Casual Loading and Casual Pay Rates 2026
Casual loading is an extra amount paid on top of the permanent hourly rate for a classification. It compensates casual employees for not receiving paid leave and the other entitlements that permanent staff build up.
A casual employee has no guaranteed hours and does not accrue paid annual leave or paid personal leave. To make up for that, awards add a casual loading to the ordinary hourly rate. The loading is a fixed percentage set by the award, so a casual doing the same work as a permanent colleague is paid a higher hourly figure for ordinary hours. The idea is that the extra in each pay packet stands in for the leave and the security a permanent employee builds up over time.
Rather than leave you to do the sum, AwardScale shows the published casual hourly rate for each classification for 2026, next to the permanent rate. That casual figure already has the loading built in, so it is the ordinary casual rate for the job, ready to read straight off.
Casual penalty rates work the same way. The published casual rate for a weekend, an evening or a public holiday already includes the casual loading, so the loading should not be added a second time on top. In other words, the casual weekend rate shown is the full resulting hourly for that time, not the permanent penalty rate with a loading still to come.
Exactly how the loading combines with penalties can differ between awards. Some awards compound the loading and the penalty, others add them, and a few set out the combined casual rate directly in a table. The casual figures here follow the method set out by the Fair Work Commission for each award, using the published minimums for 2026, so the resulting hourly matches the way the award is written.
One thing worth remembering is that a higher casual hourly rate is not extra pay for the same deal. It reflects a different arrangement, with the loading standing in for paid leave and notice. AwardScale simply shows the published casual and permanent rates side by side for 2026, so the difference between the two is clear.
Casual loading by award
All 24 awards with a casual rate pay casuals 125% of the full-time hourly rate at their lowest-paid adult classification, a loading of 25%.
* The hourly rate including the award’s all-purpose allowances, which is the rate the pay database applies the casual loading to.
A dash means the pay database publishes no casual rates for that award.
See a casual rate
Rates current as of 1 July 2026. Fair Work Commission — Modern Awards Pay Database, checked (how). General information only: your award or enterprise agreement prevails if it differs.