SCHADS Award changes 2026–2027: what NDIS providers need to do

The SCHADS Award is changing a lot across 2026 and 2027. There are new sleepover rules, a temporary vehicle allowance, a 15% rise for home care disability workers from 1 December 2026, and from 1 October 2027 a new classification structure that replaces Schedules B, C, E and F. If you run an NDIS provider or a community organisation, each of these touches your payroll, your rosters, your position descriptions or your board papers.

This guide sets the changes out in date order, says who each one affects, and gives you a checklist for each. Everything here comes from Fair Work Commission decisions and Fair Work Ombudsman material, linked at the end. “From the first full pay period” means the first pay period that starts on or after that date.

The short version

• Already in effect: sleepover and shift rules (from 1 June 2026), the 4.75% Annual Wage Review rise (from 1 July 2026) and a temporary vehicle allowance of $1.05 a kilometre (1 September 2026 to 28 February 2027).
• Next: an interim 15% rise for Schedule E home care disability workers from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026.
• Then: a new classification structure for the whole award from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2027, with new definitions, work streams and progression rules.
• Still often wrong: the 2022 rules on minimum shift payments, broken shifts, client cancellations and remote work.

The timeline

1. 1 July 2022. Minimum payments for part-time and casual shifts, broken shift rules and allowance, client cancellation and remote work terms start (from the 4-yearly review).
2. 1 June 2026. New rules for shifts around sleepovers, rest breaks, overtime and shift penalties.
3. 1 July 2026. Award rates rise 4.75% (Annual Wage Review 2026).
4. 1 September 2026. Vehicle allowance rises from $1.01 to $1.05 a kilometre.
5. 1 December 2026. Interim 15% rise for Schedule E home care disability workers (14.96% at Level E.4.2 and 13.31% at Level E.5.2).
6. 28 February 2027. The temporary vehicle allowance ends. It reverts on 1 March 2027.
7. 1 October 2027. New classification structure, the residual Schedule E increase, and the Equal Remuneration Order revoked.

Each date applies from the first full pay period starting on or after it. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s example: 1 July 2026 was a Wednesday, so on a Monday-to-Sunday weekly pay cycle the new rates applied from Monday 6 July 2026. 1 December 2026 is a Tuesday, so on the same cycle the Schedule E rise starts on Monday 7 December 2026.

1 June 2026: sleepovers, shift length and rest breaks

These changes followed the Full Federal Court’s decision in FWO v Jats Joint [2026] FCAFC 25. The Commission noted that many employers had changed their rostering to match Fair Work Ombudsman advice that the Court found to be wrong, so it is worth checking what your rosters are built on. The Commission varied the award in [2026] FWCFB 79 and determination PR798459.

• Shift length. By agreement, ordinary hours can be worked up to 10 hours a shift (clause 25.1(b)). Up to 12 hours is allowed where part of the shift is immediately before and part immediately after a sleepover, with no more than 8 ordinary hours before or after it (clause 25.1(c)).
• Rest breaks. The break between shifts is at least 10 hours. By agreement it can be 8 hours around a shift that directly precedes or follows a sleepover (clause 25.4(a)–(b)).
• A sleepover is not a break. Work immediately before and after a sleepover is treated as part of the same shift (clause 25.4(c)).
• Overtime for part-time and casual staff. Time over 10 hours a day or a shift is overtime, or over 12 hours where a 12-hour shift around a sleepover has been agreed (clause 28.1).
• Shift penalties. The work before and the work after a sleepover are treated separately when working out the shift loading (clause 29.3(d)).

Employer groups told the Commission these changes would need payroll and roster changes and consultation with affected staff under clause 8A. The Commission accepted that some lead time was warranted, which is why they started on 1 June.

Checklist

• List every roster that includes a sleepover: SIL and group homes, respite and home care.
• Check each shift length against the 10-hour and 12-hour limits, and the 8-hour cap either side of a sleepover.
• Check the break between shifts is at least 10 hours, or 8 hours only where there is a written agreement around a sleepover.
• Put each 10-hour and 12-hour shift agreement in writing, signed by the employee.
• Check payroll pays overtime after 10 hours (or 12 on an agreed sleepover shift) for part-time and casual staff, and splits shift loadings before and after the sleepover.
• Record the consultation you had with staff about roster changes under clause 8A.
• Update your rostering and sleepover policy.

