1 July 2022 changes to Social, Community, Home care & Disability Services Award
Published 1 February 2022 | Updated 16 September 2022
Find out more about the 1 July 2022 changes to part-time employee and other entitlements under the Social, Community, Home care and Disability Services Industry (SCHADS) Award.
On this page:
- Minimum payments for some casuals
- Minimum payments for part-time employees
- How the minimum payment changes work
- Damaged clothing and laundry allowances
- Overtime for part-time and casual employees
- Enterprise agreements
- Remote work
- More information
Minimum payments for some casuals
From the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2022, the minimum payment for casual home care employees increases from 1 hour to 2 hours.
Casual employees can work for more than 1 client during their minimum payment period.
Minimum payments for part-time employees
From the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2022, part-time employees will need to be paid for the following minimum hours for each shift or work period in a broken shift:
- social and community services employees (except when doing disability services work) – 3 hours
- social and community services employees doing disability services work – 2 hours
- all other employees – 2 hours.
The requirement to be paid for these minimum number of hours is called a ‘minimum payment’.
Part-time employees can work for more than 1 client during their minimum payment period.
This is a new entitlement for part-time employees. Until 1 July 2022, there was no minimum payment for part-time employees under the SCHADS Award.
Learn more about part-time entitlements under the SCHADS Award at Part-time employees. Select the 'social, community, disability and home care services' industry to get tailored information.
Consultation requirements for different arrangements
Until 1 July 2022, employers and employees could previously agree that an employee will work shifts or periods of work in broken shifts that are less than the new minimum payments.
If an employer and an employee made this kind of agreement before 1 February 2022, they need to:
- discuss the new minimum payment requirements
- genuinely try to reach an agreement on a variation to the employee’s current hours of work that’s consistent with the new minimum payments and suits the employee’s circumstances.
If an employer and employee have discussed the agreement but can’t agree on a change, the employer can vary the agreement to meet the new minimum payments by giving the employee 42 days’ written notice of the change. This variation couldn't start before 1 July 2022.
These consultation requirements don’t stop an employer and an employee from agreeing to other changes to the agreement that are consistent with award provisions.
How the minimum payment changes work
Learn more about the new provisions below:
- broken shifts and broken shift allowances
- client cancellation
- travelling between clients
- shift locations.
Broken shifts and broken shift allowances
A broken shift is a shift that is broken into 2 or 3 parts by an unpaid break (or breaks), in a 12 hour period. For example, a broken shift could involve someone working for 2 hours followed by a 2 hour break, then working 3 hours. A meal break doesn’t break a shift.
From the first pay period starting after 1 July 2022, there are 2 broken shift allowances for social and community services employees when undertaking disability services work and for home care employees. The broken shift allowance will differ depending on whether the employee has 1 or 2 unpaid breaks in their broken shift. The number of unpaid breaks will determine the amount of the allowance.
An employer can roster an employee on a broken shift with 2 periods of work and 1 unpaid break. An employer and employee can agree that a broken shift will be worked with 3 periods of work and 2 unpaid breaks.
If an employee is required to work a broken shift, the minimum payment will apply for each period of work during that broken shift. The minimum payment period applies to all periods of work in a broken shift for both part-time and casual employees.
Example: Broken shifts from 1 July 2022
Jasmine is a part-time social and community services employee who performs disability services work. She is covered by the SCHADS Award. Jasmine is rostered for a broken shift to be worked in two parts in the morning and afternoon.
Jasmine works with her first client, Luca, for 90 minutes in the morning. She must be paid a minimum of 2 hours for this part of her broken shift to satisfy the new minimum payment requirement.
Jasmine has a 3 hour break before she sees her second client, Anthony. Jasmine works with Anthony for 2 hours in the afternoon and is paid for 2 hours.
Jasmine will be entitled to a broken shift allowance as she is working a broken shift.
Client cancellation
A client cancellation is when a client cancels a scheduled home care or disability service:
- within 7 days of the service
- where a full-time or part-time employee was rostered to provide the service.
This includes when a service is rescheduled by the client.
When a service is cancelled, the employer can either:
- direct the employee to perform other work during those hours
- cancel the whole shift, or
- cancel the affected part of the shift.
If a shift is cancelled, the employer has to either:
- pay the employee the amount they would have been paid if they had worked, or
- provide the employee with make-up time (the same amount of hours of work at another time).
Make-up time
An employer can only provide an employee with make-up time if they give at least 12 hours’ notice of the cancellation of the original shift. If the employer doesn’t give this notice, the employee will still be paid for their hours.
Employers who elect to provide employees with make-up time must give at least 7 days’ notice for the new shift. This can be less if the employer and the employee agree. Employers also have to consult with employees in accordance with the consultation provisions in the SCHADS Award.
Make-up time has to be worked by the employee within 6 weeks of the cancelled service.
Make-up time can be worked with clients other than the client who cancelled the original service or in other areas of the employer’s business provided the employee has the skills necessary to perform the work.
Example: Cancelled shifts from 1 July 2022
Leo is a part-time home care employee. He is covered by the SCHADS Award.
Leo has 2 shifts scheduled with a client for the next week. One shift is scheduled for 8am Monday and one for 8am on Tuesday, each for 3 hours.
On Sunday night at 9pm, Leo’s employer calls him saying his shifts for the next 2 days have been cancelled by the client.
As there is less than 12 hours before the Monday morning shift, Leo will still be paid for 3 hours for the Monday shift even though he will not be working.
The employer asks Leo if he’d like to work make-up time for his Tuesday shift on Wednesday with a different client. Leo says he is happy to work make-up time the following Wednesday.
There is no payment for Leo’s Tuesday shift as it has been cancelled more than 12 hours in advance and he was given more than 7 days’ notice for the make-up time.
