SCHADS Award Pay Rates 2026-27: Every Level and Pay Point

Search for a SCHADS rate and you will find pages quoting $27.55, $36.22 and $42.55 as the answer, all at once. Most of them are not typos and not necessarily out of date. They are quoting different things.

An equal remuneration order (PR525485) sits over this award. It applies to the social and community services and crisis accommodation classifications, and it lifts the rate above the minimum weekly wage printed in clause 15 by between 23% and 45% depending on level. The award states plainly that the ERO figure is the employee’s ordinary rate of pay for all purposes.

So for social and community services levels 2 to 8, the clause 15 number is not what anyone is paid. Pages that publish it are quoting a real figure from the award that does not apply to a real worker. Social and community services level 1 is the exception: it has no ERO percentage, so its clause 15 minimum is its actual rate. That is where $27.55 comes from, and it is correct, but only for level 1.

Every table below shows the rate that actually applies, with the ERO percentage in its own column so you can see where the uplift came from.

This is the largest stream and covers disability support workers, social workers, youth workers, welfare workers and community development workers. Hourly figures are the weekly rate divided by 38. A disability support worker can be on this scale or on the home care disability scale below, depending on where the support is delivered, and Disability Support Worker Pay Rate sets the two side by side. Where a graduate social worker starts on this scale, and what the same graduate is paid under the Health Professionals Award in a private hospital or practice, is on Social Worker Pay Rate.

Crisis assistance and supported housing has its own four-level scale. It carries the same equal remuneration order as social and community services. Almost no other rate page covers this stream at all.

Home care is a separate stream with its own scale, and it is not covered by the equal remuneration order. Merging home care into the social and community services table is the single most common error in published SCHADS rate guides, and it overstates home care pay substantially.

Employees providing services to an aged person in a private residence are paid on a separate six-level scale with no pay points. A transitional arrangement preserves higher rates for some employees classified on or before 31 December 2024. Care in a residential aged care home is a different award, set out on Aged Care Award Pay Rates, and Aged Care Worker Pay Rate sets this home care scale beside it.

Family day care scheme employees are on their own five-level scale, distinct from both social and community services and home care.

Your level is set by your qualification, the degree of direction you work under, and whether you supervise others. Your pay point normally advances one step for each 12 months of experience until you reach the top of your level.

1. Start at level 1 if you are new to the work, supervised closely, and hold no formal qualification for it.
2. Move to level 2 once you work under general guidance within clearly defined guidelines, typically with a Certificate III.
3. Sit at level 3 if you hold an associate diploma, advanced certificate or a degree, and apply professional judgement.
4. Sit at level 4 where you work under general direction on functions requiring independent professional judgement.
5. Sit at level 5 where you take direction from senior staff and supervise or co-ordinate others.
6. Sit at level 6 where you operate under limited direction and carry program or team responsibility.
7. Sit at level 7 where you work with broad direction and manage significant programs or budgets.
8. Sit at level 8 where you are subject to broad direction from management and hold senior responsibility.

The full classification definitions sit in Schedules B to F of the award. If your duties do not match your classification, that is a reclassification question, not a pay rate question, and it is worth raising separately.

Each row is one level of the social and community services scale, the one most disability, youth and community workers are paid on, from its first pay point to its last. Take-home is for the first pay point over a full year of 38 ordinary hours in 2026-27.

A casual is paid 1/38th of the weekly rate for their classification, plus a loading of 25%. The loading is paid instead of the entitlements casuals are excluded from, such as paid annual leave, paid personal leave and notice of termination. It is not a bonus. The notice a permanent employee gives or is owed under this award is worked out on the Notice Period Calculator. Overtime a permanent employee agrees to take as time off is hour for hour under clause 28.2, must be taken within 3 months, and is otherwise paid on the rates applying when it is paid, as the Time in Lieu Calculator works out.

Penalty Rates are a multiple of your ordinary rate of pay, which for social and community services and crisis accommodation means the ERO rate, not the clause 15 minimum.

Several allowances are set as a percentage of the standard rate, which the award defines as social and community services employee level 3, pay point 3 (clause 15.3), currently $1,283.10 a week. The dollar figures below are that calculation already done.

The vehicle allowance is the one to watch. It was varied on 1 September 2026 by determination PR813674 and sits at $1.05 per kilometre until 28 February 2027, after which it reverts to $1.01. Most published guides still show the lower figure.

