SCHADS Award Rostering for NDIS Providers: A Plain-English Guide

What is the SCHADS Award?

The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (MA000100) is a Modern Award made under the Fair Work Act 2009. It covers workers employed in disability services, aged care and home care, community services, and crisis accommodation.

For most NDIS providers operating in Australia, SCHADS is the relevant award unless your workers are covered by an enterprise agreement that meets or exceeds SCHADS conditions.

Key classification levels for disability and home care run from Level 1 (entry-level, basic assistance) through to Level 6 (senior practitioner). Most frontline support workers sit at Level 2 or Level 3.

Key SCHADS Provisions That Affect Rostering

Minimum Engagement

Under SCHADS, casual and part-time workers are entitled to a minimum engagement period for each shift. For home care workers (those performing work in a client's home), the minimum is two hours.

What this means in practice: if you roster a carer for a 90-minute job, you must pay them for two hours regardless. Providers who roster 60- or 90-minute shifts without accounting for minimum engagement rules frequently underpay casuals without realising it.

Broken Shift Rules

A broken shift occurs when a worker has one or more unpaid breaks in the middle of their working day. Under SCHADS, the total span of the shift must not exceed 12 hours, and the worker must receive a broken shift allowance for each break period.

For home care workers rostered across morning and evening shifts on the same day, broken shift rules apply. Many providers miss the allowance entirely.

Penalty Rates

SCHADS penalty rates apply in several circumstances:

Sleepover Shifts

A sleepover is not the same as a night shift. Under SCHADS, a sleepover allowance (a flat rate, not hourly) is paid for the sleepover period. If the worker is required to perform work during the sleepover, those hours must be paid at the applicable rate — including overtime and penalty rates.

For SIL providers, sleepovers are a daily reality. Rostering these correctly requires a distinct shift type that calculates the allowance separately from ordinary hours.

Part-Time Minimum Hours and Overtime

Part-time workers have guaranteed minimum hours set out in their contract. If you regularly roster a part-time worker for more than their contracted hours, those additional hours may attract overtime rates once certain thresholds are crossed.

How SCHADS Rules Interact With Scheduling in Practice

SCHADS compliance is not a separate activity from rostering — it is embedded in every scheduling decision. When a coordinator assigns a carer, they are making a decision with wage implications: what day is it, what time does the shift start and end, is this carer casual or part-time, and have they already worked enough hours this week to be in overtime?

In a spreadsheet, none of this is visible. The wage calculation happens separately in payroll — often days later. This is the gap that creates underpayment.

Good rostering software surfaces the relevant SCHADS context at the point of assignment — not as an audit after the fact, but as guardrails in the moment.

What Rostering Software Should Handle Automatically

Teiro's scheduling features surface SCHADS-relevant context at the point of rostering, including penalty rate indicators and weekly hours tracking.

Common SCHADS Compliance Mistakes

1. 1.Paying casuals less than the two-hour minimum — the most common. A 75-minute shift is rostered and the worker is paid for exactly the time on site.
2. 2.Using incorrect classification levels — workers who should be Level 3 are paid at Level 2, often set at onboarding and never reviewed.
3. 3.Not paying sleepover interruption hours — workers are woken during a sleepover and assist for 45 minutes. This is paid work. If it goes unrecorded, it is underpayment.
4. 4.Missing broken shift allowances — the allowance applies every time, but providers who roster morning and evening shifts without a specific process routinely miss it.
5. 5.Incorrect public holiday treatment — the rate is higher than Sunday, and a day off in lieu may apply. Applying the Sunday rate to public holidays is underpayment.
6. 6.Ignoring annual SCHADS rate increases — the Fair Work Commission updates SCHADS rates annually, typically in July. Providers who do not update their payroll configuration on time are underpaying from 1 July.
7. 7.No written agreement for part-time additional hours — without a written agreement, regularly rostered extra shifts may legally constitute overtime.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does SCHADS apply to all NDIS providers?

SCHADS applies to most NDIS providers who employ support workers directly. If your workers are covered by an enterprise agreement, it must meet or exceed SCHADS minimum conditions.

What are the SCHADS classification levels for disability support workers?

Levels 1 through 6, from entry-level with no formal qualification through to senior practitioner with professional qualifications. Most frontline workers sit at Level 2 (completing Certificate III) or Level 3 (Certificate III or IV, more complex support).

How does SCHADS interact with the NDIS price guide?

They are separate frameworks. The NDIS price guide sets maximum rates providers can charge participants. SCHADS sets minimum rates providers must pay workers. The gap — after on-costs, overheads, and coordination — is your operating margin.

What is the broken shift allowance amount?

The broken shift allowance is a fixed dollar amount per broken shift period, updated with SCHADS annual rate reviews. Check the current schedule on the Fair Work Commission website or your payroll system's Award configuration.

What records do I need to keep for SCHADS compliance?

Timesheets or equivalent records showing actual hours worked, the classification applied, any allowances paid, and the basis for overtime calculations. Records must be kept for seven years under the Fair Work Act.

The Bottom Line

The providers who stay SCHADS-compliant at scale have two things: coordinators who understand SCHADS at a conceptual level, and systems that handle mechanical enforcement automatically. You need both.

Book a demo of Teiro to see how the scheduling board surfaces SCHADS-relevant context at the point of rostering. Or start a free trial.