Tens of thousands of frontline community services workers will receive a 3.5 per cent pay rise as part of the Minns Labor Government\u2019s 2025-26 Budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pay rise is the result of a Budget decision to provide $122 million of additional funding to Non-Government Organisations so they can pay the increase in the minimum wage for community services workers. It follows the Fair Work Commission\u2019s annual minimum wage determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those receiving the pay rise include crisis accommodation workers, counsellors, social workers, youth workers and legal officers working for organisations with relevant NSW government contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A typical community service worker is $57.29 better of per week after this year\u2019s minimum wage decision. In total, their wages are 202.22 higher after the Minns Government\u2019s responses to Fair Work decisions in its first three budgets. Around 80 per cent of these workers are women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The contracts relate to services delivered on behalf of Department of Communities and Justice, NSW Health, Department of Education, Department of Customer Service and the Rental Bond Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The increase follows the 2025-26 Budget\u2019s record $1.2 billion investment in the state\u2019s child protection system. The child protection package includes a 20 per cent increase in the foster carer allowance, as well as funding for more, better trained public sector caseworkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minns Labor Government is committed to getting real wages moving, having reached multi-year agreements with more than 60 per cent of the public sector workforce and delivering real wages growth for the first time since 2019-20, after abolishing the Coalition\u2019s unfair wages cap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Real wages: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are making sure crisis workers, counsellors and youth workers get the pay rise they deserve, while their employers can get on with grappling with some of our toughest social challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs real wages begin to grow again in NSW, this $122 million funding injection will make sure real wages grow for community service workers too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Families and Communities Kate Washington:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is about supporting the people who support our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese workers provide vital support to children, families, and vulnerable people \u2013 often in times of emergency and crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis pay rise is an important step in valuing that work, because communities thrive when our frontline staff are properly supported.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cara Varian, CEO of the NSW Council of Social Services:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNCOSS welcomes the NSW Government’s decision to increase funding to reflect the rising costs of delivering essential social services for communities across NSW. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReliable, sustained indexation is vital to ensure social services organisations can continue to support people and communities in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe look forward to working with the NSW Government to build on this step by implementing their reforms, which will provide funding certainty for the social service sector across the state, such as an evidence-based approach to calculating indexation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Angus McFarland, Australian Services Union NSW and ACT Secretary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese workers deserve a decent pay rise to keep up with cost of living and to support their own families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe 3.5 per cent boost to funding of NGOs in NSW is welcomed by the ASU as the union for these workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis funding injection will mean that service providers can pass on the minimum wage increase for award workers without impacting services or jobs in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt also provides the recognition that these workers deserve for their work supporting others in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tens of thousands of frontline community services workers will receive a 3.5 per cent pay rise as part of the Minns Labor Government\u2019s 2025-26 Budget. The pay rise is the result of a Budget decision to provide $122 million of additional funding to Non-Government Organisations so they can pay the increase in the minimum wage … Continue reading “Minns Government delivers 3.5% pay rise for community services workers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33503,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33502\/revisions\/33503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}