Agency and casual nursing quotes a much higher hourly rate — but that headline includes the 25% casual loading, which is paid instead of paid leave, not on top of it. This compares the same registered nurse working permanent in a public hospital versus agency/casual, valuing paid leave, super on the loaded rate, and the salary-packaging cap agency nurses can't touch. Rates are indicative — state EBAs move, so edit them to your own.
| Component | Permanent | Agency / casual |
|---|
The permanent is paid across all weeks (leave included) at base; the agency nurse is paid only weeks worked at the loaded rate. The 25% loading is credited once, on worked hours — it is the casual's compensation for the leave they don't get, so we don't also give them paid leave. Salary packaging is a genuine permanent-only advantage. Total value is a gross package, not take-home.
Not usually. The 25% casual loading is paid in lieu of the entitlements a permanent gets — paid annual leave, sick and carer's leave, paid public holidays, notice and redundancy. When you actually value those entitlements they come to roughly 16 to 19 percent of base for leave alone, and once you add long service leave accrual, the public-hospital salary-packaging cap and income security, the true value of being permanent is around 30 to 35 percent of base — more than the 25 percent loading. Agency only comes out ahead if you work high, consistent hours and pick up premium, short-notice or regional shifts.
No. The FBT exemption that makes the $9,010 general-living cap possible follows the employer, not the workplace. Agency nurses are employed by a private, for-profit nursing agency, which is not an FBT-exempt employer, so they cannot salary-package their agency income even when they are physically working in a public hospital. For a nurse in a typical marginal bracket the cap is worth roughly $2,900 to $4,000 a year in tax saved, which is a genuine permanent-only advantage and often the deciding factor.
Yes. Casual and agency nurses receive the 12% super guarantee (FY2026-27) on ordinary time earnings from the first dollar, and because a casual's ordinary time earnings include the 25% loading, their super is calculated on the higher loaded rate. The catch is that super is only paid on hours actually worked — a casual earns no super during the unpaid weeks they take off, whereas a permanent keeps earning super while on paid leave.
Because that is the honest comparison. A permanent is paid across all 52 weeks including their paid leave, so their base pay already covers the weeks they are not at work. A casual is only paid for hours actually worked, so every week they take off is unpaid — you must multiply their loaded rate by the weeks they realistically work, not by 52. Comparing a permanent's 52-week income against an agency headline rate times 52 weeks double-counts, because it gives the casual the loading and pretends they are paid for leave they never receive.