# 1 October 2026 Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/training-and-updates/changelog/october-2026/1-october-2026 > Astalty updates released on 1 October 2026: Broken Shift Allowance No Longer Paid on the Social, Community & Crisis Accommodation Stream; Pay Award Minimum... ## Broken Shift Allowance No Longer Paid on the Social, Community & Crisis Accommodation Stream The SCHADS Award's broken shift rules cover only disability services work and home care employees. Workers whose contract is on the Social, Community & Crisis Accommodation overtime stream no longer receive the Broken Shift Allowance or double time beyond a 12-hour span, keep the night loading on early-morning work, and raise no broken shift alerts. Part-time and casual workers on that stream have a 3-hour minimum engagement for each shift; with **Pay Award Minimum Engagement** turned on, a short shift is topped up to 3 hours on its own rather than the break between shifts being paid as time worked. Home care employees belong on the **Disability services & home care** stream, which is unchanged. For more information, visit the [SCHADS Interpretations in Astalty](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/scheduling-faq/schads-interpretations-in-astalty#schads-overtime-stream) guide. ## Pay Award Minimum Engagement The guide now explains the scheduling setting that pays an engagement shorter than the award's minimum engagement up to that minimum. It is off by default, so pay covers the approved hours only, and it is not available with Employment Hero, PayCat or QuickBooks Payroll. The SCHADS, Aged Care, Nurses and Health Professionals award pages say what it does under each award. See [Pay Award Minimum Engagement](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/scheduling-award-alerts#pay-award-minimum-engagement). ## SCHADS Home Care Classifications Home care workers under the SCHADS Award can now be given one of three specific classifications - social and community services, home care disability, or home care aged care - each with its own pay levels. Choosing a home care classification locks the worker's overtime stream to **Disability services & home care**. ![The SCHADS Classification list filtered to the six home care aged care levels, each with its hourly rate](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/schads-contract-home-care-classifications.png) For more information, visit the [SCHADS Interpretations in Astalty](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/scheduling-faq/schads-interpretations-in-astalty#home-care-classifications) guide. ## SCHADS, Nurses and Health Professionals Overtime No Longer Resets at Midnight For pay periods starting on or after 1 June 2026, a continuous shift that crosses midnight is now paid as one shift rather than two separate days, and its first overtime band carries across midnight instead of restarting. Back-to-back shifts, shifts joined by a short recorded meal break, and - for full-time Aged Care workers - adjoining doubles are now paid as one continuous shift instead of being split and reviewed manually. For more information, visit the [SCHADS Interpretations in Astalty](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/scheduling-faq/schads-interpretations-in-astalty#ordinary-hours-and-overtime) guide. ## Sleepover Overtime: Sunday Hours Now Count Toward the Shared First Band During a sleepover, active work on a Sunday night now counts toward the shared first overtime band along with the rest of the night - the count no longer resets at midnight, under every version of the SCHADS rules. For example, with a 2-hour first band, active work from Sunday 10pm to Monday 2am is paid as 2 hours of Sunday overtime followed by 2 hours at double time. For more information, visit the [Creating a Sleepover or Active Overnight Support](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/adding-shifts/creating-a-sleepover-or-active-overnight-support#charging-vs-paying-key-difference) guide. ## Duration Alerts Now Measure the Whole Continuous Shift Roster duration alerts for Nurses, Health Professionals and full-time Aged Care shifts now look at the full continuous shift - including back-to-back shifts, travel that runs straight on, and work either side of a short meal break - instead of only the single shift being scheduled. The alert shows the combined length, so you're warned before pay treats a shift as longer than the roster suggested. For more information, visit the [Scheduling Award Alerts](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/scheduling-award-alerts#overtime-alerts) guide. ## 24-Hour Care Shifts for SCHADS Home Care Workers Providers with a SCHADS home care worker can now mark a 24-hour, one-to-one support as a **24-hour care shift**, paid as 8 hours at 155% (180% for casuals) per 24-hour period instead of the usual hourly breakdown. It can't be combined with a sleepover. ![A support running 9:00 to 9:00 the next day, with 24-hour care shift ticked and the sleepover option unticked](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/schads-24-hour-care-shift-support-form.png) For more information, visit the [SCHADS Interpretations in Astalty](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/scheduling-faq/schads-interpretations-in-astalty#24-hour-care) guide. ## Cleaner