The Schedule E Pay Rise Now Starts 1 December 2026, Not 1 October

• Moved: the interim increase for Schedule E (home care, disability) employees, from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026 to the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026.
• Not moved: the size of the increase. It is around 15%, with two classifications slightly lower: approximately 14.96% for Level E.4.2 and 13.31% for Level E.5.2.
• Not moved: the full new classification structure, which starts from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2027. Schedule E is abolished at that point.

Everything we wrote in June about who is affected still holds. What changed is when. Our Schedule E classification overhaul guide has been updated with the new date.

The increase does not apply to hours worked on 1 December. It applies from the start of each employee's first full pay period that begins on or after 1 December 2026. For a fortnightly pay cycle that begins on 25 November, the first eligible period starts on 9 December, and the shifts in between are paid at the old rate.

Two things go wrong here in practice:

1. Applying it too early. Payroll systems that were set up in September for a 1 October start will now overpay if nobody moves the effective date. Overpayment is not a compliance breach, but recovering it from a worker is messy and needs their written agreement.
2. Applying it to the wrong people. The increase is for Schedule E employees doing disability home care. SACS (Schedule B) staff doing disability work in group homes or day programs do not get this interim rise. If your classifications are loose, you will pay it to the wrong group, or miss the right one.

If you run several pay cycles (weekly for casuals, fortnightly for permanent staff, for example) each cycle has its own first full pay period. Work the date out for each one.

On the revenue side, the NDIS price limits for 2026-27 have now been made into law. In September 2026 the Minister made the first NDIS pricing determination under the new Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act 2026, turning the 2026-27 Pricing Schedule figures into legal maximums from 24 September 2026. The NDIA says the Pricing Schedule will be updated later in the year for any necessary changes. As at 27 September 2026 we have not seen a published price-limit increase tied to the Schedule E rise.

So the gap we described in our 2026-27 pricing analysis still exists: wages for Schedule E staff go up about 15% while the funded price stays where it is. The deferral does not close that gap. It gives you two more months to plan for it:

• Re-run your cost per funded hour using the December start date, not October.
• Watch for an NDIA pricing update before 1 December. If one lands, check which support items it covers before you assume it offsets your wage bill.
• October is still a busy month. The community participation budget cuts and Thriving Kids both start on 1 October 2026. See our October 2026 NDIS checklist.

1. Move the effective date in your payroll and award-interpretation settings from 1 October to 1 December 2026. Then check the first full pay period for each pay cycle.
2. List every Schedule E employee by name and level. Flag anyone at E.4.2 or E.5.2, because their percentage is different.
3. Check the allowances and penalties that are built on the base rate. Overtime, weekend and public holiday penalties, and casual loading all follow the new base rate. A payroll that updates the base rate but hard-codes the old casual rate will underpay every casual shift.
4. Tell your staff. Workers who read about "October" in June will be expecting the rise in their October pay. Explaining the new date early saves a lot of complaints.
5. Audit the first December pay run line by line before it goes out. This is the most likely pay run all year for a rate error.

Payroll and rostering teams who want a structured walk-through of the Schedule E timetable can join our SCHADS Award 2026 training, and the guide to the 2026 SCHADS Award changes sets out every change in one place.