SW Rates of Pay – Social Work (Government of Canada)
SW rates of pay for all SW (Social Work) levels in the Canadian federal public service, 2026. Salaries range from $63,810 to $135,009 across 8 levels. Category: Health & Safety. Source: Treasury Board collective agreements.
SW – Social Work
$63,810 – $135,009
$2,454 – $5,193 biweekly (before deductions)
8 levels · Salary data from Treasury Board collective agreements
Rates effective from 2025-10-01 · Last verified 2026-04-16 · methodology
All SW Levels
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About the SW Classification
The SW (Social Work) group covers social workers employed by the federal government, primarily at Veterans Affairs Canada, Correctional Service of Canada, National Defence, and Indigenous Services Canada. SW employees provide clinical social work services including mental health counselling, psychosocial assessments, crisis intervention, case management, and community support programming. Federal social workers often work with specialized populations: veterans with PTSD, federal offenders in reintegration, military families, and Indigenous communities.
SW-01 covers entry-level social workers and those completing supervised practice. SW-02 is the primary working level — clinical social workers providing direct services. SW-03 covers senior social workers, clinical supervisors, and program leads. SW-04 and SW-05 are management positions overseeing social work programs. Most SW positions require a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and registration with a provincial regulatory body, making it one of the more credential-intensive classifications in the public service.
The SW group falls under the Health Services (SH) collective agreement, represented by PSAC. Federal social work positions offer several advantages over provincial/community agency roles: more structured supervision, better benefits, and the defined-benefit pension. However, the work can be emotionally demanding — correctional social workers face high caseloads in institutional settings, and social workers at Veterans Affairs manage complex cases involving trauma, substance abuse, and homelessness among Canada's veteran population.
Want to know your take-home pay after taxes and deductions? Use the take-home pay calculator or compare SW with other classifications.