This article provides general information about SCHADS Award penalty rates for educational purposes. Pay rates change each year following the Annual Wage Review. Always verify current rates with the Fair Work Commission or a payroll professional before processing wages. CareIQ's payroll engine is updated annually.
Penalty rates are loadings paid on top of an employee's base hourly rate when they work at times or on days that are considered unsociable. Under the SCHADS Award, these apply to:
The penalty is expressed as a multiplier of the ordinary rate. A 150% Saturday rate means the employee earns 1.5 times their base hourly rate for each hour worked on Saturday.
| Shift type | Rate | Plain English |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary weekday hours (Mon–Fri, daytime) | 100% | Standard base rate |
| Afternoon penalty (after 6pm weekday) | 112.5% | Base rate + 12.5% |
| Night shift penalty (after 10pm or before 6am) | 115% | Base rate + 15% |
| Saturday | 150% | Time and a half |
| Sunday | 200% | Double time |
| Public holiday | 250%–275% | Double time and a half (minimum) |
| Overtime — first 2 hours | 150% | Time and a half |
| Overtime — after 2 hours | 200% | Double time |
The highest single applicable rate applies — they do not stack. A night shift on a Sunday is paid at the Sunday rate (200%), not Sunday + night penalty combined. The Sunday rate already accounts for the unsociable nature of the work. This is one of the most common misconceptions about SCHADS payroll.
The afternoon loading applies to ordinary hours worked after 6pm on weekdays (Monday to Friday). The loading is 12.5% on top of the base rate.
A support worker earning $33/hour on an ordinary weekday earns $33 × 1.125 = $37.13/hour for hours worked after 6pm.
Note: The afternoon loading applies only to the hours after 6pm, not the whole shift. If a shift runs from 4pm to 9pm, only the 6pm–9pm portion attracts the loading.
A night shift is defined under the SCHADS Award as a shift where the majority of hours are worked between 10pm and 6am, or a shift that starts at or after 10pm. The loading is 15% on top of the base rate.
Night shift allowances also apply for certain shift types. Check the current SCHADS Award for the exact definition applicable to your classification and employment type.
All hours worked on a Saturday are paid at 150% of the ordinary rate — time and a half. This applies regardless of what time on Saturday the work occurs.
If a Saturday shift runs overnight into Sunday, the Sunday rate applies from midnight Sunday.
All hours worked on a Sunday are paid at double the ordinary rate. This is one of the most significant costs in scheduling weekend care shifts and needs to be accounted for in NDIS pricing and staffing budgets.
For a support worker earning $33/hour, a 4-hour Sunday shift costs $264 in wages — compared to $132 on an ordinary weekday.
Public holidays attract a minimum of 250% of the ordinary rate under SCHADS. Some employment types or circumstances attract 275%.
Note that public holidays vary by state and territory. Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day, Queen's/King's Birthday, and Labour Day are national or near-universal. Melbourne Cup Day applies in Victoria. Make sure your payroll system is configured for the correct state-based public holidays for each employee's location.
Under SCHADS, overtime applies when an employee works more than 38 ordinary hours in a week. The first two hours of overtime are paid at 150%, and any additional hours at 200%.
CareIQ tracks hours-so-far each week and automatically applies overtime splitting when generating timesheets — ordinary hours, overtime first-tier, and overtime second-tier are shown as separate lines.
The SCHADS Award also requires paid rest breaks and unpaid meal breaks:
The NDIS Price Guide sets maximum rates that registered providers can charge for support. These rates account for penalty loadings. If you are scheduling substantial weekend or evening hours, make sure your NDIS service agreement rates reflect the actual labour cost including penalties — otherwise your margins erode quickly on weekend and overnight supports.
Many NDIS providers still calculate SCHADS penalty rates manually — in spreadsheets, or by looking up each shift individually. This creates risk:
CareIQ's SCHADS payroll engine applies the correct rate to every shift based on the day, start time, end time, and employee classification. Penalty rates are applied to the relevant hours only (e.g. afternoon loading only after 6pm, not the whole shift). Overtime is tracked per week with correct tier splitting. Public holidays are configured per company by state. The output is a timesheet with itemised penalty lines — ordinary, afternoon, night, Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, overtime — ready for manager review and Xero export.
CareIQ applies every penalty rate automatically. Afternoon, night, Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, overtime — all calculated per shift and itemised on the timesheet. 2-month free trial, no setup fee.
Start Your 2-Month Free Trial