Travelling between clients
Part-time and casual employees can work for more than 1 client during their minimum payment period.
The time a part-time or casual employee spends travelling between clients during the relevant minimum payment period is counted as time worked and paid.
The travel provisions of the SCHADS Award still apply. Read more about travel entitlements on our Uniforms, vehicle and travel entitlements page. Simply select ‘Social, community, disability and home care services’ in the industry filter menu.
Shift locations
Shifts don’t need to be worked in a single location or with a single client.
The minimum payment applies once per period of work for employees who work at multiple locations. Travel time within the minimum payment period is considered as time worked and paid.
Example: Home care work from 1 July 2022
John is a part-time home care worker covered by the SCHADS Award who visits 2 clients during his shift.
John works with his first client, Petros, for 1 hour. He then drives 20 minutes to his second client, Annie, and cares for her for 40 minutes.
As John has spent time travelling during the minimum payment period, he is paid for this time and for the 2 periods of work completed. This is a total of 2 hours work (1 hour plus 20 minutes plus 40 minutes), which meets the new minimum payment requirement.
Damaged clothing and laundry allowances
Employers will be required to cover reasonable costs associated with repairing or replacing an employee’s personal clothing. This applies to personal clothing that is soiled or damaged beyond repair while the employee is performing their duties, except for normal wear and tear.
A laundry allowance may also be payable for soiled clothing.
You can find more information on uniform entitlements under the SCHADS Award at Uniforms, vehicle and travel entitlements. Just pick the 'social, community, disability and home care services' filter to get information relevant to you.
Overtime for part-time and casual employees
The changes to the SCHADS Award clarify that part-time and casual employees who work hours outside the span of hours are entitled to overtime.
This overtime is paid at 150% for the first 2 hours and 200% thereafter on Monday to Saturday.
On Sundays, all overtime outside the span of hours is paid at 200%.
Check the rules for overtime under the award at When overtime applies. Choose the 'social, community, disability and home care services' option to get tailored advice.
Enterprise agreements
If an employer and employee are covered by a current registered or enterprise agreement, these new provisions generally won’t apply to them. This is because they are new provisions for employees covered by the SCHADS Award.
Check if you’re covered by an agreement using the FWC – Find an agreement database.
Remote work
New entitlements will apply from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2022 to employees who perform remote work (as defined in the SCHADS Award).
An employee who is directed or authorised by their employer to be on-call to perform work may be engaged in remote work. Employees may also perform remote work when they are not on call if needed.
Remote work is work performed by the employee that is:
- not part of their rostered ordinary hours (or for casual employees, not a 'designated shift')
- not additional hours worked by a part-time employee or overtime after a regular shift
- not required to be performed in the designated workplace.
Remote work performed between 6am and 8pm is paid at the employee’s minimum hourly rate of pay unless it attracts one of the following penalty rates:
| Hours of work | Full-time and part-time | Casual |
|---|---|---|
| Outside the span of hours (Between 8pm and 6am) | 150% for the first 2 hours and 200% thereafter | 175% for the first 2 hours and 225% thereafter |
| More than 10 hours per day | 150% for the first 2 hours and 200% thereafter | 175% for the first 2 hours and 225% thereafter |
| More than 38 hours per week or 76 hours per fortnight | the applicable overtime rate in clause 28.1 | the applicable overtime rate in clause 28.1 |
| Saturday | 150% | 175% |
| Sunday | 200% | 225% |
| Public holiday | 250% | 275% |
These penalty rates apply instead of other loadings or penalty rates like:
- weekend
- overtime
- shift
- public holidays.
The minimum payment for performing remote work is:
- 15 minutes when employee is on call between 6am and 10pm
- 30 minutes when employee is on call between 10pm and 6am
- 1 hour when employee is required to work and was not on call
- 1 hour when participating remotely in team meetings or training.
Any time worked continuously beyond the minimum payments above has to be rounded and paid up to the nearest 15 minutes.
When an employee is required to work remotely multiple times in 1 day, the minimum payment will apply on each occasion. However, only 1 minimum payment has to be paid where an employee works multiple times within a minimum payment period. For example, an employee who starts work at 11pm and who works for 2 periods of 5 minutes falling within a 30 minute period, is only entitled to 1 30 minute minimum payment.
Example: Remote work from 1 July 2022
Katie is a disability services support worker covered by the SCHADS Award.
Katie is a part-time employee who normally works Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Katie’s employer contacts her and directs her to be on call for the following day – Wednesday between 2pm and 12am. She will be entitled to the on call allowance.
On Wednesday, Katie receives a call from another disability care worker at a client’s home. She provides some assistance to that worker from a remote location for 30 minutes, between 3.30pm and 4pm. As this call is between 6am and 8pm, it is paid at Katie’s minimum hourly rate and meets the minimum payment of 15 minutes.
Later that night, Katie gets another call at 11pm about a different client. This job doesn’t take very long and Katie is able to complete it within 20 minutes. As the job was between 10pm and 6am, Katie will receive the minimum payment of 30 minutes. Because this call is outside the span of hours, it will be paid at 150% of her normal rate.
More information
Workplace information
We have new and expanded information for employers and employees on the new provisions available at:
- Part-time employees
- Hours of work
- When overtime applies
- Breaks
- Rosters
- Annual leave
- Uniforms, vehicle & travel entitlements
Just select the 'social, community, disability, and home care services' industry to get tailored information.
We also have more information available for the SCHADS Award in our Library. See our Library articles:
- 24 hour care in the Social & Community Services Award
- Casual shiftworkers in the Social & Community Services Award
You can also access a copy of the award at SCHADS Award.
Decision
You can read the FWC decision and final determination about these changes on the FWC website.
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