Glossary

SCHADS Award

The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award that sets minimum pay and conditions.

The SCHADS Award is the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award (MA000100), with "SCHADS" remaining the common shorthand. It is the modern award, administered by the Fair Work Ombudsman, that sets minimum pay rates, classifications, allowances and conditions for many workers in disability support, home care and community services.

For workers, SCHADS often determines your base pay, your classification level, and entitlements such as overtime, broken shift allowances, travel between clients and minimum engagement periods. Knowing your classification helps you check that you are being paid correctly and understand how progression works as you gain experience and qualifications.

For providers, the award sets the floor for what you can lawfully pay and how you roster staff. It interacts with rostering and payroll decisions, particularly around casual loadings, part-time hours and shift allowances. Note that residential Aged Care nursing and personal care roles are often covered by different awards, so check which award applies to each role.

Koora does not handle pay or rostering, but keeping screening and credentials current in a Career Passport supports the qualification evidence that can sit behind award classifications.

See also
NDIS Code of Conduct

This is general information, not compliance advice. Always confirm requirements with the relevant regulator, and remember that providers keep the legal responsibility to sight credentials and decide who can work.

We work hard to keep it accurate, but the rules change and we will not always get every detail right. If you think something here needs updating, email us at resources@koora.care. We would genuinely rather know, because we all do better when we help each other get it right.

Related guides
Aged Care

Aged Care and support worker pay and career progression (2026)

How Aged Care worker pay works under the SCHADS and Aged Care awards, recent work value increases, and the AIN to Cert IV to EN/RN progression path.

Read guideAll sectors

Casual, permanent or gig: care work employment compared

A plain guide for Australian care workers weighing casual loading, permanent security, and independent gig work on platforms like Mable.

Read guide

Koora is launching very soon! Be the first to try it out

The first 5 providers we onboard will get $500 off their first year, the equivalent of a free Starter plan.

I'm joining the waitlist for:
Which sectors do you operate in?
Select all that apply.
Which states do you operate in?
Select all that apply.

We're Koora Care Pty Ltd (ABN 75 692 140 248), an Australian company. We collect this information to add you to our waitlist and follow up about Koora. We use a small set of overseas service providers to run our waitlist; under Australian privacy law we stay accountable for how they handle your information. Full detail at koora.care/privacy. To access, correct, or delete your information email privacy@koora.care.

By submitting, you consent to your information being disclosed to our overseas service providers where Australian privacy protections may not apply.