Home Care Providers Back-Office Services

The Award: typically the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (SCHCADS)

Which award applies depends on the business, the work each employee actually performs, their classification and whether they are full-time, part-time or casual. The Fair Work Ombudsman's coverage summary places the home care sector — personal care, domestic assistance or home maintenance provided to an older person or a person with a disability in a private residence — under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010, listing aged care workers, nursing assistants and personal care workers working in a client's home; residential aged care is covered by the Aged Care Award instead. Check coverage for your own business rather than assuming one award covers everyone, and use the Fair Work Pay Calculator for the current rate for a given award, classification and shift.

Classifications: Home care worker Level 1-5 (SCHCADS), Care coordinators, Administrative staff. Client-facing workers, community workers.

Ordinary hours: 38 hours per week, flexible patterns with broken shifts common.

Penalty rates: the award sets separate rates for Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and for overtime, evening, night or shift work where it provides them, and they vary by classification and by whether the employee is full-time, part-time or casual — casual employees have their own rates in the award's penalty table. Rather than work from a remembered percentage, look up the current rate for the specific classification and shift on the Fair Work Pay Calculator and apply the rate in effect on the day worked. Broken shift allowance. Client cancellation provisions.

Minimum engagement: 2 hours for casuals (SCHADS Award clause 10.5, read 8 September 2026), with broken shift provisions for gaps between clients.

Key allowances: broken shift allowance (amount set in the award), travel allowance between clients, sleepover allowance, on-call allowance, first aid allowance.

Getting these provisions wrong creates systematic underpayment that compounds with every pay period. The Fair Work Ombudsman actively monitors compliance in this sector, and the penalties for deliberate underpayment were significantly increased under recent legislation. Valont's payroll specialists configure your payroll software with the exact award rules for each employee classification, eliminating manual interpretation errors.

Sources: award coverage — the Fair Work Ombudsman's summaries of the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award [MA000100] and the Aged Care Award [MA000018] and the award text of the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 [MA000100] (read 8 September 2026); pay and award rules — Fair Work Ombudsman and the Fair Work Commission; superannuation, BAS and tax — the Australian Taxation Office.