SCHADS Award Overview
The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (SCHADS Award) governs pay and conditions for the majority of NDIS support workers in Australia. Understanding and correctly applying the Award is a legal obligation — and Fair Work underpayment claims in the disability sector are increasing.
2026–27 Pay Rates (from 1 July 2026)
Following the 3.5% minimum wage increase: Level 1.1: $24.38/hour. Level 2.1: $26.15/hour. Level 3.1: $28.12/hour. Level 4.1: $30.98/hour. Level 5.1: $34.52/hour.
Penalty Rates
Saturday: 150% of ordinary hourly rate. Sunday: 175%. Public holidays: 250% (permanent) or 275% (casual). Shift work evening penalty (after 8pm): 115%. Broken shift allowance: $20.43 per broken shift.
Allowances
Sleepover: $57.52 per sleepover (plus minimum 2 hours at ordinary rate if woken for active care). Laundry: $0.41 per shift where uniforms are required. Mileage: $0.96/km for use of personal vehicle (from current ATO rate).
Common Payroll Mistakes
1. Not paying casual loading (25%) on every hour for casual employees. 2. Treating "broken shifts" as ordinary time rather than applying the allowance. 3. Forgetting the sleepover active-care minimum. 4. Underpaying Sunday rates for workers who started on Saturday and worked past midnight.
How Rostery Handles This Automatically
Rostery's payroll engine reads the shift start time, finish time, day of week, worker classification, and employment type to calculate the correct rate for every minute worked. Every calculation logs the specific award clause applied — giving you a complete audit trail if Fair Work investigates.
Try it free: use our SCHADS pay rate calculator to work out weekend, public-holiday and casual loaded rates from your base hourly rate in seconds.