Rates current from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026 (Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide, MA000100). Home care disability changes from 1 December 2026 are noted below. Last reviewed 24 September 2026.
SCHADS penalties and allowances are the extra amounts the SCHADS Award (MA000100) adds on top of base pay. Full-time and part-time staff earn 150% of their hourly rate on Saturdays, 200% on Sundays and 250% on public holidays. Casuals earn 175%, 225% and 275%. Weekday afternoon shifts add 12.5% and night shifts add 15%. From 1 July 2026, the sleepover allowance is $62.87 per night and the broken shift allowance is $21.81 for one unpaid break or $28.87 for two.
Take one Saturday roster in a SIL house. A casual Level 2 support worker starts at 7 am, leaves at 10 am, comes back at 5pm and finishes at 9 pm. That's seven hours of work.
Most payroll setups pay seven hours at the casual Saturday rate of $63.39. Total: $443.73.
The award says $501.76.
The $58.03 gap comes from two rules nobody switched on: the broken shift allowance and the 12-hour span limit. Both are explained below, next to every other SCHADS penalty rate and allowance you're likely to pay in 2026-27.
What are SCHADS penalties and allowances?
A SCHADS penalty rate is a percentage of the worker's hourly rate, triggered by when they work: evenings, nights, weekends, public holidays or overtime. A SCHADS allowance is a fixed dollar amount or reimbursement, triggered by what the work involves: a sleepover, a broken shift, driving their own car or being on call.
That difference matters in payroll. Percentage penalties rise automatically when base rates rise. Dollar allowances don't. Fair Work resets them each Annual Wage Review, and someone has to update them in your system. Skip that step and every sleepover and broken shift from 1 July is underpaid.
Base rates by level are in our SCHADS Award pay rates for 2026 guide. This article covers everything paid on top of them.
What are the SCHADS Award penalty rates in 2026?
SCHADS penalty rates run from 112.5% for a weekday afternoon shift up to 275% for a casual working a public holiday. The dollar figures below are for a social and community services (SACS) Level 2, pay point 1 worker, a common classification for disability support workers.
When the work happens | FT / PT | Casual | Level 2.1 FT/PT | Level 2.1 casual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ordinary hours, Mon to Fri | 100% | 125% | $36.22 | $45.28 |
Afternoon shift (finishes after 8pm, by midnight) | 112.5% | 137.5% | $40.75 | $49.80 |
Night shift (finishes after midnight or starts before 6am) | 115% | 140% | $41.65 | $50.71 |
Saturday | 150% | 175% | $54.33 | $63.39 |
Sunday | 200% | 225% | $72.44 | $81.50 |
Public holiday | 250% | 275% | $90.55 | $99.61 |
Broken shift work beyond a 12-hour span | 200% | 225% | $72.44 | $81.50 |
Casual percentages already include the 25% casual loading. Check your own classifications against the Fair Work Ombudsman SCHADS pay guide before each pay run after a rate change.
SCHADS weekend penalty rates
Weekend penalties replace shift loadings. They don't stack. A Saturday night shift is paid at the Saturday rate, not the Saturday rate plus 15%.
Casuals are where most weekend errors happen. Paying a casual 150% on a Saturday underpays them. Adding a fresh 25% on top of 175% overpays them. The right figure is 175%, and it already includes the loading.
SCHADS public holiday penalty rates
Public holiday work is paid at 250% for full-time and part-time staff and 275% for casuals. Overtime on a public holiday is paid at the same 250% and 275%.
When does a SCHADS evening or night shift penalty apply?
Short answer: Working after 7pm doesn't trigger a SCHADS loading on its own. A weekday shift becomes an afternoon shift (+12.5%) when it finishes after 8pm and at or before midnight. It becomes a night shift (+15%) when it finishes after midnight or starts before 6am. The loading then applies to the whole shift, not just the late hours.
Two Monday shifts for a full-time Level 2.1 worker show how this works:
12pm to 7:30pm: no loading, so every hour is paid at $36.22.
2pm to 10pm: this is an afternoon shift, so every hour is paid at $40.75, including the six hours before 8pm.
A shift finishing at 8:15pm gets the loading. A shift finishing at 7:55pm doesn't. Your NDIS rostering software should read the finish time, not a label someone typed in.
These loadings apply to shiftworkers. A day worker asked to work outside their ordinary span is generally paid overtime for those hours instead. If a worker is set up as the wrong type in your system, every evening shift they work is paid wrong.
SCHADS award overtime rates
From Monday to Saturday, SCHADS overtime is 150% for the first two hours and 200% after that for part-time staff and anyone doing disability services work. Sunday overtime is 200% and public holiday overtime is 250%. Casuals are paid 175%, 225% and 275%.
