SCHADS Award Pay Increase 2026: What Changes and When

What the Fair Work Commission Decided

On 1 June 2026, the Fair Work Commission's Full Bench handed down its decision in the gender-based undervaluation review of the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010, [2026] FWCFB 137. The Commission found the award's existing classification structure and wage rates had been affected by longstanding gender-based undervaluation of the work performed across the sector. The decision introduces a new integrated classification structure that will eventually replace the current Schedules B, C, E and F, alongside a reset of minimum wage rates and removal of the existing Equal Remuneration Order. Because the transition affects different parts of the workforce at different times, employers can't treat this as a single wage rise applied on a single date.

The 4.75% Increase from 1 July 2026

Separately from the classification restructure, the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review decision confirmed a 4.75% increase to all SCHADS Award minimum pay rates, effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. This applies across the whole award, home care, disability support, family and community services, and social and community services classifications alike, regardless of which schedule an employee falls under. For most SCHADS employers, this is the more straightforward of the two 2026 changes: it's a percentage uplift to existing minimum rates, applied the same way the Annual Wage Review is applied every year.

The Schedule E Increase from 1 October 2026

The second increase is narrower but larger. As part of the 1 June 2026 gender-based undervaluation decision, employees covered by Schedule E, Home Care Employees, Disability Care, receive an interim increase of approximately 15% to their minimum award rates, from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026. The exact figure varies by classification level rather than being a flat percentage across the board, so it's worth checking the Fair Work Commission's published pay guide for the specific classifications your business employs rather than applying a single round number to everyone. This increase sits on top of the 4.75% rise already applied from 1 July, it doesn't replace it, so Schedule E employees receive both increases in the same calendar year.

The Commission has confirmed no existing employee's minimum pay rate will be reduced as a result of the broader transition, and where a current rate already exceeds a translated rate under the new structure, the higher current rate is retained.

What Happens to Schedule B and NDIS Support Workers

Most NDIS support workers providing disability support outside a home care setting are classified under Schedule B, Social and Community Services Employees, rather than Schedule E. Schedule B does not receive the October 2026 interim increase described above. Instead, the Commission's new integrated classification structure, and the associated wage reset, applies to Schedule B and the remaining affected schedules from 1 October 2027, a full year after Schedule E. Between now and then, Schedule B employees still receive the 4.75% Annual Wage Review increase from 1 July 2026 like every other SCHADS classification, but not the larger interim uplift. Getting this distinction right matters, because applying the Schedule E percentage to a Schedule B workforce, or the reverse, produces either an underpayment or an unbudgeted overpayment that a payroll system won't catch on its own.

The Flow-On to NDIS Support Item Prices

For NDIS providers specifically, a SCHADS Award wage increase doesn't stay contained to payroll. The National Disability Insurance Agency's pricing arrangements build the SCHADS Award's cost of labour into NDIS support item price limits, so a wage increase under the award is intended to flow through to a corresponding update in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits document. Providers need to confirm the relevant price limits have actually been updated, and that any existing service agreements have been reviewed and, where required, agreed with participants, before assuming the higher wage cost is fully covered by the price a support is being billed at. Running a payroll cost increase against an un-updated price limit is a fast way to turn a compliant wage rise into a margin problem.

A Payroll Update Checklist for Both Dates

Getting the Timing Right

The employers who move through both 2026 dates without an underpayment finding are the ones who treat the July and October increases as two separate projects with two separate deadlines, not one SCHADS Award update to action once. That starts with confirming classifications are accurate now, since an existing misclassification carries straight through both wage increases and compounds the error rather than resetting it. If a classification review hasn't happened recently, doing it before 1 July 2026 rather than after gives you a clean base to apply both increases to correctly.