SCHADS Interpretations in Astalty

Overview

Astalty’s SCHADS interpreter is designed for NDIS support workers employed as shift-workers under the SCHADS Award (MA000100). It processes approved shifts and translates worked hours into the correct SCHADS pay-rate categories and allowance lines for payroll. It does not replace the need for compliant rostering and HR practices.

What the interpreter does

• Classifies hours into weekday daytime, afternoon, night, Saturday, Sunday and public holiday categories using the time-of-day and day-of-week definitions in the Award.
• Enforces SCHADS ordinary-hours caps for shift-workers (10 hours per day, 38 hours per week or 76 per fortnight), converting excess hours to overtime and allocating overtime according to the Award’s Mon–Sat first-band and second-band structure (the first band is the first 2 hours, or 3 hours for full-time Social, Community & Crisis Accommodation employees), Sunday overtime and public-holiday overtime rules.
• Detects broken shifts, applies broken-shift allowances for days with one or two unpaid breaks and applies double time for work performed beyond a 12-hour span on a broken-shift day, including the special rule that early-morning legs on broken-shift days do not attract night penalties.
• Processes sleepover shifts by paying a sleepover allowance per sleepover and excluding the passive sleepover span from ordinary hours, while still paying normal ordinary/overtime rates for active work performed during the sleepover.
• Automates key allowances relevant to NDIS support work: first aid allowance for qualified first aid officers, kilometre allowances, broken-shift allowances and sleepover allowances. It can also add an overtime meal allowance when a worker does enough overtime on a shift — this one is off by default. You can also choose to exclude cancelled shifts and/or provider travel from the first aid allowance — see First Aid Allowance in Scheduling Settings.
• Provides detail of which Award rules were applied to each employee’s shifts when they are timesheet batched (e.g. when daily/period caps were reached, when broken-shift or sleepover allowances were applied, which overtime band was used).
• Monitors shifts as they are created or assigned and alerts users when SCHADS Award scheduling rules may be impacted. It highlights potential compliance risks before a shift is confirmed and applies warnings or restrictions based on your configured Award Alert settings. For more detail, refer to the Scheduling Award Alerts guide.

What the interpreter does not currently do

• It creates an overtime meal allowance only when you turn that setting on — it is off by default. It does not create recall-to-work meal allowances, telephone or heat allowances, or other minor allowances not explicitly listed above.
• It does not manage annual leave entitlements or leave loading, or classification/level decisions

Overtime streams: 2-hour vs 3-hour first band

Under the SCHADS Award the first overtime band on Monday to Saturday is normally the first 2 hours (paid at the first overtime rate), with the rest at the higher rate. For some employees this first band is 3 hours.

Astalty determines this from each employee's SCHADS Overtime Stream, set on their employment details:

• Disability services — the first overtime band is 2 hours for all employees.
• Social, community & crisis accommodation — the first overtime band is 3 hours for full-time employees. Part-time and casual employees stay at 2 hours.

New contracts default to Disability services. To review or change it, open the worker's HR tab and edit their contract — see Staff Contracted Hours.

SCHADS Award changes from 1 June 2026

The interpreter automatically applies the SCHADS Award variation that took effect on 1 June 2026. Astalty selects the correct rules based on the pay period's dates, so no setting needs to change — periods that start on or after 1 June 2026 are interpreted under the updated rules, and earlier periods continue to use the previous rules.

From 1 June 2026 the interpreter changes how sleepovers interact with the work around them:

• A sleepover no longer counts as a rest break. Time spent on a sleepover is excluded when measuring the break between the shifts on either side of it (clause 25.4), so a sleepover sitting between two shifts can no longer satisfy the minimum-break requirement on its own.
• Work on either side of a sleepover is treated as one continuous shift. The work performed before and after a sleepover is combined when calculating hours and overtime (clause 25.4), rather than being measured as two separate shifts.
• Extended ordinary hours by agreement. Where the worker has agreed, the combined sleepover shift can have an ordinary-hours cap of up to 12 hours (instead of the standard 10), with hours beyond the cap paid as overtime.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about how Astalty interprets the SCHADS Award for payroll.

Why didn't overtime apply when a worker did a long or overnight shift?

Astalty converts hours above the SCHADS ordinary-hours caps into overtime — 10 hours of ordinary time per day/shift, and 38 hours per week (or 76 per fortnight) across the pay period. Overtime only starts once a worker passes one of those caps (or, for a full-time worker, goes beyond their rostered ordinary hours).

Work that continues across midnight is treated as one continuous shift, not two separate days. So a 3pm–11pm shift that continues 11pm–7am is a single 16-hour shift — 10 hours ordinary and 6 hours overtime — not two short days that each stay under the cap. If a result looks wrong, check the interpretation trace or reproduce it in the Playground.

Does the break between shifts affect overtime?

No. The break between shifts and overtime are separate. Overtime comes only from the hours worked (the caps above). The minimum break between shifts is a rostering rule — if a worker is rostered with too little rest, Astalty raises a Minimum Break alert so you can adjust the roster, but it does not change pay or create overtime. See the next question for detail.