in a Private Medical Practice Health Professionals Award employment details now include a **Cleaner in a Private Medical Practice** switch. Turn it on for a casual cleaner in a private medical practice to drop their minimum engagement from 3 hours to 2 hours. Leave it off for cleaners in dental and physiotherapy practices, whose minimum stays at 3 hours. It's off by default on every contract. For more information, visit the [Staff Contracted Hours](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/setup/workers/staff-contracted-hours#cleaner-in-a-private-medical-practice) guide. ## Two-Factor Authentication in the Astalty App The guide now explains why the app stays signed in and only asks for a code when you sign in, how to sign in with a recovery code, how to keep a Support Worker's phone safe (including what to do if it is lost), and that enforcing 2FA applies to the app too. See [Setting up 2FA on the Mobile App](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/settings/security/setting-up-2fa-on-mobile-app). ## Registers and Action Items Astalty now offers Registers and Action Items, available in beta on request. Registers turn a form into a tracked, numbered list - such as a conflicts-of-interest or restrictive-practices register - with an owner, status and review schedule. Action Items let your team record follow-up tasks from incidents, feedback, referrals and register entries, and track each one to completion. Contact Astalty Support to have either feature enabled on your account. ![The Registers page, with tag tabs above the list and the star for favouriting a register](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/registers-catalogue.png) ![The Action Items page listing actions with the record they came from, assignee, due date and status](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/action-items-page.png) For more information, visit the [Registers](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/registers) and [Action Items](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/action-items) guides. ## Clock In/Out Radius Astalty can now stop a Support Worker from clocking in or out of a shift unless their device shows them within a set distance of the support's location. It's an optional beta feature your organisation can have enabled, and sits alongside the existing **Require Location Data** setting. ![The Clock In/Out section of the Scheduling Settings drawer with Require Location Data ticked, Early Clock In Limit set to 12, and a Radius (km) field set to 0.5 under Clock In/Out Radius](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/scheduling-settings-clock-in-out-radius.png) For more information, visit the [Scheduling Settings](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/setup/scheduling-settings#clock-inout-radius) guide. ## Keeping Status Colours After an Event Ends A finished event used to always show the grey "past" colour. You can now tick **Keep status colours after an event ends** so an event keeps its status colour - for example, a worker's response colour - after the shift has ended. It's a single organisation-wide setting that applies across the schedule, site schedules, Participant calendars and worker apps. ![The Statuses section of Schedule Colours with Keep status colours after an event ends ticked. The numbered status list now starts with Cancelled and ends with Past at number 7.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/schedule-colours-keep-status-after-end.png) For more information, visit the [Schedule Colours](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/schedule-colours#keep-status-colours-after-an-event-ends) guide. ## Exporting the Award Pay Report and Award Interpretation as a CSV The Award Pay Report and an Award Interpretation batch can now be exported as CSV files. The Award Pay Report export includes employees hidden by the table's search or employment basis filter, but still applies the State and Region selections. The Award Interpretation batch export includes employees hidden by the table's search. Each file is prepared in the background and appears shortly afterwards on the Exports page to download. ![The Award Pay Report with an arrow pointing to the Export CSV button beside Expand All, above the employee table with the pay period set to 28 Sep 2026 - 4 Oct 2026.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/schads-pay-report-export-csv.png) For more information, visit the [Award Pay Report](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/reports/schads-pay-report#exporting-to-csv) guide. ## Commenting on Form Submissions You can now leave internal comments on a form submission, visible only to your team - useful for noting a follow-up call or flagging something for a colleague. Comments support rich text, show the three most recent with an option to see earlier ones, and can be edited or deleted by whoever wrote them. ![The Comments section on a form submission, with the Add Comment button highlighted and one existing comment shown below.