SCHADS Award Changes 2026: Every Change, Date and What To Do

• 1 June 2026: sleepover variation (PR798459). A sleepover is not a rest break, work either side of it is one shift, up to 12 ordinary hours by agreement, new 10-hour and 12-hour overtime thresholds for part-time and casual employees, and loadings assessed separately on each side. Clauses 25.1(b)-(c), 25.4, 28.1(b)(ii)-(vii) and 29.3(d).
• 1 July 2026: Annual Wage Review. Modern award minimum wages rise 4.75% from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, and the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide carries the new rates and allowances.
• 1 December 2026: Schedule E interim increase. Around 15% for Schedule E employees from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026 ([2026] FWCFB 232, determination PR814259).
• 1 October 2027: new classification structure. From the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2027. The determination that sets it out has not yet been published.

The three changes are different in kind. The June variation changes rules, the July review changes dollar amounts, and Schedule E changes classification. A payroll system can be right on one and wrong on another, so check each separately.

PR798459 rewrote the sleepover, rest-break, overtime and loading provisions of the award. It follows the Full Bench decision [2025] FWCFB 292; our sleepover changes explainer covers the background. This is what the award text now says, clause by clause:

• Clause 25.1(b), 10-hour shifts. By agreement between the employer and employee, ordinary hours may be worked up to 10 hours per shift, other than in the sleepover circumstances in clause 25.1(c).
• Clause 25.1(c), 12-hour sleepover shifts. By agreement, ordinary hours may be worked up to 12 hours per shift where part of the shift is performed immediately before and part immediately after a sleepover under clause 25.7. A maximum of eight ordinary hours may be worked before or after the sleepover period.
• Clause 25.4, rest breaks. The 10-hour break between shifts stays (25.4(a)). By agreement, the break may be not less than 8 hours before a shift that directly precedes a sleepover (25.4(b)(i)) and after a shift that directly follows a sleepover (25.4(b)(ii)). A sleepover does not constitute a break, and work performed immediately before and immediately after a sleepover is treated as part of the same shift (25.4(c)). Clause 25.4(a) does not prevent work either side of a sleepover where the periods include ordinary hours that are part of the same shift (25.4(d)).
• Clause 28.1(b)(ii), overtime after 10 hours. For part-time and casual employees, time worked beyond 10 hours per day or per shift is paid at time and a half for the first 2 hours and double time after that. On Sundays it is double time, and on public holidays double time and a half.
• Clauses 28.1(b)(iii) and (iv), the 12-hour sleepover threshold. Where part of a shift is performed immediately before and part immediately after a sleepover, the threshold for part-time and casual employees is 12 hours per day or per shift instead of 10, at the same overtime rates. It applies only if the employee and employer have agreed to the 12-hour shift, with a maximum of eight ordinary hours before or after the sleepover.
• Clauses 28.1(b)(v) to (vii). Under (v), time worked up to the 10-hour or 12-hour limit is not overtime and is paid at the ordinary rate, including the casual loading for casuals, subject to clause 28.1(b)(i), which makes time beyond 38 hours per week or 76 hours per fortnight overtime for part-time and casual employees. Under (vi), part-time and casual day workers who work outside the span of hours are paid overtime on the same scale. Under (vii), overtime under clause 28.1(b) replaces the shift premiums in clause 29 rather than adding to them, and does not apply to ordinary hours worked on a Saturday or Sunday. The consolidation also marks clause 28.1(a), the full-time overtime clause, as varied by PR798459, so read the current clause rather than a pre-June summary.
• Clause 29.3(d), loadings. Where an employee is rostered to work immediately before and immediately after a sleepover, the work before and the work after are treated separately when deciding the afternoon shift (29.3(a)), night shift (29.3(b)) and public holiday (29.3(c)) loadings. The award's own example: work from 9.00 pm to 11.00 pm before the sleepover and from 7.00 am to 11.00 am after it attracts the afternoon shift allowance on the first period of work only.

What did not change. Clause 25.7 itself is not among the provisions varied by PR798459 in the consolidation. The sleepover allowance is still 4.9% of the standard rate for each night (25.7(d)), work performed during a sleepover is still paid at the prescribed overtime rate with a minimum payment of one hour (25.7(e)), and the employer must still roster or pay at least four hours' work for at least one of the periods immediately before or after the sleepover (25.7(f)). For the full sleepover rules see our SCHADS sleepover rules, and for the overtime scales see SCHADS overtime rules.

The consolidated award marks every clause changed by PR798459 with "ppc 01Jun26". The award text does not spell out that abbreviation, and it does not use the words "first full pay period" for this variation. The same marking sits on the clauses changed by the 1 July 2026 wage review (for example clause 15.1, marked "PR799380 ppc 01Jul26"), and the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide applies those wage changes from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. We read "ppc 01Jun26" the same way, so the variation starts with the first full pay period on or after 1 June 2026.

