From 1 December 2012, new minimum wages apply for some employees under the SACS award. To find out if it applies to you, see Does this affect me .
If this applies to you or your employees, you can use our Equal Remuneration Calculator to find the new minimum rates of pay - see Rates of pay from 1 December for details.
In June 2012, Fair Work Australia made an Equal Remuneration Order to gradually increase pay rates in the SACS award.
If you’re a social and community services employer or employee in Queensland you may have different pay obligations. See the Queensland wages page for details.
Does this affect me?
The pay increases under the Equal Remuneration Order apply to the following types of employees in the SACS award:
- social and community services employees
- crisis accommodation employees.
The pay rates also apply to employees who either:
- work on an on-hire basis in these classification streams, or
- are covered by a registered agreement, but would be covered by the SACS award in these streams if they weren’t.
The increases do not apply to employees who are in the Family Day Care and Home Care classifications.
See the Classifications section for information about the classification streams under the SACS award.
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Rates of pay from 1 July 2012
From the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2012, minimum wages are the higher of:
- the pre-modern award rate plus the annual wage increases from 2010, 2011 and 2012
- the full modern award rate from 1 July 2012, as written in clause 15 of the SACS award.
You can use our Equal Remuneration Calculator (xls 5MB) 
to find the minimum wages and penalty rates under the SACS award and most pre-modern awards.
Example
Jill is a full-time social and community services worker in NSW working for Start Right Services Pty Ltd.
Jill’s pre-modern award was the Social and Community Services Employees (State) Award. Under this award, Jill was classified as a Community services worker grade 3, year 5.
Finding Jill’s minimum rate of pay from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2012
The rate of pay under Jill’s pre-modern award on 31 December 2009 was $888.44 per week. With the wage increases for 2010, 2011 and 2012 added, this rate of pay is now $972.95 per week.
Under the SACS award, Jill’s classification is a Social and community services employee level 3 - pay point 4. The SACS award rate of pay for Jill’s classification is $826.10 per week.
Because the rate of pay under Jill’s pre-modern award, $972.95, is higher than the rate of pay under the SACS Award, $826.10, Jill is paid the higher amount from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2012. This will apply until the final pay period immediately before 1 December 2012.
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Calculator - rates of pay from 1 December
From 1 December every year, employees are entitled to a portion of the total percentage increase for their classification.
You can use our Equal Remuneration Calculator to find the minimum rates of pay that apply from 1 December:
Best Practice Tip
Make sure you’re using the most up-to-date version of the calculator by using the version above instead of saving it to your computer.
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How to manually calculate minimum rates
The pay rises are being introduced in 9 equal instalments over 8 years. The first instalment will start on the first pay period on or after 1 December 2012 and the last will start on the first pay period on or after 1 December 2020. The total amount of the increases over the 8 years will be:
| Level 2 |
23% |
| Level 3 |
26% |
| Level 4 |
32% |
| Level 5 |
37% |
| Level 6 |
40% |
| Level 7 |
42% |
| Level 8 |
45% |
Multipliers
The minimum rates are calculated using the yearly ‘multiplier’ set out in the table below.
| 1 December 2012 |
1 |
| 1 December 2013 |
2 |
| 1 December 2014 |
3 |
| 1 December 2015 |
4 |
| 1 December 2016 |
5 |
| 1 December 2017 |
6 |
| 1 December 2018 |
7 |
| 1 December 2019 |
8 |
Step 1 - find the Transitional Minimum Wage
The ‘Transitional Minimum Wage’ is the minimum wage that applies from 1 July. See Rates of pay from 1 July 2012 (above) for information about how to find this.
Step 2 - find the Final Rate
To find the Final Rate, find the weekly modern award rate in clause 15 of the SACS award.
Then, add the full equal remuneration increase to this amount (the % in the table at the top of this page).
This amount is the Final Rate.
Step 3 - find the Transitional Equal Remuneration Payment
To find the Transitional Equal Remuneration Payment, calculate the difference between the Final Rate in Step 2 and the Transitional Minimum Wage in Step 1.
Then, divide this amount by 9 and multiply it by the ‘multiplier’ (the 2012 multiplier is 1 - see the table above).
This amount is called the Transitional Equal Remuneration Payment.
Step 4 - calculate the employee’s base rate of pay from 1 December 2012
Add the Transitional Equal Remuneration Payment you calculated in Step 3 to the employee’s Transitional Minimum Wage from Step 1.
This is the rate of pay that applies from the first pay period on or after 1 December.
Example
Jill is a full-time social and community services worker in NSW working for Start Right Services Pty Ltd.
Jill’s pre-modern award was the Social and Community Services Employees (State) Award. Under this award, Jill was classified as a Community services worker grade 3, year 5. Under the SACS award, Jill’s classification is a Social and community services employee level 3 - pay point 4. The SACS award rate of pay for Jill’s classification is $826.10 per week.
Step 1 - find the Transitional Minimum Wage
Jill’s Transitional Minimum Wage is $972.95 (see the example above for details).
Step 2 - find the Final Rate
- In clause 15 of the SACS award, from 1 July 2012 the weekly rate of pay for a Social and community services employee level 3 – pay point 4 is $826.10
- Add the full percentage increase. For level 3, this is 26%
- Jill’s Final Rate is $826.10 + 26% = $1 040.89
Step 3 - find the Transitional Equal Remuneration Payment
- Calculate the difference between the Final Rate (step 2) and the Transitional Minimum Wage (step 1). $1 040.89 - $972.95 = $67.94
- Divide by 9 and multiply by 1 (which is the multiplier for 2012)
- Jill’s Transitional Equal Remuneration Payment is $67.94 ÷ 9 x 1 = $7.55.
Step 4 - calculate Jill’s base rate of pay from 1 December 2012
- Add the Transitional Equal Remuneration Payment (step 3) to the Transitional Minimum Wage (step 1)
- Jill’s base rate of pay from 1 December 2012 is $972.95 + $7.55 = $980.50
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What about next year?
All employees covered by the SACS award will also get any pay rises that are part of the Annual Wage Review increases on 1 July each year.
This means that employees covered by the Order could get 2 pay increases a year:
- Annual Wage Review - starting on the first pay period on or after 1 July
- Equal Remuneration Order increase - starting on the first pay period on or after 1 December.
Note: the Annual Wage Review may not increase minimum wages, which means that employees’ minimum wages might not increase in July.
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What about loadings and penalty rates?
The Equal Remuneration Order doesn’t affect penalty rates and loadings for employees in the Social and Community Services and Crisis Accommodation classification streams. You can calculate penalty rates for your employees by using our Equal Remuneration Calculator (xls 5MB) . For more information about how to calculate the loadings and penalty rates that apply to your employees, see your Pay and Conditions Guide or Schedule A of the SACS Award.