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Epworth HealthCare Pay Rates 2026: Nurses, Allied Health & Support Staff Pay

3 min read

What Epworth HealthCare workers should be paid in 2026 — the Health Professionals and Support Services Award floor by classification, casual loading, penalties, and where the Epworth HealthCare enterprise agreements sit.

TK

Small Business & Compliance Writer · Former small business owner · Cert IV in Small Business Management

Who covers Epworth HealthCare workers — award or agreement?

Epworth HealthCare is Victoria's largest not-for-profit private hospital group, with hospitals in Richmond, Geelong, Eastern (Box Hill), Freemasons, Camberwell and other Melbourne sites. It employs nurses and midwives, allied health, theatre and medical support staff, and a large hospital services workforce.

Epworth bargains its own enterprise agreements for nursing, allied health and support streams (listed below where our corpus holds them). The Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 — tabled below — and the Nurses Award are the safety net underneath.

The federal awards relevant to Epworth HealthCare roles:

  • Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (MA000027)
  • Nurses Award 2020 (MA000034)

Workforce snapshot. In its 2024-25 report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Epworth Foundation declared 8,063 employees — 27.7% casual and 75.7% women, with 283 in management roles. Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).

Health Professionals and Support Services award floor (1 July 2026)

The Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (MA000027) adult minimums for the roles that sit on it are:

ClassificationPermanentCasual (incl. 25%)
Support services Level 1 (cleaning, kitchen hand)$26.97/hr$33.71/hr
Support services Level 2 (orderly, catering assistant)$28.03/hr$35.04/hr
Support services Level 3 (ward support, admin/clerical, pathology collector)$29.11/hr$36.39/hr
Support services Level 4 (cook, senior admin)$29.45/hr$36.81/hr
Support services Level 5 (trade-qualified, team senior)$30.45/hr$38.06/hr
Support services Level 6$32.09/hr$40.11/hr
Support services Level 7$32.67/hr$40.84/hr
Health Professional Level 1 — pay point 1$30.89/hr$38.61/hr
Health Professional Level 1 — 4-year degree entry$33.51/hr$41.89/hr
Health Professional Level 2 — pay point 1$39.31/hr$49.14/hr
Health Professional Level 3 — pay point 1$45.89/hr$57.36/hr

Nurses and midwives are on the Nurses Award 2020 instead — current classification and pay-point figures are on our Nurses Award pay rates page. Weekend, shift and public holiday penalties apply on top of the figures above.

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

The Epworth HealthCare enterprise agreements

Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current Epworth HealthCare agreements in our corpus (5 in total):

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.

Common hospital pay issues at Epworth HealthCare

The patterns worth checking on a Epworth HealthCare payslip:

  • Frozen pay points — increments that should step annually but don't, especially after payroll migrations.
  • Stream misclassification — admin, ward-support and collector staff left at Level 1–2 while doing Level 3 work.
  • Unpaid handover — clinical and shift handover before and after rostered hours is work time.
  • Weekend and night loadings dropped when rosters change or systems are replaced.

What to do if your pay looks wrong

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.

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General information and estimates only — not legal, financial or tax advice. Always check your specific award, agreement or contract, or a qualified professional, before you rely on the result.

TK
About Tom Kirkwood

Ran Kirkwood Landscaping in Bendigo for eight years before moving into trade supply operations. Writes about Modern Award compliance, employer obligations, and contractor classification from an operator's perspective. Cert IV in Small Business Management (La Trobe TAFE Bendigo, 2014). Based in Kangaroo Flat, Victoria.