The Salvation Army Pay Rates 2026: Support Worker & SCHADS Pay

The Salvation Army is one of the country's largest charities and one of the larger employers in this list, running homelessness, addiction recovery, family and domestic violence, disability and community support services — plus its retail op shops — across every state and territory. Its social work arm employs support and community services workers, counsellors, case managers and program staff, alongside retail staff in its stores.

Social and community services roles at the Salvation Army are covered by the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (SCHADS), where pay is set by a matrix of stream, level and pay point rather than a single rate — retail roles in its op shops sit on a separate award. Our corpus holds no current Salvation Army social work enterprise agreement, so the award tables below are what should be on your payslip unless your contract or a newer agreement says otherwise.

The federal awards relevant to The Salvation Army roles:

• Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (MA000100)

Workforce snapshot. In its 2024-25 report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, The Trustee For The Salvation Army (Victoria) Property Trust declared 9,870 employees across 11 reporting entities — 20.2% casual and 73.3% women. Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).

The SCHADS award pays by stream (social and community services, home care, disability, crisis accommodation), then classification level, then pay point — so there is no single "disability support worker rate". Our SCHADS pay rates page carries the full current pay-point matrix, verified against the Fair Work Commission's pay database, plus the sleepover, broken-shift and minimum-engagement rules that decide most disability pay disputes.

Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current The Salvation Army agreements in our corpus (5 in total):

• The Salvation Army – Linsell Lodge Nursing Employees (Aged Care) Enterprise Agreement 2023 — approved May 2024, nominal expiry 31 July 2026.
• The Salvation Army – Linsell Lodge Nursing Employees (Aged Care) Enterprise Agreement 2023 — approved May 2024, nominal expiry 31 July 2026.
• Seaforth Gardens Enterprise Agreement 2022 — approved October 2023, nominal expiry 30 June 2026.
• Seaforth Gardens Enterprise Agreement 2022 — approved October 2023, nominal expiry 30 June 2026.
• The Salvation Army Barrington Lodge Nurses Agreement 2023 — approved October 2024, nominal expiry 30 June 2026.

We don't reproduce agreement dollar figures here — the agreement covering your site, state and stream is the document to read. Find your agreement, then your classification, then your pay point, and compare it with your payslip. The award tables on this page are the floor every one of these agreements must beat.

The patterns worth checking on a The Salvation Army payslip:

• Wrong SCHADS level or pay point for qualifications and years of service.
• Sleepover and active-night shifts paid as if they were the same thing.
• Broken shifts without the allowance, and travel between clients unpaid.
• Minimum engagements ignored on short support shifts.

Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.