Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award
MA000100 — a plain-English compliance guide for employers. General information only, not advice.
Key facts
Reviewed June 2026 · current as at the 1 July 2026 wage review- Award
- Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (MA000100)
- Who it covers
- Employers throughout Australia in social and community services, home care, and disability and crisis-support services, including many NDIS-funded providers
- Pay rates
- Set by classification level; reviewed yearly and rising from the first full pay period on or after 1 July — the 2026 review added 4.75%.
- Official source
- SCHADS Award on Fair Work →
Published by Valont’s People Hub — general information, reviewed against the official Fair Work instruments; not legal advice. See our editorial policy.
MA000100
What the SCHADS Award covers
The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (MA000100), widely known as the SCHADS award, is the modern award that sets minimum pay and conditions across the social and community services, home care, and disability and crisis-support sectors in Australia. It covers a broad workforce, from social and community service workers to home care employees supporting people in their own homes and disability support workers, including many NDIS providers. If you employ staff in these sectors and they are not award-free, this is almost always the instrument you apply. It is one of the most complex awards to pay, because sleepovers, broken shifts, 24-hour care, client cancellations and travel between clients all carry their own rules.
Who it covers
- Employers throughout Australia in social and community services, home care, and disability and crisis-support services, including many NDIS-funded providers
- Employees across the award's separate classification streams - social and community services, crisis accommodation, family day care, and home care - with disability-care and aged-care sub-classifications sitting within the home care stream rather than a standalone disability services stream
- Employees across full-time, part-time and casual engagement, including those working broken shifts, sleepovers, 24-hour care shifts and travelling between clients
- It does not cover residential aged care under the Aged Care Award, health roles under the Health Professionals or Nurses awards, or children's services under the Children's Services Award
How pay is structured
MA000100 sets minimum rates across several distinct employee streams - social and community services, crisis accommodation, family day care, and home care (with disability-care and aged-care sub-classifications within the home care stream) - each with its own classification levels and pay points defined by qualifications, skills and responsibilities. You place each employee in the correct stream and level for the work they actually do, then pay at least that minimum rate, which differs by stream. Full-time employees work an average of 38 ordinary hours a week, part-timers a lesser, reasonably predictable number with guaranteed minimum hours, and casuals are paid by the hour. Minimum rates are reviewed each year in the Annual Wage Review and rise from the first full pay period on or after 1 July; the 2026 review added 4.75% to modern award minimums. Because the streams and pay points are intricate, always confirm the current rate for a classification on the Fair Work Pay Calculator rather than a remembered figure.
Penalties & loadings
On top of the minimum rate, MA000100 layers weekend penalties, public holiday rates, shift loadings, broken-shift provisions, sleepover allowances and overtime. As a general guide across awards, Saturday work commonly attracts around a 25% loading and Sunday around 50%, public holidays can reach up to 150%, and casuals receive a loading commonly set at 25% in place of paid leave - but this award sets its own figures, so confirm each. The award is distinctive in paying a per-night sleepover allowance (with any work during the sleepover paid separately), a broken-shift allowance with limits on how a shift is split, travel time and a per-kilometre allowance for travel between clients, and a minimum payment when a client cancels at short notice. Annual leave loading is 17.5%. Verify every current penalty and allowance against the Fair Work source before paying.
For the exact current figures — rates, allowances and penalty percentages by classification — use the official source: Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award — pay rates, allowances & full conditions on Fair Work. We deliberately don’t republish dollar figures here because they change each 1 July; the Fair Work source is always current.
Where employers get caught
Common SCHADS Award compliance traps
Not paying travel time and kilometres between clients
Home care and disability support workers often move between several clients in a day, and MA000100 requires payment for time spent travelling between clients plus a per-kilometre vehicle allowance. Treating that travel as unpaid gaps between visits is one of the most common SCHADS underpayments. Capture travel time and distance for every multi-client day and confirm the current rates against the Fair Work source.
Mishandling sleepovers and 24-hour care
A sleepover attracts a set per-night allowance, but any work performed when the employee is woken is paid separately on top, and a 24-hour care arrangement has its own distinct rules. Paying only the flat sleepover allowance when a worker actually provides care overnight understates what is owed. Apply the award's sleepover and 24-hour care provisions and confirm the current allowance against Fair Work.
Missing the client-cancellation minimum payment
When a client cancels a home care or disability shift at short notice, the award generally requires the employee to be paid a minimum for that shift or offered make-up time, rather than simply losing the hours. Cancelling a worker's shift and paying nothing because the visit did not happen can breach the award. Check the cancellation provisions and apply the required minimum.
Expecting a standalone disability services stream
Despite the award's name, there is no separate disability services stream: disability-care and aged-care roles sit as sub-classifications within the home care stream, each with its own pay points. Searching for a disability stream and defaulting a support worker to the social and community services stream instead produces the wrong rate. Place disability and aged-care workers in the correct home care sub-classification and confirm it against the Fair Work source.
Stay compliant with the SCHADS Award, automatically
We run award-configured payroll that applies the right classifications, penalties and allowances, and re-checks every 1 July. Compliance certainty without the spreadsheet.