SCHADS Award Allowances: The Complete List
The SCHADS Award (MA000100) pays more than a dozen allowances on top of base rates — and missed allowances are where most underpayments in the sector hide, because payroll usually gets the hourly rate right and quietly drops the extras. This page lists every SCHADS allowance at the current rates effective 1 July 2026, with links to detailed guides on the ones that cause the most trouble.
Quick Facts
- Sleepover
- $62.87 per night
- Broken shift
- $21.81 (1 break) / $28.87 (2)
- Vehicle
- $1.01 per km
- On-call
- $25.66 wkday / $50.81 wkend & PH
- First aid
- $21.43 per week (full-time)
- Rates effective
- 1 July 2026
Tools & Resources
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SCHADS AI Assistant
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Timesheet Validator
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Every SCHADS allowance at current rates
Rates below are from the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026:
| Allowance | Current rate | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Sleepover allowance | $62.87 per sleepover | Sleepover rules |
| Broken shift allowance — 1 unpaid break | $21.81 per broken shift | Broken shift allowance |
| Broken shift allowance — 2 unpaid breaks | $28.87 per broken shift | |
| Vehicle allowance | $1.01 per km | Travel & vehicle allowance |
| On-call allowance — Monday to Friday (per 24 hours or part) | $25.66 | On-call allowance |
| On-call allowance — any other 24-hour period or public holiday | $50.81 | |
| Meal allowance — overtime | $17.30, plus a further $17.30 when more than 4 hours of overtime is worked | Meal allowance |
| First aid allowance — full-time | $21.43 per week | First aid allowance |
| First aid allowance — part-time or casual | $0.56 per hour, up to a maximum of $21.43 per week | |
| Uniform allowance | $1.26 per shift, up to a maximum of $6.41 per week | Laundry & uniform allowance |
| Laundry allowance | $0.33 per shift, up to a maximum of $1.53 per week | |
| Hot work allowance — 40°C to 46°C | $0.64 per hour | Clause 20 of the award |
| Hot work allowance — over 46°C | $0.77 per hour | |
| Higher duties | No flat rate — paid at the higher classification's rate | Higher duties allowance |
Related payments that aren't technically allowances: the 25% casual loading, weekend penalty rates, shift loadings and overtime.
Wage-related vs expense-related allowances
SCHADS allowances fall into two families, and they move differently over time:
- Wage-related allowances (sleepover, broken shift, on-call, first aid) are set as percentages of the award's standard rate, so they rise automatically every 1 July with the Annual Wage Review.
- Expense-related allowances (meal, vehicle, uniform, laundry) reimburse costs the employee incurs, and are adjusted by the Fair Work Commission in line with movements in the relevant cost indexes — which can happen on a different cycle to wage increases.
The practical consequence: hard-coding last year's allowance amounts into payroll or rostering templates guarantees drift. Every figure on this page is current as at 1 July 2026 — always confirm against the current Fair Work pay guide before relying on an older number.
How allowances interact with penalties and overtime
Allowances are paid in addition to the hourly rate — they are not multiplied by penalty percentages, and penalties are not calculated on top of them. A support worker on a Sunday broken shift receives the Sunday penalty rate for the hours worked plus the flat broken shift allowance. A sleepover attracts the $62.87 allowance plus separate payment (at the applicable rate) for any work performed during the night.
Each allowance also has its own trigger conditions — a sleepover is a defined thing under clause 25.7, a broken shift under clause 25.6, on-call under clause 20.11 — and the trigger, not the label on the roster, determines what is payable. The deep-dive guides linked in the table above walk through the trigger rules for each.
The allowances payroll misses most
In the timesheets CrossVault analyses, the same allowance errors come up again and again:
- Sleepover allowance dropped entirely when the shift is rostered as an ordinary overnight — or paid without the separate payment for work performed when the worker is woken.
- Broken shift allowances missed because the rostering system records two separate shifts rather than one broken shift — or paid at the 1-break rate when there were two unpaid breaks.
- Kilometre claims unpaid or underpaid for travel between clients during the day.
- First aid allowance not pro-rated for part-time and casual staff — or never set up at all for designated first aiders.
- Stale rates — last year's allowance amounts still hard-coded after 1 July.
CrossVault's Timesheet Validator checks every timesheet line against all of these allowance rules at once and flags what's missing, so the errors surface before they compound into back pay.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
- What allowances are in the SCHADS Award?
- The main ones are the sleepover allowance ($62.87 per night), broken shift allowance ($21.81 for one unpaid break, $28.87 for two), vehicle allowance ($1.01/km), on-call allowance ($25.66 weekdays, $50.81 weekends and public holidays), overtime meal allowance ($17.30), first aid allowance ($21.43 per week full-time), uniform allowance ($1.26 per shift) and laundry allowance ($0.33 per shift), plus hot work allowances and higher duties payment. All figures are the rates effective 1 July 2026.
- Do casual employees get SCHADS allowances?
- Yes. Casuals receive the same shift-based allowances as permanent staff — sleepover, broken shift, vehicle and on-call allowances all apply when the trigger conditions are met. The first aid allowance is paid to eligible casuals pro rata at $0.56 per hour, capped at the full-time weekly amount of $21.43.
- Is the sleepover payment an allowance or a pay rate?
- Both, in practice. The $62.87 sleepover allowance compensates for the requirement to sleep at the workplace, and any work actually performed during the sleepover is paid separately at the applicable rate on top of the allowance.
- Do SCHADS allowances increase every year?
- Wage-related allowances (sleepover, broken shift, on-call, first aid) rise each 1 July with the Annual Wage Review because they are percentages of the award standard rate. Expense-related allowances (meal, vehicle, uniform, laundry) are adjusted by the Fair Work Commission in line with cost index movements, which can follow a different cycle.
- Where do these allowance amounts come from?
- From the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide for the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (MA000100), effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. The underlying entitlement rules are in clause 20 (allowances) and clauses 25.6–25.7 (broken shifts and sleepovers) of the award.
- Are allowances paid on top of penalty rates?
- Yes. Allowances are flat amounts paid in addition to the hourly rate for the shift, whatever that rate is. They are not increased by weekend or public holiday penalties, and penalties are not calculated on the allowance amounts.
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