If you run an NDIS business, a community service or a not-for-profit, this one’s for you.
The SCHADS Award is changing in two stages. Depending on what your people do and how they’re classified, it could put a real dent in your wage bill. Or barely touch it.
That’s the bit most employers miss. The headlines say “15% pay rise”. The fine print says “for some people, on the minimum rate, from a particular pay period”. Headlines are shorter for a reason.
Here’s what’s actually happening.
What’s changing in the SCHADS Award, and when?
As part of its gender undervaluation review, the Fair Work Commission found that work under the SCHADS Award, done mostly by women, has been undervalued for years because of gender-based assumptions. It made its main decision on 1 June 2026 ([2026] FWCFB 137) and settled the rest on 11 September 2026 ([2026] FWCFB 232).
This is separate from the SCHADS sleepover changes earlier this year, in case you were hoping the award might sit still for a while.
The fix is coming in two stages.
From 1 December 2026
Home care employees who provide disability care (Schedule E of the award) get an initial increase of up to 15% to their minimum award rates. Two classifications get slightly less, 14.96% and 13.31%, because nothing in an award is allowed to stay a round number for long.
It starts from the first full pay period on or after 1 December, not on the day itself.
Two things to know:
- It’s an increase to the award minimum, not an automatic 15% on top of everyone’s current pay.
- It comes on top of the 4.75% increase to all award rates from 1 July 2026.
The increase was first set for 1 October. The Commission pushed it back two months because there was no Commonwealth funding commitment at the time, and providers needed time to change arrangements with clients.
Two extra months sounds generous until you remember December also contains Christmas, holiday rosters and everyone’s leave requests.
From 1 October 2027
This is the bigger one. Most of the changes start from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2027, including:
- one classification structure replacing the separate ones that apply now
- new minimum pay rates
- new rules for moving between pay points
- new definitions that decide where people fit in the award
Some employees will become entitled to higher minimum rates. Others may see little or no change. It comes down to their role and classification. Not their job title, and definitely not what it says on their LinkedIn.
The Fair Work Ombudsman’s SCHADS changes page has the December pay guide and links to the Pay and Conditions Tool.
Do the SCHADS changes affect community services too?
Potentially, yes.
Most of the attention is on NDIS providers, but the SCHADS Award covers a lot more than disability support. It also covers social and community services work such as:
- youth and family support
- homelessness and crisis accommodation
- community development
- welfare and social support
- disability support in community and residential settings
- some advocacy and community service organisations
So if you run a community-based NFP, don’t assume this has nothing to do with you. The October 2027 changes reach right across the award.
Equally, don’t assume everyone in your organisation gets 15% in December. That increase is only for home care employees doing disability care. It doesn’t apply to disability support workers in community settings, or to home care workers in aged care.
What matters is the work your people actually do and the arrangements that apply to them. Not your organisation’s name, funding source or NFP status. The award doesn’t care how good your mission statement is.
What does the $630 million funding mean for NFPs?
For many community organisations, a wage increase isn’t just a payroll issue. It’s a funding issue.
You’re already juggling tight budgets, funding agreements, rising costs and the expectation that you’ll deliver more with less. A phrase that has never once been said by the person doing the delivering.
On 13 October 2026, the Federal Government announced $630 million over four years to help charities and not-for-profits that deliver government programs meet these award-related wage increases. It covers health, disability and community services, along with areas like housing, youth work and community development.
Welcome news. Now some maths.
The funding is going to more than 128,000 organisations. Spread across four years, that averages out at under $1,250 per organisation per year. It won’t be split evenly. But it’s a useful reality check before anyone writes “funding sorted” in the budget.
If you’re an NDIS provider, your prices come from the NDIS Pricing Schedule. The Government has said the schedule will be updated later this year to reflect changes needed after the December increase. It’s October. “Later this year” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Until it’s confirmed, there’s no figure to plan around.
Either way, the new minimum rates apply from their start dates, whether or not your funding has caught up. “The money’s coming” isn’t a payroll setting.
So check your funding arrangements, find out what support you can access, and work out what’s left for you to cover. The last thing you want is higher wage costs and no plan for paying them.
What’s the biggest SCHADS mistake employers make?
Updating payroll before checking classifications.
It’s tempting to hear “15% pay rise”, bump everyone in disability support by 15% and call it done. Generous. Also probably wrong.
The SCHADS Award has different classifications depending on the work being done. Someone providing disability care in a client’s home may be classified differently from someone supporting people in a community program, residential setting or respite service.
Job titles are aspirational. Classifications are legal.
One provider we worked with had four people with the title “support worker”. Same title, three different jobs. One of them had been on the wrong classification for over a year. Nobody noticed until a pay increase forced someone to look.
Get the classification wrong and you’ll get the pay wrong. Usually for months before anyone notices.
We’ve seen small errors in classifications, pay progression and payroll settings turn into expensive problems. It’s much easier to get this right now than to explain a back-pay bill to your board six months down the track. Boards enjoy a lot of things. That conversation isn’t one of them.
And underpayments are getting more scrutiny than ever, with intentional wage underpayment now a criminal offence.
Already paying above award? Are you covered?
Another common trap is thinking that because you pay above the minimum, award increases don’t affect you.
Sometimes your current rate will still be enough. Sometimes it won’t. A 15% jump has a way of eating a comfortable buffer.
It depends on what you’re paying, the employee’s correct classification, their working arrangements and any contract or enterprise agreement that applies. Paying a salary doesn’t get you out of it either, as some very large employers have found out over annualised salaries.
The safest approach is to work out what each employee should receive first, then decide whether their actual pay needs to change. Don’t rely on an old spreadsheet, or assume your payroll system has it handled. Payroll software does exactly what it’s told. That’s the problem.
What should you be doing now?
Five practical steps.
- Check who’s covered. Confirm which award or agreement applies to each employee, and which roles could be affected.
- Review classifications. Look past job titles. What work are people actually doing, what are they responsible for, and which classification fits?
- Review current pay. Check hourly rates, salaries, allowances and other entitlements against the right minimums. If you find a gap, fix it properly, not quietly.
- Work out the cost. Model the expected increases, including super and other wage-related costs.
- Plan the rollout. Schedule payroll updates, check your funding, brief your leadership team and tell affected employees what’s changing.
For community organisations, we’d add one more: start talking to your funding bodies early. Knowing your future wage costs gives you much stronger footing for funding conversations and budget planning. “We’ve modelled it” lands a lot better than “we’ll see”.
Need a hand working out what applies to you?
Good news: you don’t have to become an award expert overnight. We already did that bit, slowly, so you don’t have to.
We work with disability providers, community organisations and NFPs on exactly this. To help you get started, we’ve put together a free SCHADS pay changes readiness checklist. It walks you through the questions to answer before you touch payroll, for both December 2026 and October 2027.
Download the SCHADS readiness checklist
Want someone to look over your classifications before December? Talk to a guru.