We rostered less than a 10-hour break between shifts — does Astalty pay a penalty?

No. Under the Award the rest break between two ordinary shifts (clause 25.4) is an entitlement: the minimum is 10 hours, reducible to 8 hours by agreement where a shift directly precedes or follows a sleepover. The Award attaches no pay penalty to a short break, so Astalty flags it as a rostering issue to fix rather than adding anything to pay.

Record a worker's agreed 8-hour sleepover-adjacent break in the Minimum Break Near a Sleepover field — see Staff Contracted Hours. Choosing 8 hours - By agreement stops a compliant 8-hour break next to a sleepover raising a false alert; a break between ordinary shifts always requires the full 10 hours.

We rostered two back-to-back shifts (a "double") — why is there an Overtime alert but no Minimum Break alert?

Because there is no break between them to measure. Shifts rostered back-to-back — for example 3pm–11pm and then 11pm–7am — are one continuous 16-hour shift, exactly as if it had been rostered as a single shift: 10 hours ordinary and 6 hours overtime (see the first question in this FAQ). When you assign either half, the Overtime alert is the flag for the double — a worker can still appear as a preferred suggestion (that reflects the participant's preferences, not compliance), so check the alert column when assigning. The 10-hour minimum break then applies after the combined shift ends, before the worker's next shift.

Does a sleepover count as the rest break between shifts?

Not since the 1 June 2026 changes. A sleepover is no longer treated as rest, so the break is measured from when the sleepover ends. For example, a sleepover finishing at 6am with the next shift starting at 3pm is a 9-hour break, not a full overnight rest. See SCHADS Award changes from 1 June 2026.

Why did a broken-shift allowance apply when there was only a small gap between clients?

This is the most common surprise. A broken shift is any day where a worker has two or three separate work periods split by an unpaid gap — and by default that holds even when the gap is short. So a worker who does one support, has an unpaid gap, then does another support on the same day is on a broken shift, and Astalty adds the allowance automatically.

If you don't want short gaps between back-to-back supports to count as broken shifts, a provider-level Broken Shift Minimum Gap setting is available under Settings > Scheduling: gaps of up to the number of minutes you set are treated as continuous work, and only a longer gap forms a broken shift.

What counts as a broken shift, and what does Astalty pay?

A broken shift is 2 work periods with 1 unpaid break, or — by agreement — 3 work periods with 2 unpaid breaks. Astalty detects these and adds the broken-shift allowance automatically (a higher allowance for two breaks than for one). The span of a broken shift is meant to be 12 hours, and Astalty pays any work beyond a 12-hour span at double time. Under the Award, broken shifts apply to disability services and home care work.

When does Astalty add an overtime meal allowance, and how do I turn it on?

Only when you switch it on. Astalty can automatically add a SCHADS overtime meal allowance (clause 20.5) to a worker's timesheet when they work more than one hour of overtime on a shift, plus a second allowance once that overtime passes four hours. It is off by default — turn it on under Settings → Scheduling → Meal Allowance if you pay this allowance, or leave it off if you provide meals to workers on site. Full detail, including the Xero pay item mapping, is in Meal Allowance.

How do I enter a sleepover in Astalty?

A sleepover is entered as three supports, not one: the active work before, the sleepover itself (marked inactive), and the active work after. This keeps the right rates and allowance on each part, and Astalty will not combine them into a single overnight block — each part has its own clock in/out and notes. See Creating a Sleepover or Active Overnight Support.

What changed for sleepovers on 1 June 2026?

Three things, applied automatically to pay periods starting on or after 1 June 2026: a sleepover no longer counts as a rest break; work before and after a sleepover is treated as one continuous shift; and, by agreement, that combined shift can have an ordinary-hours cap of up to 12 hours. Full detail is in SCHADS Award changes from 1 June 2026.

What is a worker paid if they're woken to work during a sleepover?

The sleepover allowance covers the passive sleepover. Active work performed when the worker is woken is paid separately at the overtime rate, with a minimum of 1 hour. The Award also requires at least 4 hours of active work to be rostered or paid on at least one side of the sleepover.

Does Astalty automatically update when the SCHADS Award changes?

The interpretation logic updates automatically — Astalty applies the correct rules based on each pay period's dates, so changes like the 1 June 2026 sleepover rules are handled for you with nothing to switch on. The dollar pay rates, however, live in your payroll system (e.g. Xero) and are updated there — Astalty does not change your pay rates.

Who updates pay rates after the Annual Wage Review?

You do, in your payroll system. Astalty indexes the allowances it calculates (such as broken shift, sleepover and laundry) to the financial year automatically, but the base pay rates on your Xero pay items are maintained by you. We keep SCHADS pay-item setup checklists current with the Fair Work pay guide to help — always cross-reference the Award for your organisation.

Can Astalty tell me if my roster is SCHADS-compliant, or give payroll advice?

Astalty gives you the tools to interpret and check rosters — the interpreter, the per-shift interpretation trace, the award alerts and the Playground — but it cannot give payroll advice or confirm compliance for your organisation. How the Award applies to your situation is your decision; refer to the Award or seek qualified advice.

