← Education and social services
Community services worker
Support people experiencing disadvantage through case management, group programmes and advocacy.
Salary
Cited figures only: median full-time weekly earnings for the ANZSCO unit group Welfare Support Workers (4117) from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia), and where available the QILT graduate starting salary for the matching study area.
| Figure | AUD | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median full-time weekly earnings | $1688 | Your Career (2026-09-23) |
Jobs, demand and who does this work
Figures for the ANZSCO occupation Community Worker (411711), the closest official match for community services worker, from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia data, sourced 2026-09-23).
- People employed
- 28,400
- Future demand
- Strong
- Work full-time
- 61%
- Average full-time hours
- 40 a week
- Women
- 80%
- Median age
- 45
Where the jobs are (share of workers)
| NSW | 28.2% |
| VIC | 26.1% |
| QLD | 16.9% |
| WA | 12.3% |
| SA | 9.2% |
| TAS | 2.9% |
| ACT | 1.7% |
| NT | 2.6% |
Highest qualification held by workers
| Postgraduate qualification | 13.6% |
| Bachelor degree | 25.3% |
| Diploma or advanced diploma | 23.8% |
| Certificate I-IV | 19.9% |
| Year 12 | 7.7% |
| Below Year 12 | 5.9% |
What a community services worker actually does
Community services workers are the frontline of the non-government sector - emergency relief, family support, homelessness, financial counselling assistance, family violence, settlement services and AOD support. A day in a generalist community services role might open with a team huddle, then 3-4 hours of intake or drop-in client work (assessing what someone is presenting with, working through Centrelink, housing, family or financial issues), a break, then home visits or warm referrals to partner agencies. Documentation runs all day in shared databases. Many organisations also run group programmes (parenting, financial literacy, living-skills, English-language conversation groups) that staff co-facilitate. Hours are mostly 38 a week with occasional after-hours group sessions. Most workers also do shared on-call or duty hours. Funding cycles drive the rhythm of the sector: grant deadlines, audits and changing tender requirements affect what you can offer this year versus next. The work is meaningful and chronically under-resourced. Expect to triage and refer on more often than fix.
Typical tasks
- Conduct intake and triage.
- Coordinate housing, financial and counselling services.
- Run community group programmes.
Skills you'll use
- Strengths-based and trauma-informed practice
- Case noting in CIMS, Penelope, SHIP or equivalent databases
- Knowledge of Centrelink, public housing, Family Tax Benefit, NDIS
- Group facilitation and community development
- Working with translators and CALD communities
- De-escalation and basic crisis intervention
- Boundary setting and self-care
How to become one
- 1Finish Year 12 or have equivalent experience. Some entry-level positions take a Cert IV
- 2Complete a Cert IV in Community Services (CHC42021) or a Diploma of Community Services (CHC52025). The Diploma is the more common minimum for ongoing roles
- 3For mental-health or AOD specialisation, add a Cert IV in Mental Health (CHC43315) or Cert IV in Alcohol and Other Drugs (CHC43215)
- 4Build paid or volunteer experience (refugee settlement, op shops, financial counselling assistance, peer support, headspace) before applying for ongoing roles
- 5Get a Working With Children Check and your state's Working With Vulnerable People or NDIS Worker Screening Check
- 6Apply for entry-level community services roles in not-for-profits, council family services or refugee settlement agencies
- 7Consider articulating to a Bachelor of Social Work or Bachelor of Community Services if you want senior or statutory positions long-term
Where you can work
- Large not-for-profit social services (Anglicare, Mission Australia, Vinnies, Salvos, Wesley)
- Smaller community organisations and neighbourhood centres
- Council family services and youth services teams
- Settlement and migrant resource centres
- Family violence specialist services
- Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations
- Homelessness and crisis accommodation providers
Career progression
Typical stages and roles. Years of experience are a rough guide; pay at each stage depends on the employer, award or agreement.
- Entry-level community services worker0-2 yearsTypical roles: Community support worker, Family support worker, Settlement services officer
- Established community services worker2-6 yearsTypical roles: Senior community worker, Case worker, Group programme coordinator
- Specialist or team leader6-10 yearsTypical roles: Team leader, Programme coordinator, Specialist family violence worker
- Programme or service manager10+ yearsTypical roles: Service manager, Programme director, Sector advocacy lead
Is this for you?
You might love this if
- You're patient with complex people and complex systems
- You can work without quick wins for months at a time
- You can hold professional boundaries while staying warm
- You can manage a varied workload with shifting priorities
- You're realistic about working in a chronically underfunded sector
This might not suit you if
- You want a high private-sector salary
- You take rejection or hostility from clients personally
- You can't tolerate documentation and database work
- You want predictable, repeatable outputs
- You can't handle the emotional weight of long-term complex clients
Ways in
Uni and TAFE routes for community services worker. We only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.
University
Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.
No direct undergraduate pathway. Consider postgraduate study after a related bachelor degree.
TAFE / VET
Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.
Sources
ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Your Career (yourcareer.gov.au) directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.