The agreement passed its nominal expiry date on 31 March 2026 but continues to apply until it is replaced. The ACT Government says 17 of its 18 public sector agreements are under negotiation, so a new agreement could change these rates.
ACT prison officer pay 2026 at a glance
Full-time base salaries from 4 December 2025. Tap a table name for every row, or a salary to see it after tax.
| Pay table | Rows | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Correctional Officer Class 1 | 4 | $79,546 | $93,658 |
| Correctional Officer Class 2 | 3 | $97,903 | $104,432 |
| Correctional Officer Class 3 and Class 4 | 6 | $111,366 | $137,068 |
Which agreement sets ACT prison officer pay
Prison officers employed by ACT Corrective Services are paid under the ACT Public Sector Correctional Officers Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026. The rates below apply from 4 December 2025 and were read from the source on 9 October 2026.
ACT Corrective Services pay scale — every classification
Annual full-time base salary before tax and before superannuation. Part-time staff are paid pro rata.
Correctional Officer Class 1
Annex A, the "1% + $1,000 from 4/12/2025" column. Pay points above the first are tied to the Certificate III and Certificate IV in Correctional Practice, as the agreement labels them.
Correctional Officer Class 2
Annex A, from 4 December 2025.
Correctional Officer Class 3 and Class 4
Annex A, from 4 December 2025.
Every salary links to its take-home figure. Take-home pages exist for every $1,000 up to $150,000 and in wider steps above that, so a salary without a page of its own links to the nearest one.
Trainee and probationary prison officer pay
A Correctional Officer Trainee is paid $65,146 a year while on the course, from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2025 (Annex A).
Shift penalties, loadings and allowances
Base salary is not the whole of it: prison officers on rotating rosters are paid extra for shift work. In summary, from the ACT Public Sector Correctional Officers Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026:
- Shift workers get an extra 15% of the ordinary hourly rate for a shift any part of which falls between 6 pm and 6.30 am, or 30% when working continuously for more than 4 weeks on shifts wholly between 6 pm and 8 am (clause C8.1–C8.2).
- Rostered ordinary duty on a Saturday attracts an extra 50%, on a Sunday 100%, and on a public holiday 150% of the ordinary hourly rate (clause C8.5–C8.7). These replace the shift penalty for that shift (C8.3).
Check the instrument for the exact conditions that apply to your roster. Overtime is worked out separately — the overtime pay calculator handles time and a half and double time.
What a ACT prison officer salary is worth after tax
Every salary in the tables links to its take-home figure. Start with take-home pay on $80,000 for the entry rate or take-home pay on $94,000 for the top of the scale. Those figures cover base salary only; shift penalties and allowances are taxed as ordinary income on top.
Employer superannuation is paid on top of these salaries. For your own pay including penalties, a study loan or salary packaging, use the take-home pay calculator or the ACT pay calculator.
What this page does not show
We publish only what we could read from a primary source. These are left off rather than estimated:
- Allowances in Annex B and later annexes (first aid, dog handler, community language and others), which are not reproduced here.
ACT prison officer pay questions
Prison officer pay in other states
How this page is sourced▼
Every salary on this page was read from the ACT Public Sector Correctional Officers Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026 or ACT Corrective Services’s own published pay table on 9 October 2026, and applies from 4 December 2025. Nothing is estimated, averaged or interpolated. Where the instrument publishes a weekly or fortnightly rate, the annual figure is that rate multiplied out and the published rate is shown in the notes column.
Take-home figures come from the site’s own calculator using ATO rates for the current income year.
Sources & References
- 1
- 2ACT Public Service enterprise agreements— ACT Government (CMTEDD)
Last verified: 9 October 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.
Anita Bell
AuthorFounder & Senior Bookkeeper
Accountancy degree (2015); certified in Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, Saasu, Zoho and Reckon One
Anita Bell earned her accountancy degree in 2015 and has worked as a senior bookkeeper with Prime Bookkeeping for over 5 years. This built her skills in Australian and New Zealand tax legislation and industry regulations. She is certified in Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, Saasu, Zoho and Reckon One, and works with payroll and rostering software including Gusto, Deputy, Tsheets and KeyPay. She has strong experience in hospitality, building and construction, financial services, real estate, ecommerce, and medical and health services.
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