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Queensland Enrolled Nurse Pay 2025–26

Queensland enrolled nurses are Nurse Grade 3, with an Advanced Skills grade (Nurse Grade 4) above. Here's the scale and how to lift it.

In Queensland public health, an enrolled nurse earns from $1,441.30 per week ($75,205 a year) to $1,671.24 ($87,203) across the scale — before shift penalties, allowances and overtime.

Assistant in Nursing Registered Nurse Clinical Nurse (senior clinical grades)Nurse Management (NUM / Director of Nursing)

Estimate your take-home →

★ Why there's no 'medication-endorsed' EN pay rise in Queensland

Unlike some states, Queensland Health does not pay enrolled nurses extra for a medication-administration notation — the Nurse Grade 3 scale is a single increment ladder with no endorsed/non-endorsed split. The two real pay levers are the qualification allowance (3.5% / 5.5% of the Nurse Grade 3 paypoint-5 rate for a recognised second diploma or advanced diploma, EB12 cl 30) and promotion to Enrolled Nurse Advanced Skills (Nurse Grade 4), which tops out at $1,671/wk.

Becoming an enrolled nurse

An Enrolled Nurse (EN) is a registered nursing professional who provides care under the supervision of a Registered Nurse, who keeps overall accountability for delegated care. The EN is still responsible for their own actions within their scope of practice.

Full pathway: how to become an enrolled nurse in Australia →

Pay scale

Base rates, in force from 1 April 2026 — before penalties, allowances and overtime. Nurse Grade 3 (+ Advanced Skills Grade 4), in force from 1 April 2026.

Step	Weekly	Hourly	Annualised
Nurse Grade 3 — paypoint 1	$1,441.30	$37.93	$75,205
paypoint 2	$1,461.94	$38.47	$76,282
paypoint 3	$1,483.50	$39.04	$77,407
paypoint 4	$1,505.79	$39.63	$78,570
paypoint 5	$1,529.65	$40.25	$79,815
Enrolled Nurse Advanced Skills (Grade 4) pp1	$1,574.96	$41.45	$82,179
Advanced Skills pp2	$1,671.24	$43.98	$87,203

Ways to earn more

Claim the enrolled-nurse qualification allowance: a recognised second-diploma (AQF5) qualification adds 3.5% of the Nurse Grade 3 paypoint-5 rate (about $54/wk), or 5.5% for an advanced (AQF6+) qualification (about $84/wk), paid for all purposes including overtime (EB12 cl 30, from 1 July 2026).
QLD does not split EN pay by medication endorsement — there is no separate endorsed pay point. The way up is the Advanced Skills grade (Nurse Grade 4), which lifts you from the top EN paypoint of $1,530/wk to $1,671/wk.
Register as a registered nurse to step onto the Nurse Grade 5 scale (from $1,674/wk) — above the entire EN ladder.
Add the professional development allowance if you're permanent and work 16+ hours a fortnight — up to $3,726/yr depending on your facility category.
Work nights and Sundays: the night-shift loading is 20% of ordinary pay (rising to 25% on a Sunday night) and salary packaging of ~$11,660/yr tax-free doesn't reduce it.

The current Diploma includes medicines education (unit HLTENN040). Since July 2010 there's no 'endorsed enrolled nurse' title — by default ENs may administer medicines, and a notation appears on the register only against those who can't.

Allowances you can claim

On top of base pay — the allowances most relevant to this role.

Enrolled nurse qualification allowance3.5% (qualification) / 5.5% (advanced) of the Nurse Grade 3 wage rate.

An enrolled nurse (Nurse Grade 3) with a recognised qualification gets 3.5%, or 5.5% for an advanced qualification, of the Nurse Grade 3 wage rate, payable for all purposes of the Agreement and the Award.

Professional development allowanceCat B $3,726/yr; Cat A $2,981/yr; Cat C $2,235/yr.

Permanent Nurse Grade 3 and above working 16+ hours per fortnight get a professional development allowance, pro-rata, set by facility category.

Remote flexible roster — employer-paid travel & accommodationEmployer meets all reasonable travel and accommodation costs.

For hard-to-fill MM6/MM7 posts the employer may offer a remote flexible roster (like purchased leave): you set aside salary to fund block periods of leave to travel away from the remote area, with the employer meeting all reasonable travel and accommodation costs.

RANIP annual isolation bonus$3,605 (after yr 1); $10,815 (after yr 2); $7,210 (after yr 3 and each year after).

Nurses/midwives in a designated RANIP location (Modified Monash MM6 remote or MM7 very-remote site listed in HR Policy C2 RANIP) get an annual isolation bonus paid as a single lump sum at the completion of each 12 months' service.

Salary packaging~$11,660/yr tax-free

As a public-hospital employee you can package about $9,010 of everyday expenses plus ~$2,650 of meal entertainment FBT-free, plus a novated car lease — and it doesn't reduce any penalty or allowance.

Where it leads next

Step up from here: Registered Nurse — see exactly what each step takes →

Frequently asked questions

How much does an enrolled nurse earn in Queensland?

In Queensland public health, an enrolled nurse earns from $1,441.30 per week ($75,205 a year) to $1,671.24 ($87,203) across the scale — before shift penalties, allowances and overtime.

What is the starting enrolled nurse salary in Queensland?

A first-step enrolled nurse in Queensland starts at $1,441.30 per week — about $75,205 a year ($37.93 an hour) before penalties and allowances.

Do Queensland nurses get paid more for nights and weekends?

Yes — on top of base pay, Queensland public-health nurses receive shift loadings for afternoon, night and weekend work, plus overtime and a range of allowances.

Annual, parental, long-service and study leave, plus overtime, on-call and the full allowance list, are set out in the Queensland nurse pay & conditions guide.

Pay figures are drawn from the Nurses and Midwives (Queensland Health) Certified Agreement (EB12) 2025. Confirm your exact classification, step and allowances against the current instrument and your payslip.