Understanding the disability support and aged care sectors

Upcoming award changes: Aged Care Work Value Case

The Aged Care Work Value Case is a series of decisions of the Fair Work Commission that change minimum wages and conditions for employees in the aged care industry.

The latest changes take effect from 1 January 2025.

For more information, go to Aged Care – Work Value Case: Changes to awards.

Find out about the disability support and aged care sectors and what awards and entitlements apply.

On this page:

Working in the disability support and aged care sectors

Employers and employees in the disability support and aged care sectors provide residential care and social assistance services to older people and people with disability.

There is some overlap between the 2 sectors, with both delivering services in:

  • aged care facilities
  • private residences
  • the community.

Common workplace issues in the disability and aged care sector

The same rules apply to all industries for some common issues.

Visit our dedicated pages for more information on common workplace issues, including:

How awards and agreements apply

Employees and employers generally get their minimum conditions from an award or agreement.

Every award has information about who it covers. The award that covers the employer and employee depends on the:

  • work setting
  • nature of the work being performed.

An award covers employers and employees when the coverage and classification clauses in the award appropriately describe the work being performed. Find out more about understanding award classifications at Award classifications.

Employers and employees in these sectors are generally covered by either the:

Nurses working in these sectors may be covered by the Nurses Award.

Other awards can apply because of an employee's occupation. Learn more at Occupational coverage.

An agreement may apply to an employer and employee instead. Read more at Agreements.

Tip: Use our award tools

You can work out your award coverage by using our 3-step Find my award tool.

Awards are also available in one A-Z list from our List of awards page.

If you’re an employer, you can follow the steps to find the right award on I’m not sure which award covers my business.

Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award

The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award, also sometimes called the SCHADS Award, covers several different care ‘streams’ that have different pay and conditions.

Social and community services

The social and community services sector covers a wide variety of social assistance work, including:

  • social work
  • recreation and respite care
  • welfare support
  • youth work
  • community development.

This sector also covers work supporting people with disability in a community or residential setting. It may also include providing assistance in a private residence. Different pay and conditions can apply to disability services work.

Home care

The home care sector covers care and domestic assistance provided to older people or people with disability in a private residence.

There are 2 streams in the home care sector depending on the client they are providing care to.

Disability care is care provided to clients with a disability in a private residence, this is covered by the Home Care – Disability Care stream.

Aged care is care provided to older clients in a private residence. Nursing assistants providing care to older people in a private residence are also included in the Home Care - Aged Care stream.

Care provided to older people in an aged care facility or hostel is covered by the Aged Care Award.

Find more information on the difference between the streams and classifying employees in our Home care section.

Other sectors in the SCHADS Award

Other sectors that involve providing support and assistance can also be covered by the SCHADS Award.

These include:

  • crisis assistance and supported housing
  • family day care.

More information on these sectors can be found at Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award summary.

Aged Care Award

The Aged Care Award covers employers and employees providing accommodation and care services for older people in residential accommodation facilities.

This award can cover a broad range of employees. These employees are broken into 2 categories within the award:

  • direct care
  • non-direct care.

Direct care

Direct care employees include aged care workers who are required to provide direct personal care services or recreational or lifestyle activities to residents.

This can also include nursing assistants.

Non-direct care

All other employee types are classified as non-direct care employees. These include:

  • cleaners
  • administrative workers
  • maintenance workers
  • food services workers.

More information on both categories can be found on our Working in the aged care industry pages.

Occupational coverage

Awards can apply to employees because of their specific job or occupation.

This means that employees of the same employer can be covered by different awards.

The following awards are examples of occupational awards that could cover employees working in the disability and aged care sector:

Clerical workers

Clerical workers can be covered by different awards, depending on the part of the sector they work in.

Clerical workers can be covered by the SCHADS Award if they’re working in the:

  • social and community services sector
  • family day care scheme sector.

Clerical workers working in aged care can be covered by the Aged Care Award.

More information can be found in our Library article Clerical employees and the Social Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award.

Tip: Use our industry filters

If you are covered by the SCHADS Award, look out for the blue boxes on our website, which provide award specific information. Select the industry that applies for you to get tailored information on the page.

Our filters give award-specific advice on issues like:

Select the industry that applies and get tailored information on the page. For example, ‘social, community, disability and home care services’.

Agreements

Many employers in the disability support and aged care sectors have enterprise agreements, which can provide different pay and conditions to an award. Agreements may also classify employees differently.

Agreements are generally based on an award that would otherwise apply in the industry.

An agreement must still provide for at least the minimum pay and conditions in the relevant award. For more information, go to Agreements.

The Fair Work Commission (the Commission) keeps a database of agreements. The Commission is the national workplace relations tribunal and registered organisation regulator. You can search for an agreement in their Find an agreement database.

Independent contractors

Some individuals in the care industry may be working as an independent contractor.

Independent contractors operate as their own business, working direct with clients or with funding agencies to find work.

Although they may be operating within the care sector, independent contractors aren’t covered by an award.

Independent contractors don’t get employee entitlements such as annual leave, sick leave and minimum rates of pay. Independent contractors are also responsible for paying their tax and GST (if applicable) to the Australia Taxation Office. They also generally pay their own superannuation.

Learn more at Independent contractors.

Our work in the sectors

The disability and aged care sectors are some of our priority areas.

Our work in the sector includes investigating:

  • non-compliance with the Fair Work Act
  • underpayments of wages and entitlements
  • breaches of protections at work.

You can read more about our compliance work at Compliance and enforcement.

Stay up to date with our activities in the disability and aged care sectors by visiting our Newsroom and using the search function.

Tools and resources

Related information