SCHADS home-care disability pay increase: an HR checklist for 1 December 2026

Published by SESAY · 2026-11-10 · General Australian payroll guidance

What to understand first

As at 10 November 2026, the SCHADS change is determined but has not yet commenced. Fair Work says home care employees providing disability care under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award will receive an initial increase of up to 15% to minimum award rates from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 December 2026. This is not a blanket increase for every employee working in disability services or every employee covered by the award. HR must confirm award coverage, the applicable home-care stream, current classification and actual duties before authorising a change. Most broader classification, progression and minimum-rate changes remain scheduled for the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2027, with any remaining increase for the affected home-care disability employees applying then.

Practical checks

• Build an affected-population list using employing entity, industrial instrument, service setting, client group, current stream, classification, pay point and substantive duties. Do not select employees from a department name alone.
• Confirm which employees are home care employees providing disability care. Separate them from social and community services, crisis accommodation, aged-care home care and employees covered by an enterprise agreement or another instrument.
• Map each confirmed employee to the official 1 December 2026 pay guide or Pay and Conditions Tool result. Record the source, classification, old system rate, new minimum rate and first affected pay period.
• Test payroll configuration for ordinary hours and every linked calculation that depends on the minimum rate, including overtime, penalties, paid leave and allowances where applicable. Test above-award arrangements against the employer's contractual and award obligations.
• Tell affected employees what is changing, when it starts and who can answer classification questions. Keep unresolved coverage or classification cases out of bulk updates until they are reviewed.
• Reconcile the first affected pay run by employee and pay component. Retain the approved mapping, test evidence, employee communication and exception resolution, then diary the separate October 2027 changes.

Fictional example

Fictional provider Harbour Home Support identifies 24 employees for review but confirms only 15 are in the affected home-care disability stream. For one fictional employee, assume the verified old system rate is $32.00 per hour and the applicable official new minimum rate is $36.80. The assumed difference is $36.80 − $32.00 = $4.80 per hour. If the employee works 76 ordinary hours in the first affected fortnight, the ordinary-pay increase is 76 × $4.80 = $364.80. HR and payroll must still test penalties, overtime, leave and other linked components separately. These rates are illustrative assumptions, not published award rates.

Your next step

Schedule a joint HR and payroll readiness review before the final November payroll cut-off. Ask for three pieces of evidence: the affected-population mapping, a system test showing the correct first full pay period for every payroll calendar, and a post-pay reconciliation design. Keep 1 December 2026 and 1 October 2027 as separate implementation events. If coverage or classification is uncertain, document the facts and obtain authorised industrial-relations or legal guidance rather than asking payroll to infer the answer.

How SESAY can help

SESAY can help HR and payroll teams build the affected-population register, translate approved classifications into payroll configuration, prepare test cases and design the first-run reconciliation within an agreed scope. SESAY does not determine award coverage, provide legal advice or guarantee compliance without the employer's evidence, decisions and authorised review.

Official sources

• Fair Work Ombudsman — Changes to the SCHADS Award
• Fair Work Ombudsman — Working in the SCHADS sector
• Fair Work Ombudsman — Pay and allowances in the SCHADS Award
• Fair Work Commission — Gender-based undervaluation priority awards review

Sources researched 2026-11-10. Examples are fictional and use stated assumptions. Confirm current rules and your circumstances before acting. This is general information, not individual tax or legal advice. SESAY is independent of the regulators linked here.