care roles is the Aged Care Award 2010 (residential care) and the SCHADS Award (home care), with the Nurses Award for nursing staff. The aged care ladder below is the floor for residential care roles.

The federal awards relevant to Blue Care (UnitingCare Queensland) roles:

• Aged Care Award 2010 (MA000018)
• Nurses Award 2020 (MA000034)

Workforce snapshot. In its 2024-25 report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, UNITINGCARE QUEENSLAND LIMITED declared 16,119 employees — 18% casual and 79.4% women, with 494 in management roles. Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).

After the aged care work value case, the Aged Care Award 2010 (MA000018) direct-care ladder (personal care workers, assistants in nursing, care team leaders) is:

The FWC publishes these direct-care rates weekly; hourly figures are the weekly rate ÷ 38, matching the Fair Work pay guide presentation.

Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.

Catering, cleaning, laundry, maintenance, lifestyle and administration staff sit on the general stream:

Weekend, shift and public holiday penalties apply on top — the aged care penalty schedule is not tabled here, so check a specific roster with the penalty rates calculator.

Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.

Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current Blue Care (UnitingCare Queensland) agreements in our corpus (1 in total):

• Wesley Mission Queensland Limited Nursing Employees Enterprise Agreement 2025 — approved February 2026, nominal expiry 30 October 2027.

We don't reproduce agreement dollar figures here — the agreement covering your site, state and stream is the document to read. Find your agreement, then your classification, then your pay point, and compare it with your payslip. The award tables on this page are the floor every one of these agreements must beat.

The patterns worth checking on a Blue Care (UnitingCare Queensland) payslip:

• Wrong direct-care level — Cert III personal care workers sit at direct care level 3, not level 1 or 2; medication-competent and senior carers higher again.
• Unpaid handover and documentation before and after the rostered shift.
• Sleepovers, broken shifts and short-notice changes paid without the award's allowances.
• Agreement rates frozen below the award's post-work-value floor — the award now overtakes some older agreement grids.

Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.