The overtime rules that catch payroll out:
Full-time SACS staff who aren't doing disability services work get 150% for the first three hours, not two.
Overtime replaces the weekend penalty or shift loading for those hours. It isn't added on top.
If a worker gets less than a 10-hour break after overtime, they're paid 200% until they're released for a full break.
The overtime meal allowance is $17.30, with a further $17.30 once more than four hours of overtime is worked.
Since 1 June 2026, a shift wrapped around a sleepover can run up to 12 ordinary hours by agreement, with a maximum of 8 on either side.
SCHADS allowances: the 2026-27 amounts
The main SCHADS allowances from 1 July 2026 are sleepover $62.87 per night, broken shift $21.81 (one break) or $28.87 (two), on call $25.66 per weekday period or $50.81 on weekends and public holidays, first aid $21.43 per week, and vehicle $1.05 per km until 28 February 2027.
Allowance | Amount | Basis |
|---|---|---|
Sleepover | $62.87 | Per sleepover, plus pay for any work performed |
Broken shift, 1 unpaid break | $21.81 | Per broken shift |
Broken shift, 2 unpaid breaks | $28.87 | Per broken shift |
On call, Mon to Fri | $25.66 | Per 24-hour period or part |
On call, weekend or public holiday | $50.81 | Per 24-hour period or part |
First aid, full-time | $21.43 | Per week |
First aid, part-time or casual | $0.56 per hour | Capped at $21.43 a week |
Vehicle | $1.05 per km | 1 Sep 2026 to 28 Feb 2027, then $1.01 |
Overtime meal | $17.30 | A further $17.30 after 4+ hours of overtime |
Laundry | $0.33 per shift | Capped at $1.53 a week |
Uniform | $1.26 per shift | Capped at $6.41 a week |
SCHADS sleepover allowance rates
A sleepover is a continuous 8-hour period where the worker stays overnight at the same location as the participant. The sleepover and the work immediately before and after it count as one continuous shift. The worker gets $62.87 for the night, plus pay for any time they're woken to work.
Record that active time separately. You can't pay it correctly or prove it later if it isn't recorded. The Commission changed the sleepover rules on 13 April 2026, and Fair Work notes that three further applications to vary sleepover provisions are still before it. Sleepovers also drive your SIL funding model, so a rule change affects your pricing as well as your payroll.
SCHADS broken shift allowance
A broken shift is a shift split by one or two unpaid breaks, not counting meal breaks. It's used for disability services and home care work. The worker gets $21.81 for one break or $28.87 for two. The whole shift must fit within a 12-hour span from the first start time. Any work past that span is paid at 200%, or 225% for casuals.
SCHADS on call allowance
When a worker has to stay available outside ordinary hours, pay $25.66 for each 24-hour period or part between finishing work on Monday and finishing on Friday. Pay $50.81 for any other period or a public holiday. If they're called in, the time they actually work is paid on top of the allowance.
Vehicle and travel allowance rates
If a worker drives their own car for work at your direction, pay $1.05 per km until 28 February 2027. That's a temporary increase, and the rate goes back to $1.01 on 1 March 2027. Travel between clients during a shift counts as time worked. What you pay the worker is a separate question from what you can claim, which is covered in NDIS travel charging rules.
First aid, meal, laundry and uniform allowances
The first aid allowance goes to workers who hold a current first aid qualification and have been appointed to do first aid duty. If the certificate lapses, the allowance should stop. Auditors will also find the gap, which is why staff credential tracking and payroll need to talk to each other.
Worked example: the Saturday broken shift, costed properly
Back to the SIL house. The worker is casual, SACS Level 2.1, doing disability services work, rostered 7am to 10am and 5pm to 9pm on a Saturday with one unpaid break.
Check the span. 7am to 9pm is 14 hours. The limit is 12, so everything after 7pm falls outside it.
Hours inside the span: 5 hours × $63.39 (casual Saturday) = $316.95
Hours outside the span: 2 hours × $81.50 (casual beyond-span rate) = $163.00
Broken shift allowance, one break: $21.81
Total: $501.76
Paid as 7 × $63.39, the worker is $58.03 short. If that shift runs once a week for a year, the shortfall is $3,017.56 for one worker. Under section 544 of the Fair Work Act 2009, underpayment claims can reach back six years.
What changed in SCHADS penalties and allowances in 2026?
1 June 2026, sleepovers. Shifts around a sleepover can run up to 12 ordinary hours by agreement, with a maximum of 8 on either side. Overtime is now calculated per day or per shift, including shifts that cross two calendar days.
1 July 2026, Annual Wage Review. All award minimums rose 4.75% from the first full pay period on or after 1 July. Penalty dollar amounts rose with them, and allowance amounts were reset.
