SCHADS Pay Rates 2026 (with updated pay tables)

Quick heads-up before you read on: pay rates went up 4.75% from 1 July 2026. A second increase for Schedule E workers starts in October 2026. Below, you’ll find the new pay tables, a simple rundown of what’s changed, a checklist to see where you stand, and the myths that trip providers up every year.

The pay run you’re dreading is here again

Every July, the same email lands in your inbox: the Fair Work Commission has handed down another Annual Wage Review. This year it’s a 4.75% increase across every SCHADS Award classification, from 1 July 2026.

If you run payroll for an NDIS provider or community services organisation, you know what that means. Every level, every pay point, every penalty rate, every allowance — sleepovers, broken shifts, on-call, travel — all change at once. And they don’t change by the same amount, because the percentages work out differently depending on where an employee sits in the structure.

Get one line wrong and it’s not just an awkward chat with a support worker. You’re looking at back-pay, possible Fair Work scrutiny, and a workforce that’s already stretched thin losing trust in whether their pay is even right.

This is the part of running a care organisation nobody talks about at conferences. It’s also the part where a lot of good providers quietly fall behind.

What the SCHADS Award actually is

The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (MA000100) sets the legal minimum pay for more than 250,000 workers across disability support, home care, community services and crisis accommodation in Australia. If you employ support workers, support coordinators, case managers, or team leaders in the NDIS and broader care sector, this award almost certainly sets your wage floor.

It’s built around four streams — Social and Community Services (SACS), Crisis Accommodation, Home Care, and Family Day Care — each split into Levels 1 to 8, with several pay points inside each level. Add weekend penalties, shift loadings, sleepover allowances, broken-shift payments and on-call rates, and you get thousands of possible pay combinations in one award. That’s why SCHADS payroll errors are so common, and why they’re so easy to miss until an audit finds them.

Why this matters more in 2026 than in previous years

Two separate changes are hitting NDIS providers in 2026, not one.

First, the standard Annual Wage Review decision, handed down 2 June 2026, lifted every SCHADS minimum by 4.75% from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. That’s a bigger jump than last year’s 3.5%, so the flow-on effect on your annual wage bill is bigger too.

Second, the Fair Work Commission’s gender-based undervaluation review — a separate process — is adding a further interim increase of roughly 15% for employees under Schedule E (home care disability), effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026. At the same time, a new classification structure is replacing the old Schedules B, C, E and F, starting with Schedule E workers this October and everyone else from October 2027.

For providers, that’s two separate recalculations inside a five-month window, plus a classification remap that most payroll systems won’t do on their own. If you run home care disability shifts, this isn’t a “check it in July and forget it” year.

The updated 2026/27 SCHADS pay rates

These are indicative minimums for the SACS stream, pay point 1 of each level, reflecting the 4.75% increase from 1 July 2026. Always check the current Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide before running payroll — rates for other streams, and higher pay points in each level, are different.

On top of these base rates: Saturday pays 150% (permanent) or 175% (casual); Sunday, 200% (permanent) or 225% (casual); public holidays, 250% (permanent) or 275% (casual). Sleepover allowances run around $62.87 per sleepover, plus pay for any work actually done, and broken shifts add roughly $21.81 to $28.87 depending on the number of unpaid breaks. These figures change with each pay guide update, so treat them as a starting point — always check the current numbers yourself.

Signs your SCHADS payroll needs attention right now

Go through this list honestly. If more than one or two apply, it’s worth a closer look before your next pay run.

• You’re still manually updating pay rates in a spreadsheet after each Fair Work announcement
• Nobody in your organisation can say, off the top of their head, why a Level 2 worker’s Saturday rate is different from a Level 3 worker’s
• Sleepover, broken-shift or on-call allowances are calculated differently for staff doing the same type of shift
• You haven’t yet identified which employees sit under Schedule E ahead of the October 2026 changes
• Your last award compliance check was more than 12 months ago
• A staff member has ever questioned their pay and it took your team days to work out if they were right

Where GlobalAdminX fits in

This is the exact gap GlobalAdminX was built to close. We specialise in SCHADS payroll and back-office support for NDIS providers and community service organisations across Australia — not as a bolt-on to general bookkeeping, but as a dedicated skill built around this award’s complexity.

That means someone who knows the difference between a sleepover allowance and an on-call allowance without looking it up, who tracks every Annual Wage Review and Schedule E change as it happens, and who checks your payroll against the current Fair Work pay guide before problems reach your staff. If you’d rather spend your time on client outcomes than award interpretation, that’s the difference between chasing compliance and having it handled.

If this article has you wondering whether your payroll would survive a Fair Work review, that’s worth fifteen minutes of your time. Book a free 15-minute SCHADS payroll consult with GlobalAdminX and we’ll walk through where your risk sits.

Common myths about SCHADS pay rates

“We pay above minimum, so we’re fine.” Paying above the base rate doesn’t protect you from penalty, allowance or classification errors. A provider can pay a generous hourly rate and still underpay on sleepovers, broken shifts or weekend loadings — because these are worked out as percentages or fixed amounts on top of the base rate, not folded into it.

“The percentage increase applies evenly across the board.” It doesn’t. A 4.75% increase adds a different dollar amount at Level 1 than at Level 6, and allowances like sleepover and broken-shift payments update on their own schedule, not always in step with the hourly rate.

“Our payroll software handles this automatically.” Most software correctly applies the rate you’ve entered — it won’t know on its own that a new Fair Work decision has landed, or automatically remap Schedule E employees onto a new classification structure. Someone still has to update the settings and check the mapping.

“This is a once-a-year issue we can handle in July.” Not in 2026. With two separate changes landing five months apart (see above), anyone employing home care disability staff needs to plan for both.

Frequently asked questions

What is the SCHADS Award pay increase for 2026? The Fair Work Commission’s 2026 Annual Wage Review confirmed a 4.75% increase to all SCHADS Award minimum pay rates, effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.

Is there a second SCHADS pay change in 2026? Yes. Employees under Schedule E (home care disability) get a further interim increase of around 15% from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026, following the Fair Work Commission’s gender-based undervaluation review.

Who does the SCHADS Award cover? It covers workers across four streams — social and community services, crisis accommodation, home care, and family day care — including support workers, support coordinators, case managers, team leaders, and program coordinators, across Levels 1 to 8.

Does the SCHADS increase apply automatically, or do I need to update anything? The award sets the new legal minimums, but your payroll system won’t apply them on its own. Someone needs to update base rates, penalty calculations and allowance amounts, and — for Schedule E staff — remap classifications onto the new structure.

What happens if I underpay under SCHADS? Underpayments can lead to back-pay, Fair Work Ombudsman scrutiny, and damage to trust with your workforce and funding bodies. Errors often go unnoticed for months because allowances like sleepovers and broken shifts are easy to get wrong by hand.

How can I check if my organisation is currently SCHADS compliant? Start by checking every employee’s stream, level and pay point against the current Fair Work pay guide, then confirm penalty rates, shift loadings and allowances are being applied correctly. A payroll specialist who knows SCHADS can do this review much faster than working it out from scratch yourself.

Getting this right doesn’t have to sit on your plate

SCHADS compliance isn’t a once-a-year job you can tick off in July — 2026 has already proven that, with a second round of changes landing in October. If you’re not sure your payroll would hold up against a Fair Work review today, that’s a conversation worth having before it becomes a problem.

Book a free 15-minute consult with GlobalAdminX and we’ll look at your current SCHADS setup together, no obligation attached.