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Paying casual tutors: award, super and payroll

Which award covers tutors of school students, the casual loading, minimum shifts, super on payday, pay slips and records, from Fair Work and the ATO.

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7 min read · Updated 2026-10-18

In short

Fair Work says employees who tutor primary or high school students are covered by the Miscellaneous Award, which gives casuals a 25 per cent loading and a minimum engagement of two consecutive hours. Since 1 July 2026 employer super of 12 per cent must be paid for each payday and generally reach the fund within seven business days, and every pay needs a pay slip within one working day and records kept for seven years.

General information, not legal advice. Laws and the regulators' rules change: check the sources below, and talk to your own adviser about your centre.

Pay week in a tutoring centre often looks like this: the owner on a Sunday night with the timetable in one window and the payroll software in another, working out who covered Tuesday's Year 9 group, whether the cancelled Thursday lesson is paid, and why one tutor's hours do not match their own notes. Most centres run on casual tutors, and paying them correctly is not complicated once you know which rules apply. But the rules changed in 2026, and the cost of getting them wrong falls on the owner.

Which award covers your tutors

Fair Work's guidance on award coverage for tutors says employees who tutor primary or high school students are covered by the Miscellaneous Award, whether they teach one student or a group. Its examples include a tutor teaching small groups at a business's own premises after school, and a tutor visiting students' homes.

Coverage can differ. Fair Work says a tutor teaching part of a school's curriculum for a school is covered by the Teachers Award, and tutors of people who have left school may fall under the Educational Services (Post-Secondary) Award or be covered differently again. Do not guess: use Fair Work's Find my award tool, or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94, and keep a note of the answer.

Casual loading, minimum shifts and penalty rates

Under the Miscellaneous Award, a casual is paid the minimum hourly rate for their classification plus a loading of 25 per cent of that rate for each ordinary hour. A casual must be engaged and paid for at least two consecutive hours each time they are required to attend work. That matters for tutoring: a tutor called in for one 60-minute lesson is still owed two hours.

  • Classification: the award's levels move with time and qualifications (level 1 is under three months' employment, level 2 from three months), so the minimum rate can rise as a tutor stays.
  • Penalty rates: the award sets separate rates for some evening and weekend work, which matters for Saturday tutoring. Check the clause or Fair Work's pay guide before you roster.
  • Rates change: minimum rates are updated over time, so check Fair Work's current pay guide rather than last year's spreadsheet.

Super is now paid on payday

Payday Super took effect on 1 July 2026. The ATO says you now pay super for each payday, at 12 per cent, and the contribution is on time if the fund receives it, with the details needed to allocate it, within seven business days after you pay the employee. The first contribution for a new employee, or to a new fund, has 20 business days. A late contribution leaves you liable for the super charge, which costs more than paying on time.

Super applies to casuals. Staff aged 18 or over get it whatever their hours; staff under 18 only in a week they work more than 30 hours. The ATO also says contractors paid mainly for their labour count as employees for super, even with an ABN, so calling a tutor a contractor does not remove the super bill. If you do engage some tutors as contractors, our article on paying contractor tutors covers that question separately.

If you use a clearing house, including one inside your payroll software, allow it time to process. The ATO suggests paying super on payday itself so the fund receives it inside the seven business days.

Payday Super, from 1 July 2026

  1. Payday

    Pay the tutor, and pay super at 12 per cent for that payday. The ATO suggests paying it the same day.

  2. Within 7 business days

    The fund must receive it, with the details it needs to allocate it.

  3. Within 20 business days

    The first contribution for a new employee, or to a new fund.

  4. Late

    You are liable for the super charge, which costs more than paying on time.

Single Touch Payroll, pay slips and records

Payroll is reported to the ATO through Single Touch Payroll from your payroll software each time you pay. Fair Work says a pay slip must be given within one working day of payday, on paper or electronically. For a casual paid by the hour it shows the ordinary hourly rate, the hours worked and the total, any loading (or a note that the rate includes it), any penalty rates, deductions and the super paid or to be paid, with the fund's name. Time and wages records, including a casual's hours, must be kept for seven years.

When a new casual starts

Give each new casual the Fair Work Information Statement and the Casual Employment Information Statement before they start or as soon as possible after. Fair Work sets later times to give the casual statement again: after 12 months for a small business employer (fewer than 15 employees), and after six and 12 months, then every 12 months, for others.

  • Award coverage confirmed with Fair Work's tool or Infoline, and the answer noted.
  • Each tutor's classification level recorded, and reviewed as they pass three months.
  • Casual loading and the two-hour minimum engagement built into the roster and pay.
  • Evening and weekend penalty rates checked against the award.
  • Super of 12 per cent paid for each payday, reaching the fund within seven business days.
  • Payroll reported through Single Touch Payroll software.
  • Pay slips issued within one working day, showing loading and super.
  • Time and wages records kept for seven years.
  • Fair Work and Casual Employment Information Statements given at the right times.

Pay from what was taught, not from memory

The most common payroll error in a tutoring centre is not the rate, it is the hours: a lesson covered by a different tutor, a cancelled session paid anyway, a makeup nobody wrote down. In XTutio a pay run is built from the completed lessons on the roll, on your centre's own calendar dates. The covering tutor is paid at their own rates, each lesson is paid once across every run, and a taught lesson an earlier run missed is picked up and marked as a late inclusion. Year level and subject premiums are applied from the lesson itself, and if two of a tutor's rates contradict each other the run stops and says why instead of guessing.

Approving a run needs payroll permission and two-step sign-in. You can download the approved run as a spreadsheet, or post it to your own Xero file as a wages journal, and keep your payroll software as the system of record for pay slips, super and Single Touch Payroll. When rates rise, a bulk pay rise sets a new rate for the tutors you pick from a date, previewed first, with earlier rates kept so past runs still add up. A centre can also switch on pay statements for tutors. See family money and payroll, the training academy and payroll guide, and our guide to pricing lessons for building these costs into what you charge.

Questions centres ask

Which award covers tutors at a tutoring centre?
Fair Work says employees who tutor primary or high school students are covered by the Miscellaneous Award. Coverage can differ for tutors working inside a school's curriculum or teaching adults, so confirm yours with Fair Work.
Do I have to pay super for casual tutors?
Yes, for tutors aged 18 or over whatever their hours, at 12 per cent. For a tutor under 18, super is due only in a week they work more than 30 hours.
When do I have to pay tutors' super now?
Since 1 July 2026 super is paid for each payday and must generally reach the fund within seven business days. The first contribution for a new employee or a new fund has 20 business days.
Can I pay a tutor for one hour if the lesson is one hour?
Not if they are a casual under the Miscellaneous Award. A casual must be engaged and paid for at least two consecutive hours each time they attend work.

Sources

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