If you are paid the national minimum wage or a modern award rate, you are getting a pay rise, and it lands from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. The Fair Work Commission has handed down its Annual Wage Review decision for the 2025-26 year, and the exact size of the increase is set by the Commission, not by your employer.
Here is the longer version: how the decision is made, who it covers, when it actually hits your bank account, and why the number on the news is not quite the number you should plan around.
How the minimum wage is set each year
Every financial year the Fair Work Commission runs an Annual Wage Review. A panel of members weighs the state of the economy, inflation, employment, business conditions and the living standards of low-paid workers, then sets two things: the national minimum wage, which is the floor for employees not covered by an award or agreement, and the minimum rates inside modern awards, which set pay for specific industries and occupations.
The decision is handed down in early-to-mid June, and any increase takes effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July. That timing detail matters and we will come back to it.
The Commission’s reasoning runs to hundreds of pages, but the practical output is simple: a new dollar floor that every covered employer must meet. As at June 2026, you should confirm the exact percentage and the new dollar figures with the Fair Work Commission or the Fair Work Ombudsman, because those are the only sources that carry the official numbers.
Who actually gets the increase
This is not a niche decision. The minimum wage and award system underpins pay for a large share of the Australian workforce, well beyond the relatively small group earning the absolute national minimum.
Three groups are affected:
- National minimum wage earners. Employees who are not covered by an award or registered agreement. This is the smallest group but the one the headline figure describes.
- Award-reliant workers. A much larger group whose pay is set directly by a modern award. Retail, hospitality, aged care, cleaning, clerical and many other sectors sit here. When award minimums rise, their pay rises.
- Workers paid just above the award. If your employer pays a flat rate that sits close to the award floor, an increase to that floor can push the legal minimum up to or past your current rate, which means a rise for you too.
If you are not sure which award covers you, the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay Calculator will tell you your classification and your new rate once the increase is loaded. Check your award by name rather than assuming, because rates vary by industry, classification and even the time of day you work.
When it hits your pay, and the catch most people miss
The increase does not necessarily start on 1 July. It starts from the first full pay period on or after 1 July. If your pay period happens to begin on 1 July, you are in luck. If your fortnightly cycle started on, say, 25 June, you will keep the old rate until that period ends and the next full period begins in July.
So before you do the mental maths on your first July payslip, check when your pay period actually resets. A lot of confused queries to payroll teams every July trace back to exactly this.
A pay rise you cannot see in your award is a pay rise you cannot enforce. Check the rate, then check the date it applies.
The bit your payslip does not shout about: super
A pay rise is not just the extra cash in hand. Your employer pays superannuation as a percentage of your ordinary earnings, so when your wage goes up, the super paid on top of it goes up automatically. It is a quiet second raise that lands in your retirement account rather than your wallet, and over a working life that compounding is not trivial.
If you want that lift to do more, this is a sensible moment to look at whether salary sacrifice into super suits your situation, since directing a slice of a higher wage into super can be tax-effective depending on your income. That is a personal decision, not a default, so weigh it against your own budget.
Why the headline number is not the number you should plan around
Here is the part the cost-of-living debate often skips. A wage increase is a nominal figure. What it is actually worth depends on inflation over the same period. If prices have risen by a similar amount, the real value of the increase, meaning what it buys you at the checkout, is smaller than the percentage suggests.
That is not a reason to wave the rise away. It is a reason to treat it as one input among several. A pay rise can also nudge you into a different tax position, so it is worth understanding how income tax thresholds work before you assume the full gross increase lands in your account. The Australian Taxation Office has the current thresholds, and they can change at the start of a financial year too.
The table below sets out where to go for which number, because the single most common mistake is reading the right figure from the wrong place.
| What you need | Where to confirm it (as at June 2026) |
|---|---|
| The official increase percentage | Fair Work Commission |
| Your exact new hourly or weekly rate | Fair Work Ombudsman Pay Calculator |
| Which award covers you | Fair Work Ombudsman |
| Current super rate and tax thresholds | ATO |
If you want practical ideas on stretching the extra income rather than letting it quietly absorb into rising bills, our guide on how to make a pay rise go further is a useful starting point once you know your new rate.
The bottom line
The Fair Work Commission has set the 2026 minimum wage increase, it applies from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, and it flows to national minimum wage earners and the much larger pool of award-reliant workers. Confirm your own figure with the Fair Work Ombudsman, check the date your pay period resets, and remember that the rise lifts your super too. The real value, after inflation and tax, is the number that actually matters for your budget.
This article is general information only and is not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Figures were last checked in June 2026 and can change, including at the start of a new financial year. Check the official source, namely the Fair Work Commission, the Fair Work Ombudsman or the ATO, before acting on anything here.