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/form-submission-comments-add-comment.png) For more information, visit the [Commenting on Form Submissions](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/forms/manage-forms/commenting-on-form-submissions) guide. ## Removing a Participant or User Association from a Form Submission If a form submission was linked to the wrong Participant or staff member, you can now remove that link without deleting the submission itself - its answers and attached files stay intact. ![The Associations panel's row action menu open on a user association, with Remove Association highlighted below View User.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/forms-submission-remove-association-menu.png) For more information, visit the [Form Submissions](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/forms/manage-forms/submissions#removing-a-participant-or-user-association) guide. ## Choosing How Far an Edit to a Recurring Direct Charge Applies Editing a direct charge that's part of a recurring series, before it's invoiced, now asks whether the change should apply to just that charge or to it and eligible future charges in the series. For certain repeat patterns, you can instead apply it to eligible future charges on the same weekday only. Later charges already invoiced, in an invoice batch, paid, or marked Edited keep their current details regardless. ![The Edit Recurring Charge dialog open over a Charge Details form for a 29/09/2026 charge with Charge Item CA\_WK\_DAY, Quantity 3.5 and Claim type Direct Service. The dialog reads "This charge is part of a recurring series." above "Which charges should this change apply to?" and three radio options, outlined and marked by an orange arrow — This charge only, This and following charges, and This and following Tuesdays, which is selected. Below reads "Later charges that are invoiced, in an invoice batch, paid or marked Edited keep their current details.", with Cancel and Confirm buttons along the bottom.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/direct-charges-edit-recurring-charge-scope.png) For more information, visit the [Direct Charges](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/finance/direct-charges#editing-a-recurring-direct-charge) guide. ## Simplified Sessions Card The Security page's Active Sessions list, which never showed anything, has been replaced with a simpler Sessions card. Click **Logout** there to sign out of Astalty everywhere else - every other browser, the mobile app, and the Outlook add-in - while staying signed in on your current device. ![The Two-Factor Authentication card and, below it, the Sessions card with the Logout all other sessions option and a Logout button, which signs out every other browser and device, including the mobile app and Outlook add-in.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/sessions-card.png) For more information, visit the [Passwords and Sessions](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/users/passwords-and-sessions#signing-out-your-other-sessions) guide. ## Changing Your Password Now Signs the App Out Too Changing your password, resetting it, or choosing **Logout all other sessions** now also signs you out of the Astalty app on every phone and the Outlook add-in, not just other browsers. A signed-out phone stops receiving notifications, including shift and clock-in reminders, until you sign back in. For more information, visit the [Passwords and Sessions](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/users/passwords-and-sessions#what-happens-to-your-other-sessions) guide. ## Emergency Contacts & Next of Kin Every staff profile, except an Auditor's, now has an **Emergency Contacts & Next of Kin** card. You can record one Emergency Contact and multiple Next of Kin, with name, relationship and phone number required and email optional. Support Workers manage their own contacts from **My Profile** in the Astalty app. ![A user's profile page, with an orange arrow pointing to the outlined Emergency Contacts & Next of Kin card and an Add Contact button in the top right. The card's table has Role, Name, Phone and Email columns, listing an Emergency Contact row for Priya Brown (Sister) with an email address and no phone, and a Next of Kin row for Tom Lee (Partner) with a phone number and no email.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/updating-users-emergency-contacts-card.png) ![The Add Contact drawer with Next of Kin selected as the Role, Name "Maya Patel" and Relationship "Friend" filled in. An orange box and arrow highlight the empty Phone field and its red validation message, "Enter a phone number or an email address", beside an empty Email field.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/updating-users-add-contact-drawer.png) For more information, visit the [Updating Users](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/users/updating-users#emergency-contacts-and-next-of-kin) guide. ## Optional Records on Uploading User Records In the Astalty app, the "Your Records" list now shows every optional document type you're able to upload, not just the required ones. Optional items appear with a grey "Optional" tag until you add one, and never count toward items needing your attention. For more information, visit the [Uploading User Records](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-worker-app/uploading-user-records) guide.