Award rates are gross. What lands in your account is lower, because PAYG income tax and the Medicare levy come out first. Figures below assume 38 ordinary hours a week for 52 weeks, no penalty rates or allowances, a single Australian resident with no study loan debt, for 2026-27.

To run your own hours, pay point and pay cycle, use the Wage Calculator.

1. Find your classification and stream. Home care and social and community services pay differently for similar-sounding work.
2. Find your pay point. It advances with experience, and a missed increment is one of the most common underpayments.
3. Compare the hourly figure in the table above against your payslip, and check whether weekend or evening hours were paid at the penalty rate.
4. Raise it with your employer in writing. Many underpayments are payroll configuration errors rather than deliberate.
5. If it is not resolved, contact the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94 or through fairwork.gov.au. Underpayments can generally be recovered for up to six years.

What is the current SCHADS award pay rate?

Social and community services level 1 starts at $27.55 an hour and the scale runs to $71.19 an hour at level 8, pay point 3. Casuals add 25%. Rates apply from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.

What is the pay rate for each SCHADS level?

On the social and community services scale, level 1 starts at $27.55 an hour, level 2 starts at $36.22 an hour, level 3 starts at $40.49 an hour, level 4 starts at $46.70 an hour, level 5 starts at $53.43 an hour, level 6 starts at $58.37 an hour, level 7 starts at $63.13 an hour, level 8 starts at $68.49 an hour. Each level has further pay points above that starting rate, set out in the level table on this page. Home care, crisis accommodation and family day care run their own scales with different figures.

Why do different websites show different SCHADS rates?

Two reasons. Many pages are stale and still show a previous financial year. More often they quote the clause 15 minimum weekly wage instead of the equal remuneration order rate. For social and community services levels 2 to 8 and all crisis accommodation levels, the ERO rate is the one that actually applies, and it is 23% to 45% higher than the clause 15 figure.

What is the SCHADS casual rate?

A casual is paid 1/38th of the weekly rate for their classification plus a loading of 25%. At social and community services level 1 pay point 1 that is $34.44 an hour. The loading replaces paid leave and notice entitlements that casuals do not receive.

What are SCHADS weekend penalty rates?

Ordinary hours worked between midnight Friday and midnight Saturday are paid at 150% of the ordinary rate, and between midnight Saturday and midnight Sunday at 200%. A casual working a weekend is paid 175% on Saturday and 225% on Sunday, and those figures already include the casual loading rather than adding to it.

What is the SCHADS sleepover allowance?

A sleepover attracts an allowance of $62.87, set at 4.9% of the standard rate. A sleepover spans a continuous period of 8 hours and the employee must be given a separate room with a bed and clean linen.

How many hours is full time under the SCHADS award?

Full time is 38 hours per week, or an average of 38 hours per week. Part-time employees are paid pro rata on that same 38 hour basis, and casuals are paid 1/38th of the weekly rate per hour.

When do SCHADS rates change?

Pay rates change from the first full pay period on or after 1 July each year, following the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review. Allowances can change separately during the year: the vehicle allowance was varied on 1 September 2026 and is temporarily higher until 28 February 2027. Work value decisions can also change a scale mid-year: home care disability care rates rise from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026 under determination PR814259.

What do I do if I am paid less than these rates?

Check your classification and pay point against the tables above, then compare them with your payslip. If there is a shortfall, raise it with your employer in writing first, and if it is not resolved contact the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94. Underpayments can be recovered for up to six years.

Every figure on this page is extracted from the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (MA000100) as consolidated to 1 September 2026 by determination PR813674. Wage tables carry determination PR799380, operative from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. Retrieved 6 September 2026. The wage review behind that determination is set out on Minimum Wage Increase 2026.

Rates were read from the award’s own wage tables rather than transcribed by hand or copied from another site. Hourly figures are the weekly rate divided by 38, and casual figures add the 25% loading. Where the equal remuneration order applies, the ERO rate is shown, because the award states that is the ordinary rate of pay for all purposes.

This page is a reference, not advice, and it does not cover every allowance, transitional arrangement or enterprise agreement that might apply to you. For a binding answer on your own circumstances use the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool. See our Methodology for how every rate on this site is sourced.