SCHADS Award
SCHADS in plain English
The SCHADS Award sets the minimum pay and conditions for over 450,000 workers in disability, home care, social and community services, and aged care across Australia. If your organisation employs support workers or carers, this Award applies to you.
It is updated every year. And it is complex enough that underpayments and compliance breaches are common — not from bad intent, but from layered rules around shift types, penalty rates, allowances, and classifications. This hub makes those rules readable.
Update for 1 July 2026
SCHADS Award minimum rates rose 4.75% in the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review, effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. Every rate, penalty, and allowance on this page reflects the new figures.
Teiro keeps SCHADS rates current automatically, so your rosters, quotes, and pay never run on last year’s figures.
Quick reference
Current rates at a glance
Operative from 1 July 2026 (+4.75% — SACS stream)
| Level | Permanent / part-time | Casual (incl. 25% loading) |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2.1 (SACS) | $36.22/hr | $45.28/hr |
| Level 3.1 (SACS) | $40.49/hr | $50.61/hr |
| Level 4.1 (SACS) | $46.70/hr | $58.38/hr |
Weekend and public holiday rates are higher. See penalty rate multipliers.
What's in this hub
Everything you need on SCHADS
Pay Rates
Full classification tables for all levels and pay points. Permanent, part-time, and casual rates. All penalty rate multipliers and allowances.
View pay rates →Broken Shifts
What a broken shift is, when the allowance applies, how much it is, and how to avoid triggering it unintentionally.
Read the guide →Sleepover vs Active Night
The difference between a sleepover and an active night shift — and why it matters for what you pay. Includes Fair Work enforcement context.
Read the guide →Minimum Engagement
The 2-hour minimum rule for home care and disability shifts, what you owe when you roster a short visit, and how to plan around it.
Read the guide →Pay Calculator
Enter a classification level, employment type, and shift details to get a live estimate of base rate, penalty loading, and total shift cost.
Open calculator →Public Holiday Pay
Penalty multipliers (250% permanent, 275% casual), what counts as a public holiday in each state, rostered day off rules, and common payroll mistakes.
Read the guide →Travel Time
When travel between clients is paid time, the $1.01/km vehicle allowance, and how roster gaps that look like travel can trigger unexpected minimum engagement costs.
Read the guide →Classification Levels
What each SCHADS level means in practice, the Level 2 vs Level 3 decision, qualification mapping, and when reclassification is required.
Read the guide →SIL Rostering
How to build a compliant 24/7 Supported Independent Living roster — sleepover allowance, active night shifts, handover time, and the six-figure annual cost difference between a dedicated night shift and a sleepover.
Read the guide →NDIS Price Guide vs SCHADS
Gross margin by day type on current NDIS price limits and SCHADS rates, and six practical levers for improving your labour cost position.
Read the guide →Rate Increase 2026
Confirmed +4.75% from 1 July 2026 — new SACS rates table (Level 1–5), effective date rules, Payday Super changes, and the 7-step provider checklist.
See 2026 rates →Rate Increase 2025
The 3.5% increase from 1 July 2025 — before-and-after rates for the most common SACS classifications and a provider compliance checklist.
Historical rates →Broken Shift Calculator
Interactive calculator: enter periods, break times, and travel distance to get a live broken shift cost — including allowance, minimum engagement check, and penalty rates.
Open calculator →Background
What is the SCHADS Award?
The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (MA000100) is a modern award made by the Fair Work Commission. It sets the minimum rates and conditions for workers across four main streams: Social and Community Services (SACS), Home Care, Disability Services and Personal Support, and Crisis Accommodation.
If your staff work in any of these areas, SCHADS applies — regardless of whether workers are full-time, part-time, or casual. It covers most non-government organisations (NGOs) and private providers in these sectors including NDIS providers, home care workers, community service workers, and crisis support staff.
The Award's complexity is concentrated in day-to-day coordinator decisions: a 45-minute home care visit triggers a minimum 2-hour payment; a carer working a split day needs a broken shift allowance; a Sunday shift pays double the weekday rate; a sleepover is paid very differently from an active night shift. These are not edge cases, they happen in every weekly roster.
Beyond pay rates: related provider guides
SCHADS pay is one piece of running a compliant care operation. These guides cover the award boundaries, incident obligations, and workforce systems that sit alongside it.
SCHADS vs Aged Care Award
Which award applies to your workers, and what to do when both could.
Aged care workforce management
Support at Home, Aged Care Award rates, screening, and quality standards in one hub.
SIRS reporting guide
Serious incident obligations for aged care, with a decision tool and deadline calculator.
Competency tracking
Require credentials per client and enforce them at the point of assignment.
Compliance and qualification tracking
Keep the credential register current with automatic expiry alerts.
NDIS billing software
Turn completed shifts into claim-ready lines rated at the correct SCHADS band.
Built by Teiro
Why we built this hub
Teiro is workforce management software built for disability and home care providers. Our users deal with SCHADS compliance questions every single week. The official Award documents are accurate but hard to apply in practice — so we built this hub to bridge that gap.
The content here is not legal advice and does not replace the official Award or independent legal counsel. But we think it makes the rules easier to understand and apply.
Source: Fair Work Commission, MA000100. Rates current from 1 July 2026. Last reviewed: July 2026. fairwork.gov.au