Commonwealth adjusts pay offer to bring forward first pay rise

Key details

The Commonwealth’s final pay offer brings forward the Year 1 pay increase of 4 per cent by 12 weeks to 21 December 2023.

You will get this benefit in the form of a one-off payment, if your agency meets certain conditions.

This one-off payment will be paid shortly after a successful enterprise agreement ballot and represents the additional earnings from a 4 per cent pay increase from 21 December 2023 until salary rates are formally increased on 14 March 2024.

Where the conditions are met, the one-off payment will be paid on the first practicable payday after the agency’s enterprise agreement is voted up.

Eligibility

You could get a one-off payment to cover the period back to 21 December 2023 if:

• your agency’s enterprise agreement is finalised and given to you for consideration by 14 March 2024
• a majority of colleagues in your agency vote to support that enterprise agreement.

The one-off payment will not be available if your agency does not commence an access period leading to a successful enterprise agreement ballot prior to 14 March 2024.

Calculation

This one-off payment represents the additional earnings from a 4 per cent pay increase from 21 December 2023 until salary rates are formally increased on 14 March 2024.

The one-off payment is calculated as 0.92 per cent of your base salary on the date the enterprise agreement is voted up. The calculation will include any applicable higher duties allowance and casual loading. No other allowances or loadings are included for the purposes of calculation.

The payment will be pro-rated for part-time and casual employees. If you’re a part-time employee, your payment will be pro-rated based on your agreed part-time hours. If you’re a casual employee, your payment will be pro-rated for your average hours, as a proportion of full‑time hours.

The figure is 0.92 per cent because that is the proportional value of the 4 per cent pay increase for the period 21 December 2024 – 14 March 2024: (84/365) x 4% = 0.92%.

Tax and superannuation

The payment is a one-off payment, not a base salary increase. Because the payment is non‑cumulative it will attract different tax and superannuation treatments. One-off payments will be reported on employee payslips and have appropriate tax withholding.

The treatment of the payment for superannuation purposes will depend upon the method for calculating an employee’s super salary. The one-off payment is considered Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE), and will attract a superannuation contribution for employees whose contributions are calculated using that method. However, it will not impact an employee’s Fortnightly Contribution Salary (FCS) where FCS is used for calculating superannuation payment. For employees in defined benefit superannuation funds, the treatment will depend upon the provisions of the relevant trust deed.

Further details

A calculation tool has been developed for employees to understand how the one-off payment applies to them.

Local HR Teams will be able to answer questions from APS employees about the calculation of these payments and discuss their individual circumstances.