SCHADS Award payroll and award interpretation
Pay Cat is payroll software and an implementation service built specifically for employers covered by the SCHADS Award: NDIS providers, home care operators, aged care services and community organisations.
We have paid more than 30,000 employees for over 500 businesses, and the SCHADS template behind it has been independently reviewed to check it interprets the award correctly.
What is the best payroll system for SCHADS Award employers?
No payroll system makes you SCHADS compliant on its own. The right system is one where award interpretation is configured correctly for your workforce, maintained as the award changes, and supported by people who can answer a classification question when you ring them.
That distinction matters more in SCHADS than in almost any other award. Most payroll platforms calculate pay accurately from the settings they are given. They do not decide which classification applies to a casual support worker doing a sleepover across a public holiday, and they do not update themselves when the Fair Work Commission varies the award. Someone has to make those decisions, and if nobody has, the software will calculate the wrong answer with complete confidence.
Why do standard payroll systems get the SCHADS Award wrong?
Standard payroll systems get SCHADS wrong because they are built to handle many awards adequately rather than one award precisely. SCHADS has more interacting rules than most, so generic configuration tends to break at the edges: the broken shift, the sleepover, the late cancellation, the worker who crosses classifications in a single fortnight.
The failure is rarely a wrong hourly rate. It is usually an allowance that never triggers, a penalty applied to the wrong span of hours, or a minimum engagement that goes unpaid. Those errors are small per shift and large per year, and they compound quietly until someone audits a pay run.
What does SCHADS award interpretation actually have to handle?
SCHADS award interpretation has to handle ten distinct areas, and a system that gets nine right still produces incorrect pay. These are the areas where we most often find errors when we review an existing payroll setup.
| Requirement | What typically goes wrong |
|---|---|
| Classifications and pay points | A support worker is set to the wrong level, so every shift they work is underpaid from day one |
| Ordinary hours | Ordinary hours are set per day when the roster runs across days, so overtime never triggers |
| Overtime | Overtime is calculated on a calendar day rather than a shift, so shifts crossing midnight lose the entitlement |
| Penalty rates | Evening, weekend and public holiday penalties apply to the wrong span of hours within a shift |
| Allowances | Sleepover, on-call, first aid and vehicle allowances are configured manually and silently stop triggering |
| Broken shifts | The broken shift allowance is missed, or applied once when two separate breaks occurred |
| Sleepovers | The sleepover is treated as a break between shifts, which changes overtime and loadings for the whole period |
| Minimum engagements | A cancelled two hour shift is paid as worked time rather than at the minimum engagement |
| Travel and work related time | Time between client visits is unpaid, or the kilometre allowance is not applied |
| Leave interactions | Leave is accrued and paid without the loadings and allowances that form part of the employee's ordinary pay |
Source: SCHADS Award (MA000100) as published by the Fair Work Commission. Reviewed September 2026.
What is Pay Cat, and who is it for?
Pay Cat is payroll software for SCHADS employers, delivered with the setup and ongoing support that makes the award interpretation actually work. It is used by NDIS providers, home care and aged care operators and community services organisations across Australia, from single site providers to organisations running hundreds of support workers across multiple states.
There are three ways organisations use us.
Setup
We configure the system correctly, then you run it yourself.
Outsourced payroll
We process your payroll each cycle.
Custom award and template builds
We build award interpretation templates to match how your workforce actually runs.
The SCHADS expertise is the same in all three.
How do you evaluate a payroll system against the SCHADS Award?
Test it against your own employee scenarios rather than asking the vendor whether it supports SCHADS. Every vendor will say yes, because every vendor can process a standard weekday shift correctly.
Take five real shifts from your last pay run and ask the vendor to show you the calculation for each:
- 1A support worker doing a broken shift with two separate breaks in one day
- 2A sleepover with active work either side of it
- 3A shift starting on a Sunday evening and finishing on a public holiday
- 4A casual whose shift is cancelled with four hours notice
- 5A part time worker who picks up an extra shift that takes them past their ordinary hours
Ask to see the working, not the total. If a vendor can show you which clause produced each line of the calculation, they understand the award. If they can only show you a number, you are being asked to trust a configuration nobody has explained.
What changed for SCHADS sleepovers in 2026?
As at September 2026, three changes to sleepover provisions apply, all commencing 1 June 2026 following a Fair Work Commission Full Bench decision issued on 13 April 2026.
A sleepover no longer counts as a break between shifts. Work performed immediately before and immediately after a sleepover is treated as part of the same shift (clause 25.4(c)). Shift loadings are determined separately for the work before and the work after the sleepover (clause 29.3(d)). By agreement, ordinary hours may extend to 12 hours where work occurs both before and after a sleepover, with a maximum of eight ordinary hours worked on either side (clause 25.1(c)). The decision also clarified the overtime provisions so that shifts spanning more than one calendar day do not lose overtime entitlements (clauses 28.1(a) and 28.1(b)).
Source: Fair Work Commission decision [2026] FWCFB 79, 13 April 2026. We cover the practical detail in what changes for SCHADS sleepovers on 1 June 2026.
How long does it take to set up SCHADS payroll correctly?
Most standard implementations take 6 to 10 weeks from payment. Providers with simpler, more standard requirements may be eligible for a micro implementation and can be running in around 3 weeks.
Which path you are on depends on how much of your rostering is standard and how much is specific to your organisation. If your timeline is tighter or your setup more complex, talk to us and we will tell you what is realistically possible.
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“Since choosing Pay Cat, I’ve been able to sleep well at night after payroll. It’s peace of mind knowing everything is built in. Payroll is one of those areas where you cannot afford to make mistakes.”
Hemakshee Busviah, Samy Care
We're here to help.
If you want to test us against your own shifts, book a demo and bring five real pay scenarios.
We'll show you how each one calculates, clause by clause.
Frequently asked questions
Does payroll software make you SCHADS compliant?
No. Payroll software calculates pay from the rules it has been configured with. Compliance depends on whether those rules match the award and your workforce, and whether they are maintained as the award changes.
Can you run SCHADS payroll in a general accounting system?
You can run it, but award interpretation is not built in. Classification, penalties, allowances and minimum engagements have to be decided and configured by someone, and then kept current as the award is varied.
What is the broken shift allowance under the SCHADS Award?
It is an allowance payable when an employee works a shift broken by one or more unpaid breaks, other than a meal break. The amount depends on the number of breaks. Current rates are published in the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide for MA000100.
Do sleepovers count as a break between shifts?
No, not since 1 June 2026. Work immediately before and after a sleepover is treated as part of the same shift under clause 25.4(c) of the SCHADS Award.
Who does Pay Cat work with?
NDIS providers, home care and aged care operators, and community services organisations covered by the SCHADS Award, from single site providers to multi state organisations.