1 July 2026: the Annual Wage Review

All award rates rose 4.75% from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026 ([2026] FWCFB 3500). If your rates were not updated, every later increase in this guide is built on the wrong base.

Checklist

• Check every SCHADS rate in payroll against the current pay guide or the Pay and Conditions Tool.
• Check the date the new rates started against your pay cycle.
• Back-pay anyone whose rate was updated late.

1 September 2026 to 28 February 2027: the temporary vehicle allowance

For staff who are required and authorised to use their own car for work, such as travelling between clients or transporting clients, the vehicle allowance rises from $1.01 to $1.05 a kilometre (clause 20.7(aa)). It applies from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 September 2026, ends on 28 February 2027 and reverts on 1 March 2027.

Checklist

• Update the kilometre rate in payroll, and diary the change back for 1 March 2027.
• Update your vehicle and travel reimbursement policy and the claim form.
• Tell staff the rate, the dates and where the allowance shows on their payslip.

1 December 2026: the 15% Schedule E increase

Employees paid under Schedule E, home care employees doing disability care, get an interim increase of 15% to their minimum rates in clause 17.1. Levels E.4.2 and E.5.2 get 14.96% and 13.31% instead. It applies from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 December 2026 ([2026] FWCFB 232 and determination PR814259).

The Commission had planned this for 1 October 2026. It deferred it to 1 December because the Commonwealth had made no funding commitment, and providers needed time to change arrangements, including with clients. Employer groups pointed to three NDIS support categories that use Schedule E workers and are funded well below the benchmark price for disability support work: assistance with personal domestic activities, house or yard maintenance, and house cleaning and other household activities. If those services are a large part of your work, the cost lands there first.

The first question for most providers is simply who is on Schedule E. The Commission has said the current split of disability work between Schedule B and Schedule E is “not readily explicable”, and that some employers pay disability support workers under one and some under the other. Get that list right before you cost anything.

Checklist

• List every employee paid under Schedule E, with level and pay point.
• Check anyone whose schedule is unclear, especially disability support in a private residence.
• Load the 1 December 2026 rates from the pay guide or the Pay and Conditions Tool.
• Cost the rise across your rosters for December to June, and for a full year.
• Set that cost against your NDIS pricing and service agreements, especially the domestic, household and yard maintenance supports.
• Give the board a short paper: the cost, the funding gap, and the decisions it needs to make.
• Tell affected staff what changes and when.

1 October 2027: the new classification structure

This is the big one. From the first full pay period starting on or after 1 October 2027, Schedules B, C, E and F are replaced by one classification structure, decided in the Commission’s gender-based undervaluation review ([2026] FWCFB 137 and [2026] FWCFB 232). The rates will be updated for the 2027 Annual Wage Review before then.

• Work streams. Roles sit in one of six streams: administrative/operational support, disability support, social and community services, home care aged, home care disability, and crisis assistance and supported housing.
• Disability support work. It falls under the social and community services stream wherever it is performed. That ends the Schedule B or Schedule E question for disability support.
• Disability support workers. They start at Level 2.2 for their first 12 months of relevant industry experience, then move to Level 3.1. The June 2026 decision set Level 2.2 at $1,248.50 a week, before any 2027 Annual Wage Review increase.
• Descriptors. The long level descriptors are replaced with industry experience and qualification criteria, and the award gets new definitions.
• Progression. Under new clause 13.4, an employee does not move to the next pay point if they have not demonstrated competency and satisfactory performance. Otherwise they progress after the period in the structure, which in most cases is 12 months of relevant industry experience.
• Translation. The Commission said moving to the new structure changes existing rates by between about a 1% reduction and a 17% increase, with a few rare exceptions. Where an existing employee’s current rate is higher than the new minimum, that higher rate is preserved.
• Schedule E residual. Schedule E workers get the rest of their increase on this date, between 1.97% and 6.97% on top of the interim 15% (median 3.7%).
• Equal Remuneration Order. It is revoked, because the Commission found the new rates make it redundant.
• 24-hour care. The Commission amended clause 25.8 so 24-hour care shifts stay available for employees providing personal care to a person with a disability in a private residence. It also said it may review how the 24-hour care, sleepover and broken shift rules work together.