How can I see why a shift was paid a certain way?

When shifts are timesheet-batched, Astalty records the Award rules it applied to each worker's shifts — for example when a daily or period cap was reached, which overtime band was used, and when a broken-shift or sleepover allowance was added. You can also reproduce any scenario in the SCHADS Interpretation Playground before running real timesheets.

Conclusion

The interpreter provides a robust and transparent implementation of the core SCHADS monetary rules around ordinary hours, overtime, shiftwork loadings and key allowances. However, several Award provisions remain outside the engine and must be managed via correct rostering or manual controls.

SCHADS Interpretation Playground

Providers can now experiment with different shift scenarios using the SCHADS Interpretation Playground before processing real timesheets. The tool lets providers test how shift hours, sleepovers, active overnight periods, and cross-midnight shifts are interpreted under the SCHADS award engine.

The playground includes template scenarios so providers can test more quickly, including standard weekday shifts, weekday night shifts, Saturday and Sunday shifts, broken shifts, sleepovers, active overnight sleepovers, cross-midnight weekday shifts, and travel between shifts. The playground also supports travel records with kilometre distances, so travel-related scenarios can be verified before running real timesheets. It shows the resulting SCHADS interpretation, including pay lines and allowances.

To access the playground, head to Scheduling in the main menu, and select Award Playground from the sub menu. The playground interprets under the award on the selected worker's contract — for a SCHADS worker it applies the SCHADS rules described on this page.

Pre-load an existing schedule

Instead of entering every shift by hand, you can pull a support worker's or participant's existing shifts into the playground for a chosen period, then layer additional work on top to model the combined cost.

In the Work Records toolbar, select Load Schedule to open the drawer.

In the drawer:

• Choose to load By support worker or By participant, then pick the worker or participant.
• Set the Period Start and Period End. The presets make it quick to select a 1, 2, or 4 week window.
• Choose how to bring the shifts in:
  • Start fresh — replaces everything currently in the playground with the loaded shifts and resets the period to the window you selected.
  • Append — layers the loaded shifts on top of the work records already in the playground, widening the period if needed so nothing falls outside it.

Only published shifts are loaded. If there are no published shifts for the selection, you'll see a No shifts found message and nothing is added.

Loaded shifts are marked with a Loaded tag so you can tell them apart from records you add manually. From there, add extra work records as normal and run the interpretation to see the combined cost.

When to Keep or Remove the Sleepover Setting

When experimenting with different scenarios, there are two key setups to understand:

1. Sleepover with Disturbances

Use this setup when testing a scenario where a shift is intended to be a sleepover, but includes periods of unexpected active support.

• Keep the sleepover setting selected
• Add any active overnight periods in full
• The playground will show:
  • The sleepover allowance, and
  • Additional pay lines for active overnight hours

This helps demonstrate how even short or extended disturbances are interpreted within a sleepover context.

2. Scheduled Active Overnight Support

Use this setup when testing a scenario where support is planned to be active for the entire overnight period.

• Deselect the sleepover setting
• Enter the shift as a standard overnight scenario
• The playground will show:
  • Regular hourly pay lines, including any applicable penalties
  • No sleepover allowance

Other Common Questions

Setting Up Pay Items and Multipliers

Whilst we cannot provide payroll advice based on your interpretation and application of the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010, these are the Pay Items and their suggested multipliers when setting up your Xero pay items. For the Xero Integration to work correctly, each Pay Item (incl. allowances) listed below in the table will need to be setup within Xero.

You should refer to the the SCHADS Award, or seek professional and qualified advice to ensure accuracy and compliance for your organisation.

Laundry Allowance

Laundry allowance is supported as a SCHADS award entitlement under Clause 20.2. When laundry allowance is enabled on an employee's contract, the system automatically calculates the per-shift amount, applies the weekly cap, and includes it in payroll outputs. Both the per-shift rate and the weekly cap are indexed to the financial year of the pay period and update automatically with each Annual Wage Review.

For providers using the Xero integration, the laundry allowance pay item mapping is optional — and only needs to be set up for employees who are entitled to receive the allowance.

Meal Allowance

Astalty can automatically add a SCHADS overtime meal allowance (Clause 20.5) to a worker's timesheet when they work a long enough shift. The same setting also drives the Nurses Award meal allowance for workers on that award.

How the allowance is calculated:

• Astalty looks at each worker's overtime per shift (the hours beyond their ordinary-hours cap for that day).
• One meal allowance is added once that overtime is more than one hour.
• A second meal allowance is added once that overtime goes beyond four hours.
• The allowance flows through to the Xero timesheet export like Astalty's other SCHADS allowances.

To turn automatic meal allowances on:

1. Go to Settings → Scheduling.
2. In the Payroll & Awards section, find Meal Allowance under Allowances.
3. Choose Create automatically for overtime to switch it on (choose Don't create meal allowances to keep it off).
4. Save your scheduling settings.

For providers using the Xero integration, the meal allowance pay item mapping is optional — you only need to map a Meal Allowance (overtime meal allowance) pay item if you have turned the automatic allowance on. See Setup Pay Items and Employee Templates in Xero.