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SCHADS classification: getting it right

Classification under the SCHADS Award is where the most expensive compliance errors hide. This framework walks through the five questions every provider needs to answer.

Classification looks simple. It is not. SCHADS has multiple streams (Social and Community, Crisis Accommodation, Disability, Home Care), each with their own classification levels and pay points. Misclassification compounds across every pay cycle. This framework walks through the five questions every provider should answer.

Have you identified the correct stream?

Which SCHADS stream a role sits in depends on the work itself, not the employer's structure. Social and Community, Disability, Crisis Accommodation, and Home Care each have their own classification framework.

Where it goes wrong: defaulting to one stream across a workforce that genuinely covers multiple. Two roles sitting in different streams can attract different rates for similar-sounding duties.

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Are you classifying on duties, not title?

Where a role lands within a stream depends on the duties performed, the supervisory scope, the qualifications required, and the responsibility level. Job titles are descriptive, not determinative.

Where it goes wrong: classifying on what HR or the hiring manager calls the role rather than on what the role actually does. The Award reads through the title to the work.

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Have you applied the right pay point?

Which pay point applies depends on tenure, demonstrated competency, and progression rules specific to the Award. Some pay points progress automatically; others require an action.

Where it goes wrong: employees stuck at the starting pay point because no progression check has been done. Quiet underpayment that accumulates pay cycle by pay cycle.

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Have you handled higher duties correctly?

Whether higher duties payment applies depends on the trigger period set in the Award, the duties involved, and how the work is being assigned. Acting arrangements that meet the trigger attract the higher rate.

Where it goes wrong: long-term acting with no pay adjustment because it has been treated as a temporary informal arrangement. Where the trigger is met, the entitlement applies regardless of label.

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Are you reviewing classifications annually?

How often classifications should be reviewed depends on the role, the employee's tenure, and how dynamic the work is. Roles drift; classifications that were accurate at hire often are not three years later.

Where it goes wrong: classify once at hire, never revisit. The employee continues at the original level while the work has moved on, and the gap compounds.

Three things to watch for

1. The wrong stream

Each SCHADS stream has its own classification table. Reading the wrong table is the most common single classification error we see.

2. Title-based classification

Job titles are marketing. Classifications are legal. Stop relying on the first to do the work of the second.

3. The pay point trap

Pay points within a level progress on time or on application. Many employers leave employees on Pay Point 1 indefinitely and accumulate a quiet underpayment.

Classification under the SCHADS Award is where the most expensive compliance errors hide. This framework walks through the five questions every provider needs to answer.

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