Checklist

• List every role, with its current schedule, level and pay point.
• Map each role to its new work stream and level, and note anyone whose rate goes up, goes down or is preserved.
• Record each disability support worker’s relevant industry experience, so you know who is at Level 2.2 and who moves to 3.1.
• Rewrite position descriptions to match the work streams and the work people actually do.
• Update contracts and send classification letters before 1 October 2027.
• Write a progression procedure: how competency and performance are assessed, who decides, and how it is recorded.
• Cost the change for the 2027–28 budget once the 2027 Annual Wage Review is known, and brief the board on cost and timing.

The 2022 rules providers still get wrong

These came from the 4-yearly review and have applied since the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2022 (PR737905). They still come up often.

• Minimum payments (clause 10.5). Part-time and casual employees are paid at least 2 hours for each shift, or each period of work in a broken shift, for disability and home care work. Social and community services work that is not disability work has a 3-hour minimum.
• Broken shifts (clause 25.6) and the broken shift allowance (clause 20.12).
• Client cancellation (clause 25.5(f)). It applies where a client cancels a scheduled home care or disability service within 7 days, and a full-time or part-time employee was rostered to provide it. A reschedule counts as a cancellation.
• Remote work (clause 25.10).

Other recent variations to keep in mind: casual employment terms (PR777334, August 2024), the workplace delegates’ rights term (PR795724) and default superannuation funds (PR794791, January 2026).

Checklist

• Check part-time and casual contracts and rosters against the 2-hour and 3-hour minimums.
• Check broken shifts are rostered and paid under clause 25.6, with the allowance.
• Check your client cancellation process against clause 25.5(f), including reschedules.
• Check your rostering policy covers remote work under clause 25.10.

A plan for the next twelve months

1. Now to November 2026. Fix the 1 June and 1 July changes if you haven’t. List who is on Schedule E. Cost the 1 December rise and take it to the board.
2. December 2026. Load the new Schedule E rates for the first full pay period on or after 1 December. Check the first pay run.
3. Early 2027. Change the vehicle allowance back on 1 March. Start mapping every role to the 2027 structure and rewriting position descriptions.
4. Mid 2027. Apply the 2027 Annual Wage Review. Cost the new structure in the 2027–28 budget. Write the progression procedure.
5. Before 1 October 2027. Send classification letters and updated contracts, update payroll and brief staff.

Common questions

Sources

• Fair Work Commission, sleepover rostering case: [2026] FWCFB 79 (13 April 2026) and determination PR798459.
• Fair Work Commission, gender-based undervaluation – priority awards review: [2026] FWCFB 137 (1 June 2026), [2026] FWCFB 232 (11 September 2026) and determination PR814259.
• Fair Work Ombudsman, changes to the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award.
• Fair Work Ombudsman, minimum wages increase from 1 July 2026.
• Fair Work Ombudsman, temporary increase to vehicle allowance for the Aged Care Award and SCHADS Award.
• Fair Work Ombudsman, Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 [MA000100], pay guides and the Pay and Conditions Tool.

General information, not legal advice. This is a summary of public Fair Work Commission and Fair Work Ombudsman material as at 22 October 2026. Check pay rates in the Pay and Conditions Tool or the pay guides before you act.

Next step

Start with the list of who is on which schedule and level. Everything else depends on it. If you’d like us to do the work with you, our SCHADS Award changes service covers schedules and levels, rosters and sleepover agreements, board costings, position descriptions, contracts and the 2027 mapping. You can also book a free 30-minute call.

All notes · Related service: SCHADS Award changes · Book a call