Contents:
What is the wage increase for 2026?
On Tuesday, 2 June 2026, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) handed down the Annual Wage Review Decision 2026.
The FWC has announced a 4.75% increase to all modern award minimum wages.
The Annual Wage Review Decision 2026 also confirmed a three stage update to phase out C13 rates entirely, with the first stage of adjustments taking effect from 1 July 2026.
The additional variations will include the following changes:
The C13 rate will receive the 4.75% increases plus an extra amount that is equal to one third of the gap between the current C13 and C13 rates.
The C14 rate will receive the same percentage increase as the C13 rate.
For further details on the review of C13 and C14 rates please see the background paper C12 and C13 classification rates in modern awards.
For a list of Managed Award Templates with C13 rates please see below.
Adult base rates at the C13 rate in Tanda Managed Award Templates
Adult base rates at the C13 rate in Tanda Managed Award Templates
Amusement, Events and Recreation Award 2020
Animal Care and Veterinary Services Award 2020
Broadcasting, Recorded Entertainment and Cinemas Award 2020
Dry Cleaning and Laundry Industry Award 2020
Fitness Industry Award 2020
Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award 2020
Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020
Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award 2020
Nursery Award 2020
Racing Clubs Events Award 2020
Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020
Restaurant Industry Award 2020
Vehicle Repair, Services and Retail Award 2020
Wine Industry Award 2020
When do the new rates apply?
For the 2026 minimum wage increases, the effective date will be the first full pay period that commences on or after 1 July 2026.
Tanda will automatically update all Managed Award Template base rates and allowances to reflect the increase. The increase will apply from the start of your first full pay period after the effective date.
What this means is that if you have a weekly pay period that commences on a Monday, this year the wage increase will be effective for you on Monday, 6 July 2026 as this is the beginning of your next full pay period after the increase.
For further information on effective dates, see the Minimum wages increase from 1 July 2026 article by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Which Tanda Managed Award Templates are affected by the 2026 wage increases?
All Tanda Managed Award Templates will receive the 4.75% increase.
Will the Gender-based undervaluation – priority awards review wage increases also be automated?
Yes, the wage increases as part of the Gender-based undervaluation – priority awards review will also be automated in Tanda.
The below Managed Templates will receive separate wage increases:
Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 [MA000012]
Children's Services Award 2010 [MA000120]
These increases will take effect on the first pay period starting on or after 30 June 2026.
What happens if an employee has an overriding hourly rate?
The Overriding hourly rate field in the employee profile is often used to pay above award rates:
While all hourly rates under a Managed Award Template will be updated in line with the Fair Work Commission's determinations, if an overriding hourly rate has been entered the employee will continue to be paid this rate in the new financial year. Tanda will not update an overriding hourly rate. It is the responsibility of the employer to manage overriding hourly rates.
To report on employees that have an overriding hourly rate entered, the Employment Conditions Report can be exported.
To use this tool navigate to Workforce > Staff > Tools > Manage Employment Conditions:
The HOURLY RATE in the CSV export will indicate any employee with an overriding hourly rate entered.
This tool can also be used to schedule change to employee Pay Conditions, including the increase of overriding hourly rates.
To be altered when an employee has an overriding hourly rate that is less than the award hourly rate, the below Pay Check can be utilised:
How do wage increases work in Tanda?
For employees covered under a Tanda Managed Award Template, Tanda manages and automatically updates minimum wage increases.
No action is required to receive the minimum wage increase in your Managed Award Template. The update will occur automatically and apply to rosters and timesheets from the first full pay period after the new rates and allowances are effective.
Depending on the payroll software you use, you may need to update base hourly rates manually in your payroll software to also reflect the increase.
Please see below for further details on actions required within payroll:
Updating rates for Tanda Payroll
Updating rates for Tanda Payroll
For Tanda Payroll clients, wage increases will update automatically in payroll for any employees on one of the Managed Award Templates.
For further information on Tanda Payroll EOFY processes, please see:
Updating rates for Xero and MYOB AccountRight Live
Updating rates for Xero and MYOB AccountRight Live
For Xero and MYOB AccountRight Live clients, base rates update automatically through Tanda's integration with these providers.
The rates will be updated upon export of the first finalised pay period after the new rates have come into effect.
For the 2026 rate increases, this will be the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2026.
NOTE: For the timesheet period where the rate increases have taken effect, the period will need to be exported the day after the pay period ends to reflect in Xero and MYOB correctly.
For example, if your pay period starts on Monday, 6 July 2026 and ends Sunday, 12 July 2026, this pay period must be exported on Monday, 13 July 2026.
No further action is required, however, you should confirm that the updates have occurred as expected before finalising your first pay run after the change.
Updating rates for all other payroll systems
Updating rates for all other payroll systems
At the beginning of the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2026, follow the steps below to match the rates in your payroll software to the rates in Tanda:
1. Generate a report of the new base hourly rates in Tanda. To do this navigate to Compliance > Award Template > click Manage next to the applicable modern award:
In the settings for each Manage Award Template, you will find a payroll configuration report button. For example, please see the below button for the integration with CloudPayroll:
Once the button is clicked, the below page will display where the list of current base rates and allowances can be printed:
2. Then update the base hourly rates in your payroll software to match the new base hourly rates contained in the Payroll Configuration Report.
NOTE: Depending on the payroll software integration enabled, the configuration report button might be named something different but it will always be located in the same place as the above image.
How does Tanda know what the correct rates are?
The minimum wage review for the Annual Wage Review decision 2026 has now been published by the FWC, confirming a minimum wage increase of 4.75%.
Over the coming weeks, the FWC will also publish draft determinations and orders on how the increase impacts each modern award. The FWC will then update the pay rates in each modern award accordingly.
Tanda first performs our own calculations to ensure updated rates are available to all users in time for the effective date.
Once the new Pay Guides are issued by the Fair Work Ombudsman, our Compliance Team perform a final validation against the Fair Work Ombudsman Pay Guides. This is to confirm that our methods of rounding match the rounding methods of the Ombudsman.
It's not uncommon to find disagreement between industry body pay guides and those published by the Ombudsman (usually of 1 cent).
The Fair Work Commission has published the method for adjusting rates in modern awards for the Annual Wage Review 2024–25. The details of the methods used can be viewed here.
How can I check the new rates have been updated in Workforce Management?
Navigate to Compliance > click the + icon next to Award Template > then all enabled managed templates will display > look at the Last Updated column to see when updates were last made to your Managed Award Template/s:
Step 1:
Step 2:
You can also check the base rate in the Payroll Export Summary of a timesheet that begins in the first full pay period following the effective date:
Further Information
If you have any questions on the rate changes, reach out via the chat window to your right in this article or to support@tanda.co.
For a checklist of items to review in Tanda ahead of EOFY, please see the Guide to EOFY in Tanda (AU).