Live Performance Award Pay Rates 2026-27

Live Performance Award Pay Rates by Level

Adult minimum rates for full-time and part-time employees under the Live Performance Award 2020. Part-time employees are paid the same hourly rate as full-time employees at their classification — the difference is hours, not rate. The casual column adds the 25% loading (cl 57.3).

Weekly rates are the award’s minimum weekly rate for a full-time employee (cl 11.1 (Production and Support Staff categories)); hourly is the weekly rate divided by 38.

Which level am I?

• Award levels 7, 9 and 11 to 15: These levels cover company dancers, performers, musicians, vocalists, the opera principal, technical manager and conductor-leader. They have weekly rates but no hourly rate in the award, and are paid by the performance or call under Parts 5 and 6, so they are not tabled here.
• Weekly rates for those levels: Level 7 $1,221.10; Level 9 $1,283.10; Level 11 $1,350.60; Level 12 $1,396.00; Level 13 $1,446.70; Level 14 $1,506.70; Level 15 $1,635.10 a week (cl 11.1).

Worked example: a casual Level 3 crew member on a Sunday

Kai is a casual Level 3 production and support employee ($28.89 an hour) who works a 6-hour shift on a Sunday.

1. A weekly employee starting work on a Sunday is paid 200% for all time worked; a casual's rate is the loading added, so 225% (cl 63.4).
2. $28.89 × 225% = $65.00 an hour.
3. 6 hours × $65.00 = $390.00 before tax. The minimum payment on a Sunday is 4 hours.

Try your own hours in the overtime pay calculator or the casual loading calculator, add up a full week in the weekly pay calculator, or check the public holiday pay guide.

Live Performance Award Pay Guide 2026-27: Every Level, Every Day

The hourly rate for each classification at each penalty band, in the layout of the Fair Work pay guide. Find your level, then the day you worked.

Full-time and part-time

Casual

Casual figures are the award's casual percentages, which already include the 25% loading where it applies. Figures are rounded to the cent. A dash means the column does not apply to that classification.

Live Performance Award Penalty Rates

Production and support staff ordinary hours can be worked Monday to Sunday between 7.00 am and midnight (cl 61.1(b)), so evenings and weekend daytime hours inside a normal week carry no loading. Saturday has no penalty rate.

Casual penalties are the permanent percentage plus the 25% loading: 200% becomes 225% (the award's notes at cl 21.5 and 63.3 say so).

Touring sound and lighting employees get a 17.5% loading instead of overtime and penalty rates (cl 63.6(a)), and crewing services employees get a 52.5% loading for work between 11.00 pm and 6.00 am (cl 63.7). Those special arrangements replace the table above.

Live Performance Award Overtime Rates

Overtime is calculated to the nearest quarter of an hour (cl 63.1, 63.2(a)). A casual's overtime rates are the weekly employee's rates plus the 25% loading (cl 63.2 NOTE). For a casual working over 38 hours in a week the rate steps up to 225% after the first 4 hours (cl 63.2(c)).

A full-time or part-time employee who works through the break between shifts without a 10-hour rest is paid 200% (casuals 225%) until released (cl 63.3(d)).

Live Performance Award Junior Rates

The Live Performance Award has no junior rates scale for production and support staff on the hourly rates above. Any age-percentage table attributed to the Live Performance Award is not from the award.

Live Performance Award Allowances

Fixed-dollar allowances in cl 60, operative from 1 July 2026. Each is paid only where the clause’s conditions are met.

Minimum Shifts and Hours

• Weekly staff are rostered 38 ordinary hours a week, between 4 and 12 hours a day in no more than 2 periods, with two rostered days off in each 7 days (cl 61.1).
• A casual may be engaged for a minimum of 3 consecutive hours (cl 57.1), and cannot be paid per performance (cl 61.2(c)). If a casual works 3 short performances in a day with a gap of 2 hours or more between two of them, they are paid at least 2 hours for each (cl 61.2(e)).
• An employee working more than 5 continuous hours without a meal break is paid 200% (casuals 225%) for the time the break should have been taken (cl 62.3(a)).

What This Page Does Not Cover

These parts of the award carry rules or rates we have not verified line by line, so we publish no figures for them:

• Performers and company dancers (Part 5), musicians (Part 6) and striptease artists (Part 7) — paid by the performance, call or week, not by an hourly table
• Hourly rates for award levels 7, 9 and 11 to 15, which the award does not publish
• Cyclic rostering arrangements (cl 61.1(g)) and the stage-production preparation meal-break rates (cl 62.3(b))
• National Training Wage (Schedule E of the Miscellaneous Award) trainee rates

An enterprise agreement, if one covers your workplace, replaces these award rates — though it must leave you better off overall.

When These Rates Took Effect

Applies from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026, not universally 1 July. If your pay period began before 1 July 2026, the previous rate lawfully applies to that whole period and the rise starts with the next one. The award was varied by determination PR799361 following the Annual Wage Review 2026. If you have been paid below these rates, our backpay calculator works out what is owed.

Frequently Asked Questions