SCHADS 15% Disability Pay Rise Delayed to 1 December 2026: What Changed and What You'll Get

Disability support workers paid under Schedule E of the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award will get their interim 15% pay rise from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026. That is two months later than the 1 October date the Fair Work Commission's Expert Panel had provisionally proposed in June.

The decision is [2026] FWCFB 232, issued in Sydney on 11 September 2026. It deals with 16 submissions on the panel's June decision ([2026] FWCFB 137) that finalised the gender-based undervaluation review of the award, and it varies the award under section 157 of the Fair Work Act (report of the decision; the Commission's case page holds the documents).

A note on our own copy: our SCHADS pay rise calculator and this week's newsletter carried the provisional 1 October date. The calculator now shows 1 December and carries the confirmed figures below.

The interim increase is 15% on the current Schedule E minimums, except at two pay points where the total increase across the whole review comes to less than 15%: Level 4 pay point 2 rises 14.96% and Level 5 pay point 2 rises 13.31%. The current rates below are the award minimums that have applied since the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, so the 4.75% Annual Wage Review is already in them.

Casual loading of 25% sits on top of the hourly figures. If your employer pays under an enterprise agreement, the agreement rate applies instead, but it can never fall below the award minimum on the day.

The rest of the increase, between 1.97% and 6.97% depending on the classification with a median of 3.7%, arrives on 1 October 2027, when a single new classification structure replaces Schedules B, C, E and F of the award and the old Equal Remuneration Order is revoked. Nobody's rate drops on translation.

The unions wanted the full Schedule E increase from 1 October 2026. Employer groups wanted it later: Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors argued for no earlier than 1 January 2027, and the Ai Group for no earlier than 1 July 2027. Their central point was money. The Commonwealth had committed to fully fund the interim increase in the aged care work value case, but had made no equivalent commitment for disability support, and NDIS providers said they needed time to reopen service agreements with clients and deal with funders. ABLA also pointed to three categories of NDIS support, performed by Schedule E employees, funded well below the benchmark price for disability support work.

The panel accepted that some change to its provisional view was warranted "given the absence of any commitment by the Commonwealth Government regarding funding", and settled on 1 December. That date matches the Commonwealth's own position, put at a hearing in October 2025, that classification changes should start no earlier than six months after the final decision. The panel was blunt about the principle, though: "We remain of the view that employees engaged under Schedule E of the Award should not have to wait until October 2027 to receive an interim 15 per cent increase in their pay rates."

The same decision fixed a side effect of the June ruling. Clause 25.8 of the award lets an employee who agrees to it remain available at a client's home across a 24-hour period, providing up to eight hours of care, with eight hours paid at 155% of the appropriate rate and any extra hours paid as overtime. The clause was written for home care employees, and taking disability support out of the home care definition would have closed it off for workers who provide personal care to a person with a disability in a private residence. Employers and a disability support worker who provides 24-hour care argued that would fragment care into more shifts, more handovers and more workers entering the home. The panel kept the arrangement open for that work.

• Check your classification and pay point on your payslip. Schedule E runs from Level 1 to Level 5; the level and pay point decide your new rate. Our SCHADS award pay rates page has every current figure.
• Diary the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026. The increase applies from the start of that pay period, not from 1 December itself. Run our SCHADS pay rise calculator for your weekly and annual gain.
• If your rate does not move in December, put it in writing to your employer first, then use the back-pay calculator to work out what you are owed. Aged care home care classifications are not part of this increase; their work value rises were delivered separately.
• Employers and NDIS providers: the new rates apply whether or not funding has caught up. The panel said so directly.