Home Care Worker Pay Rates 2025
Home Care employees specifically working under the Home Care stream of the SCHADS Award have distinct classifications compared to social/community workers. The Home Care stream is strictly for private residence care — group homes, day centres and general community support fall under the Social and Community Services (SACS) stream instead. Misclassifying between streams can mean paying the wrong base rate and the wrong allowance triggers.
Quick Facts
- Level 1 (Entry)
- ~$23.90/hr (Base)
- Level 2
- ~$24.90/hr (Base)
- Level 3 (Cert III)
- ~$26.15/hr (Base)
- Level 4
- ~$27.60/hr (Base)
Tools & Resources
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SCHADS AI Assistant
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Timesheet Validator
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Classification Guide
- Level 1: Domestic assistance, cleaning, unqualified entry level.
- Level 2: Personal care, assisting with medication (mostly competent).
- Level 3: Experienced Personal Care Worker, often holds Cert III in Individual Support.
Travel Between Clients
Home Care workers travel frequently. This time is paid time. You generally start being paid from the moment you arrive at the first client, until you finish with the last client (minus unpaid breaks).
Minimum Engagement for Casuals
Minimum engagement is where home care providers most often trip up. Under the SCHADS Award, casual employees have a **minimum engagement of 2 hours per shift**. In home care, short visits (1 hour or less) are common in the NDIS model — but if the worker is casual, the provider must pay for 2 hours minimum even if the visit is only 45 minutes.
Some providers try to work around this by classifying workers as part-time, but then don't guarantee the minimum part-time hours required by the award. That creates a different compliance problem. Part-time and full-time minimum engagement is generally governed by the employment contract and rostering provisions.
This is one of the most widespread underpayment issues in community-based NDIS services. If a casual is rostered for a 45-minute medication visit, the payslip must show 2 hours.
Some providers try to work around this by classifying workers as part-time, but then don't guarantee the minimum part-time hours required by the award. That creates a different compliance problem. Part-time and full-time minimum engagement is generally governed by the employment contract and rostering provisions.
This is one of the most widespread underpayment issues in community-based NDIS services. If a casual is rostered for a 45-minute medication visit, the payslip must show 2 hours.
Travel Allowance and Vehicle Reimbursement
When a home care worker uses their own vehicle for authorised work travel, a per-kilometre allowance applies under clause 20.7(a). The SCHADS minimum is **$0.99 per kilometre**. Providers can pay more, but cannot set their rate below that floor.
This is separate from travel time itself. Travel between clients during the working day is paid at the ordinary hourly rate as working time; travel from home to the first client and from the last client to home is not paid. The km allowance reimburses the vehicle cost on top of paid travel time, not instead of it. If your timesheet records km against an authorised work-related vehicle use, a travel allowance line should appear in pay — if it doesn't, that's an underpayment.
This is separate from travel time itself. Travel between clients during the working day is paid at the ordinary hourly rate as working time; travel from home to the first client and from the last client to home is not paid. The km allowance reimburses the vehicle cost on top of paid travel time, not instead of it. If your timesheet records km against an authorised work-related vehicle use, a travel allowance line should appear in pay — if it doesn't, that's an underpayment.
Broken Shifts and Split Rosters
Home care is the textbook setting for broken shifts: workers frequently do morning and evening visits with a large unpaid gap in the middle. SIL rosters tend to be longer, more predictable blocks where workers are on-site continuously, so broken shifts are uncommon there. Home care is the opposite.
When a home care worker does a morning shift and an evening shift with an unpaid gap of more than 60 minutes (and the gap is not a meal break), they're entitled to a broken shift allowance on top of regular pay. Many providers simply don't know the allowance exists, or their payroll system doesn't flag it. If you roster split shifts and your payroll has never paid a broken shift allowance, you're almost certainly underpaying.
When a home care worker does a morning shift and an evening shift with an unpaid gap of more than 60 minutes (and the gap is not a meal break), they're entitled to a broken shift allowance on top of regular pay. Many providers simply don't know the allowance exists, or their payroll system doesn't flag it. If you roster split shifts and your payroll has never paid a broken shift allowance, you're almost certainly underpaying.
Common Compliance Mistakes in Home Care
The recurring errors in this stream:
- Misclassifying stream: treating a SIL worker and a home care worker identically under one payroll configuration. The classification streams have different level descriptors and different allowance triggers (sleepover for SIL, broken shift for home care).
- Skipping the 2h minimum: paying actual visit duration for casuals instead of the 2h floor.
- Not paying travel time between clients: only paying for time inside the participant's home, treating inter-visit travel as commute.
- No km allowance: recording km on timesheets but never showing the allowance on pay.
- Missing broken shift allowance: rostering split visits without ever paying the allowance for the unpaid gap.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is domestic assistance covered by SCHADS?
- Yes, domestic assistance workers employed by an agency are usually Home Care Employee Level 1 or 2.
- What is the minimum engagement for a casual home care worker?
- Two hours per shift under the SCHADS Award. Even if a home care visit is only 45 minutes, a casual worker must be paid for 2 hours.
- Do home care workers get a travel allowance for using their own car?
- Yes. The travel allowance rate is set by the NDIS provider but must not fall below the SCHADS minimum of $0.99 per kilometre (clause 20.7(a)). The km allowance is paid in addition to the paid travel time between clients.
- How is a home care worker different from a SIL worker under SCHADS?
- Home care covers private residence care. SIL workers typically fall under the Social and Community Services (SACS) or Crisis Accommodation streams. The streams use different level descriptors and have different allowance triggers — sleepovers are mostly a SIL issue, while broken shifts are mostly a home care issue.
- Do home care workers ever get sleepover allowances?
- Yes, if they are required to sleep overnight at a participant's home and be available for work. Sleepovers are not exclusive to SIL — the entitlement follows the work arrangement, not the service type.
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