Pay & Wages
Serco Pay Rates 2026: Custodial, Detention & Hospital Support Pay
What Serco workers should be paid in 2026 — the Security Services Industry Award floor by classification, casual loading, penalties, and where the Serco enterprise agreements sit.
Who covers Serco workers — award or agreement?
Serco runs immigration detention centres, correctional facilities, hospital non-clinical services (including Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth), defence support and contact centres under government contracts. Its Australian workforce is correctional and detention officers, hospital support and patient-transport staff, defence-base staff and call-centre agents.
Serco negotiates separate enterprise agreements for each contract (below). Underneath them sit the Security Services Industry Award 2020 for detention and custodial officers and the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 for hospital support roles, with the Clerks Award for contact centres. The first two are tabled below.
The federal awards relevant to Serco roles:
- Security Services Industry Award 2020 (MA000016)
- Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (MA000027)
Workforce snapshot. In its 2024-25 report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Serco Australia Pty Limited declared 10,272 employees across 3 reporting entities — 15.5% casual and 52.8% women, with 723 in management roles. Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).
Security award floor (1 July 2026)
The Security Services Industry Award 2020 (MA000016) adult minimums are:
| Classification | Permanent | Casual (incl. 25%) |
|---|---|---|
| Security Officer Level 1 (static guard, concierge) | $28.42/hr | $35.53/hr |
| Security Officer Level 2 (monitoring, crowd control, first aid) | $29.24/hr | $36.55/hr |
| Security Officer Level 3 (control room, senior officer) | $29.73/hr | $37.16/hr |
| Security Officer Level 4 (supervisor of level 1–3 officers) | $30.23/hr | $37.79/hr |
| Security Officer Level 5 (site manager) | $31.20/hr | $39.00/hr |
Night shift, weekend and overtime loadings are where a security roster's pay is made: the award's own worked examples put a Level 1 casual Saturday at 175% and Sunday at 225% of the base rate. 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.
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:
| Classification | Permanent | Casual (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 — AQF 5/6, 1st year (from 1 Oct 2026) | $32.44/hr | $40.55/hr |
| Health Professional Level 1 — AQF 7 (e.g. physiotherapist), 1st year (from 1 Oct 2026) | $34.44/hr | $43.05/hr |
| Health Professional Level 2.1 — senior clinician, specialist, supervisor (from 1 Oct 2026) | $51.19/hr | $63.99/hr |
| Health Professional Level 3 — advanced clinician, section manager (from 1 Oct 2026) | $52.19/hr | $65.24/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 Serco enterprise agreements
Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current Serco agreements in our corpus (17 in total):
- Serco AHSC Nurses' Enterprise Agreement 2025 — approved April 2025, nominal expiry 7 April 2029.
- Serco AHSC Nurses' Enterprise Agreement 2025 — approved April 2025, nominal expiry 7 April 2029.
- Serco South Australian Correctional Officers Enterprise Agreement 2025 — approved November 2025, nominal expiry 1 July 2028.
- Nuyina Crew Enterprise Agreement 2024 — approved January 2025, nominal expiry 30 June 2028.
- Nuyina Crew Enterprise Agreement 2024 — approved January 2025, nominal expiry 30 June 2028.
- Serco Acacia Prison Nurses (ANF) Collective Workplace Agreement 2025 — approved April 2026, nominal expiry 30 June 2028.
- Serco Clarence Correctional Case Officers Enterprise Agreement 2025 — approved October 2025, nominal expiry 3 March 2028.
- Serco Traffic Camera Services Enterprise Agreement 2023 — approved June 2024, nominal expiry 3 July 2027.
Plus 9 more — search "Serco" in our agreements database.
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.
Contracted services pay issues worth checking on any payslip
General award-compliance issues that come up across the contracted services sector. This is a checklist for your own payslip, not a finding about Serco:
- Level 1 for control-room, senior or supervisory work.
- Night, weekend and overtime loadings absorbed into a flat rate that doesn't beat the award for the roster.
- Unpaid handover, briefing and travel between sites.
- Long shifts without the award's overtime and rest-break rules.
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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FairWork Mate is an independent Australian publisher of workplace-rights information. Our content is prepared with AI assistance and draws on primary sources — the Fair Work Act, modern awards, and Fair Work Commission and Fair Work Ombudsman material. It is general information, not legal advice.