Two awards, one workforce
Aged care and home care providers in Australia must navigate two main industrial awards for their care workforce:
SCHADS Award MA000100
The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award covers workers delivering home-based care (including Support at Home and CHSP services), NDIS disability support, and community services. It is the primary award for home care workers.
Aged Care Award MA000018
The Aged Care Award covers workers in residential aged care facilities, primarily personal care workers and assistants in nursing. It does not cover home care workers or NDIS disability support workers.
Registered nurses in any aged care setting are covered by the Nurses Award MA000034, not the Aged Care Award or SCHADS.
Which award applies by setting
| Setting | Award |
|---|---|
| Home care (Support at Home, CHSP) | SCHADS Award MA000100 |
| NDIS disability support | SCHADS Award MA000100 |
| Residential aged care (personal care workers) | Aged Care Award MA000018 |
| Residential aged care (registered nurses) | Nurses Award MA000034 |
| Administrative staff (any setting) | SCHADS or relevant administrative award |
The award is determined by the setting, not the employer. An organisation that operates both home care and residential care cannot choose to apply SCHADS to all workers for simplicity. Each worker must be covered by the award that applies to the setting in which they work.
Dual-sector workers
A worker who delivers home care shifts and residential shifts in the same week may be covered by different awards for different shifts. SCHADS applies to their home care shifts; the Aged Care Award applies to their residential shifts.
This creates a practical challenge for payroll and rostering:
Classification level must be determined per award
Classification structures under SCHADS and the Aged Care Award are different. A worker classified at a particular level under SCHADS is not automatically on an equivalent level under the Aged Care Award. Each award has its own classification descriptors.
Rate must be calculated per shift, per award
For a dual-sector worker, the pay rate for each shift depends on which award applies to that shift. A payroll system that applies a single rate to all shifts for a dual-sector worker is almost certainly paying incorrectly for at least some of those shifts.
Rostering systems need to carry the setting, not just the worker
To determine which award and which rate applies, the rostering system must record whether a given shift is a home care shift or a residential shift. If the setting is not captured on the shift record, accurate payroll calculation for dual-sector workers is not possible.
Key differences between SCHADS and the Aged Care Award
The two awards differ in several operationally significant ways. The table below covers the areas most likely to affect rostering and payroll:
| SCHADS Award | Aged Care Award | |
|---|---|---|
| Award number | MA000100 | MA000018 |
| Main coverage | Home care, disability, community services | Residential aged care |
| Broken shift allowance | Yes | Different provisions — check award |
| Minimum engagement (casual) | 2 hours (most streams) | Different — check award |
| Sleepover provisions | Yes | Different provisions — check award |
| Direct care work value case | Yes — staged increases apply | Yes — staged increases apply |
Both awards are updated following the Annual Wage Review and were subject to staged increases for direct care roles under the Aged Care Work Value Case. Check Fair Work Commission for current rates. fwc.gov.au
The practical risk of misclassification
Misclassifying a residential aged care worker under SCHADS, or applying SCHADS rates to residential shifts because it is easier to manage in payroll, exposes providers to underpayment claims and Fair Work Ombudsman scrutiny. The reverse also applies: a home care worker classified under the Aged Care Award may be underpaid if the Aged Care Award provisions do not match those that would apply under SCHADS.
Underpayment liability: If a worker should have been paid under the SCHADS Award but was paid under the Aged Care Award (or vice versa), and the applicable rates differ, the employer owes the difference plus interest. The Fair Work Ombudsman actively investigates the aged care sector.
Enterprise agreements: If your organisation has an enterprise agreement, it must not sit below the applicable award for each setting. An EBA that was benchmarked against SCHADS may be below the Aged Care Award floor for residential workers, or vice versa. EBAs require review after major award changes, including the work value case increases.