Why this is the hardest rostering problem in the sector
A residential or home-care provider rarely employs one type of worker under one award. A single roster can include personal care workers under the Aged Care Award, registered and enrolled nurses under the Nurses Award, and disability or community-support staff under SCHADS — often covering the same shift, the same client, or the same site on different days.
Each award sets its own base rates, classification levels, penalty structure, and allowances. Get the classification or the award wrong on one shift and it's not just a scheduling error — it's a payroll compliance problem. Most workforce software treats "the award" as a single setting for the whole roster. That doesn't hold up once a provider is running more than one.
Where the three awards actually collide
Real scenarios, not edge cases — this is ordinary rostering for a mixed provider.
Residential aged care with clinical staff on site
- Personal care workers and lifestyle staff — Aged Care Award classifications and penalties
- RNs/ENs on the same roster for medication rounds and clinical oversight — Nurses Award rates and shift rules
- A single facility roster has to hold both correctly, shift by shift
A provider running NDIS and aged-care service lines together
- Disability support workers on NDIS-funded shifts — SCHADS Award
- Home care and personal care staff on aged-care funded shifts — Aged Care Award
- Some staff are dual-classified and pick up shifts under either, depending on the client
What each award actually covers
| Award | Typical roles | What it governs |
|---|---|---|
| Aged Care Award — MA000018 | Personal care workers, home care workers, lifestyle/leisure staff | Base rates and classification structure for direct aged-care work |
| Nurses Award — MA000034 | Registered and enrolled nurses | Base rates and classification structure for clinical nursing roles |
| SCHADS Award — MA000100 | Disability support workers, community/social services staff | Base rates, penalties, allowances, casual loading and shift-related rules for the disability and community services workforce |
RaddeCare+ currently supports base rates and applicable configured rate structures for the Aged Care and Nurses awards, and the full penalty/allowance/casual-loading rule set for SCHADS. Always confirm current classification detail against the relevant Fair Work award before running payroll.
Common questions
Can one system handle SCHADS, Aged Care and Nurses awards together?
Yes — RaddeCare+'s rate engine covers all three, so a roster mixing disability support, personal care and clinical nursing staff can be built and priced in one place instead of switching systems or maintaining separate spreadsheets per award.
What's the risk of rostering multiple awards in one generic system?
Software that treats "the award" as a single global setting forces workarounds — manual rate overrides, side calculations, or simply rostering the wrong classification. That's where compliance and cost errors creep in, usually invisibly until a payroll or funding audit surfaces them.
Does this affect shift profitability tracking too?
Yes — because the correct award and classification determine the actual worker cost of a shift, getting that right is also what makes shift-level margin tracking meaningful. See Know your profit before scheduling a shift for how RaddeCare+ surfaces that as you build the roster.
Running staff under more than one award?
RaddeCare+ keeps SCHADS, Aged Care and Nurses Award rostering in one system, with shift-level cost visibility built in.