As a NDIS provider, support coordinator, and care worker you have a lot of changes to be well versed with and to ease out your tensions, we bring you a compiled list of changes happening to SCHADS awards this year. The Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award, also known as the SCHADS Award covers how the staff are being paid and if the payment is within the industry set norms.
As the norms have changed and the NDIS industry booms over, this financial year onwards- 1st July 2022, the first payroll and later are subject to changes as per the latest SCHADS awards 2022. This basically would affect the timesheets and rostering as there have been changes to shift lengths, overtime rates, sleepovers and many more clauses.
Earlier, the NDIS participants were charged for a minimum of one hour but post-SCHADS award changes, from 1 July 2022 onwards the minimum hours have been changed to two hours. This means that NDIS registered service providers have to schedule shifts that last for 2 hours minimum. However, as a registered NDIS business, you still have 4 months of the transitional period, whereby post 1st October 2022 the shifts will be changed.
Under clause 25, the sleepover shift has been amended whereby in addition to clean linens being provided, the support workers are also entitled to a separate room, food preparation and staff facilities (where it exists). The shift will be applicable for continuous 8 hours.
If the participant (client) cancels the shift for whatever reasons, the workers, under the new rules must be reimbursed for the same. Similarly, if the client cancels a shift for either a full time or a part-time employee, a substitute shift has to be provided or the support worker must be paid for the hours assigned. This is one of the biggest changes to the NDIS pricing rules post 1st July 2022 as beforehand it was only entitled 'Short notice cancellation notice' i.e., 2-day business notice.
Overtime and on-call rates have always been a confusing aspect of the NDIS pricing scheme, however, to ease the confusion and bring more clarity to the rules and regulations, the SCHADS awards price changes state a 2% additional rate on weekdays for employees on call and 3.96% of standard rate on public holidays to compensate the NDIS registered support workers.
As a support worker and NDIS service provider, you should be aware of these changes. It is highly recommended that you learn more about these clauses via the official SCHADS pricing module s there are many more sub-clauses under each segment.
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