1 September 2026, vehicle allowance. A temporary rate of $1.05 per km applies until 28 February 2027.
1 December 2026, home care disability. Employees in the home care disability stream get an initial increase of up to 15% from the first full pay period on or after 1 December. A home care disability Level 2.1 worker moves to $33.19 an hour. Because penalties are percentages, their weekend, evening and overtime rates rise too. More changes start 1 October 2027.
Check which stream each worker sits in. Support in a client's private residence generally falls under home care disability, and other disability settings generally fall under SACS. SIL work is a common grey area, so confirm it rather than assume.
Where providers get SCHADS penalties and allowances wrong
These are the most common errors in SCHADS payroll audit work:
Dollar allowances left at last year's amounts after 1 July, often for months.
Casual loading missed on weekend rates, or added twice.
Broken shifts paid with no allowance and no 12-hour span check.
The afternoon loading applied from 7pm, or missed on a shift that finished at 8:10pm.
Active sleepover work never recorded, so it's never paid and can't be evidenced.
Auditors increasingly ask for payroll evidence alongside rosters. Our guides to what NDIS auditors check and NDIS record keeping requirements show what that evidence looks like. If an audit is coming, start with how to prepare for an NDIS audit.
Key takeaways
SCHADS penalties are percentages set by when the work happens. Allowances are dollar amounts set by what the work involves.
Weekends pay 150%, 200% and 250% for FT/PT staff, and 175%, 225% and 275% for casuals.
Afternoon and night loadings depend on finish time (after 8pm) or start time (before 6am), not on "working late".
Broken shifts need both the allowance and a 12-hour span check.
Home care disability rates rise by up to 15% from 1 December 2026, so update your payroll before that pay run.
Frequently asked questions
What are the penalty rates for the SCHADS Award?
Full-time and part-time staff get 150% on Saturdays, 200% on Sundays and 250% on public holidays. Casuals get 175%, 225% and 275%, which includes their 25% loading. Weekday afternoon shifts add 12.5% and night shifts add 15%.
What is the sleepover rate for disability support workers?
From 1 July 2026, the SCHADS sleepover allowance is $62.87 per sleepover. Any work performed during the sleepover is paid on top. A sleepover is a continuous 8-hour period at the same location as the participant.
Am I entitled to a broken shift allowance?
Yes, if you're doing disability services or home care work and your shift is split by one or two unpaid breaks, not counting meal breaks. The allowance is $21.81 for one break and $28.87 for two, and the shift must fit within a 12-hour span.
What happens if a casual shift gets cancelled under the SCHADS Award?
The award's client cancellation rules cover full-time and part-time staff, not casuals. A casual shift cancelled before it starts generally isn't paid. Once a casual starts work, the minimum engagement applies, which is 2 hours for disability services work. Participant-side charges are a separate matter covered by your NDIS cancellation policy.
Can casuals say no to shifts?
Yes. Casual employment means there's no firm advance commitment to ongoing work, so a casual can accept or decline the shifts offered.
How many hours can casuals work a week?
SCHADS doesn't cap weekly casual hours. Overtime rates apply once a casual works more than 38 hours a week or 10 hours in a day, or 12 hours by agreement around a sleepover.
Does a 7.6 hour day include lunch?
No. The 7.6 hours are ordinary paid hours, which is 38 hours spread over five days. Under SCHADS, an unpaid meal break of 30 to 60 minutes sits outside those hours, so a 7.6-hour day with a 30-minute lunch spans 8.1 hours.
What are the SCHADS Award pay rates for 2027?
They aren't set yet. The next Annual Wage Review normally applies from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2027, and further SCHADS award changes start on 1 October 2027.
Pay it right, then prove it
It sounds like the rates aren't the real worry. The real worry is not knowing which of your last 50 pay runs used them wrong.
That's what the FairWork Diagnostic answers. It's a 30-minute call with Ahmed, followed by a written payroll exposure report within 3 business days. There's no product pitch on the call.
Book your FairWork Diagnostic →
If you'd rather see how the maths gets logged, CareVisor calculates SCHADS penalties and allowances per shift and keeps the formula on record. See the features, how it fits into an NDIS operating system, or start a 7-day trial from the pricing page.
About CareVisor
CareVisor is the audit-ready operating system for Australian NDIS providers, built in Sydney by NDIS operators who have prepared for and passed Quality and Safeguards Commission audits. SCHADS payroll is calculated in award order and logged per shift, alongside rostering, claiming, participant management, incident reporting and worker screening, on one NDIS service provider platform mapped to the NDIS Practice Standards. The platform also supports SIL provider compliance with a time-stamped audit trail.