That is our reading of the award's notation, not a sentence in the award. Work out which pay period that is for each of your pay cycles (weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly) and test the first pay run after it. If you are unsure which side of the changeover a pay period falls, confirm with the Fair Work Ombudsman before finalising the pay run.

The 2026 Annual Wage Review increased modern award minimum wages by 4.75% from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. The Fair Work Ombudsman published its SCHADS pay guide on 24 June 2026. The award consolidation marks the minimum wage clauses (15 to 17) as varied by PR799380 and the allowance clause (20) by PR799535, both from 1 July 2026. Anchor figures from the pay guide:

• Sleepover allowance: $62.87 for each sleepover.
• Broken shift allowance: $21.81 with one unpaid break, $28.87 with two unpaid breaks.
• Social and community services employee, Level 2 – pay point 1: $36.22 an hour full-time or part-time, $45.28 an hour casual (including the 25% casual loading).
• Home care employee, disability care, Level 2 – pay point 1: $28.86 an hour full-time or part-time, $36.08 an hour casual.

The pay guide's social and community services rates are the final payable rates and already include the Equal Remuneration Order, so do not add it again. The guide does not reproduce the full overtime rate matrix, so use the complete Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide for MA000100 for overtime dollar figures.

The sleepover dollar figure and the sleepover rules are separate. Clause 25.7(d) sets the allowance at 4.9% of the standard rate for each night, that clause is not among those varied by PR798459, and $62.87 is the pay guide's amount from 1 July 2026. For the older July summary see SCHADS Award changes from 1 July 2026.

Schedule E holds the classification definitions for home care employees providing disability care, and their minimum weekly wages sit in clause 17.1 of the award. The Fair Work Commission's decision [2026] FWCFB 232 and determination PR814259 set an interim increase of around 15% for Schedule E employees from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026. The date was provisionally 1 October 2026 before that decision. Our posts on the December start date and the classification overhaul have the detail.

• It is a separate, additional change on top of the 4.75% July increase, not a replacement for it.
• It applies from each employee's first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026. If you run weekly and fortnightly cycles, each has its own first eligible period.
• It is for Schedule E employees. Social and community services staff are classified under Schedule B and are not covered by this interim increase.

The award consolidation this page checks against runs to 1 July 2026, before the September 2026 determination, so the post-December Schedule E rates are not in it. Take them from the determination and the updated Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide when they apply.

The Commission is replacing the classification structures in Schedules B, C, E and F with a single integrated structure. It applies from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2027, when Schedule E ends. The determination that maps each current classification and pay point to a new level has not yet been published, so there are no new rates or levels to load into payroll yet. What you can do now is keep every employee's current classification, pay point and evidence for it documented, because that record is what the mapping will start from.

1. Fix the changeover date. Work out the first full pay period on or after 1 June 2026 for each pay cycle and test the first pay run after it.
2. Stop treating a sleepover as a break. Keep the 10-hour break between shifts (cl.25.4(a)). Use the 8-hour break only where you have an agreement and the shift directly precedes or follows a sleepover (cl.25.4(b)).
3. Record your agreements. 10-hour shifts (cl.25.1(b)) and 12-hour sleepover shifts (cl.25.1(c), cl.28.1(b)(iv)) depend on agreement between employer and employee. The award text does not say the agreement must be in writing, but a dated record is what you will point to if the arrangement is questioned.
4. Update overtime logic for part-time and casual staff. Overtime starts beyond 10 hours per day or shift, beyond 12 hours where an agreed shift spans a sleepover, and beyond 38 hours per week or 76 per fortnight (cl.28.1(b)). Add the work before and after a sleepover together as one shift (cl.25.4(c)). See the break between shifts page for rostering gaps.
5. Split loadings either side of the sleepover. Assess afternoon, night and public holiday loadings separately for the work before and the work after (cl.29.3(d)).
6. Load the 1 July 2026 pay guide. Rates and allowances, including $62.87 for each sleepover. Do not carry last year's amounts forward.
7. Prepare for Schedule E. List employees by classification, separating Schedule E from Schedule B, and set the effective date for each pay cycle to the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026. Audit the first pay run after it line by line.
8. Diary 1 October 2027. Keep classification records clean and watch for the determination.
9. Check a real pay run. Upload a recent timesheet export to the CrossVault timesheet check and see which shifts break these rules, with the clause cited.

Want your payroll and rostering team walked through these changes with worked examples? See our SCHADS Award 2026 training workshop.