Most NDIS underpayments hide in a handful of SCHADS rules and a levy many providers don’t know they owe. True Tally Bookkeeping walks through what to check, line by line.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is actively looking for payroll mistakes this year with significant underpayments reported.
With that in mind, this is what those mistakes actually look like inside an NDIS provider’s pay run, and how to catch them before anyone else does.
Disability support is one of the hardest sectors in Australia to pay correctly. Workers move between clients, shifts are split across the day, sleepovers and cancellations have their own rules, and there’s a portable long service scheme sitting on top that many small providers don’t realise applies to them. Most of the errors I find aren’t deliberate. They come from rostering software doing exactly what it was set up to do, when the set-up didn’t match the award.
Here’s where to look.
Part 1: The SCHADS Award traps
Most NDIS support workers are covered by the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award (the SCHADS Award). These are the rules I see go wrong most often.
1. The wrong classification or stream. The SCHADS Award has different streams and levels, and minimum engagement rules and pay rates depend on which one applies. A worker classified in the wrong stream or stuck at the level they started on can be underpaid from day one. Check each person’s classification against what they actually do, not what their job ad said.
2. Short shifts paid as worked. Part-time and casual workers are entitled to a minimum payment for each period of work. In a broken shift, each part generally attracts its own minimum. If a support worker does a 45-minute visit and is paid for 45 minutes, that may be an underpayment. Check the current minimum engagement for your workers’ stream in the award.
3. Travel time between clients. Time spent travelling from one client to the next during a shift is generally work time and must be paid. It’s separate from the per-kilometre vehicle allowance for using their own car. Many rostering systems record visits but not the gaps between them, so the travel simply disappears from the pay run.
4. Broken shifts without the allowance. A broken shift (one with unpaid breaks between periods of work) attracts a broken shift allowance, and there are limits on the total span of the shift. Spans beyond the limit attract higher rates. If your software shows broken shifts as two ordinary shifts, the allowance and any span penalties are probably missing.
5. Sleepovers coded as ordinary hours. Sleepovers have their own allowance and rules about when work during the sleepover becomes paid time. Coding them as ordinary hours, or not at all, is a common and costly error.
6. Client cancellations. When a client cancels at short notice, the award sets out when the worker must still be paid. If cancelled shifts simply drop out of your timesheets, check them against the award’s cancellation rules.
7. The 1 July increase applied late. Award rates and allowances usually change from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July. If the new rates went live a pay run or two late, every affected worker is owed the difference. Check your pay rate tables, and the allowance amounts, not just the base rates.
Portable long service leave, the levy many providers miss
In several states, community services workers, including disability support workers, have portable long service leave. Service follows the worker across employers in the sector, and the employer pays a quarterly levy based on ordinary wages instead of carrying the liability on its own books.
The details vary by state. As a guide:
Victoria: The Portable Long Service Authority scheme covers community services work, including NDIS-funded disability support. Employers must register, report each worker’s ordinary pay every quarter and pay the levy (currently around 1.65% of ordinary pay). The return for July to September is due at the end of October.
New South Wales: A community services scheme started on 1 July 2025. The levy was temporarily reduced to 1.3% for its first year and returned to 1.7% from 1 July 2026.
Queensland: QLeave runs a community services scheme for employers in the sector.
ACT: ACT Leave runs a community sector scheme, with a levy of 1.85% of gross ordinary wages.
South Australia: A community sector scheme applies, with a levy of 2.2% from 1 October 2025.
Levy rates change, so always confirm the current rate with your state’s authority.
The mistakes I see most often:
Not registering at all. Small, newer providers often don’t know the scheme applies to them, especially for-profit providers who assume it’s only for charities. If you employ even one person doing community services work, check your obligations.
Reporting the wrong wages. Levies are generally based on ordinary pay, not total gross pay. Including or excluding the wrong pay items (overtime, allowances, penalties) means the levy and the worker’s recorded service are both wrong.
Missing workers. Every eligible worker needs to be registered and reported, including casuals and part-timers. If a worker isn’t reported, their service isn’t recorded, and that becomes a problem years later when they go to claim.
Treating it like a once-a-year job. Quarterly returns that are lodged late or estimated create catch-up work and can attract penalties.
Forgetting it in pricing. The levy is a real labour cost. If it isn’t in your cost per support hour, it’s coming out of your margin.
Getting pay out on time, and in line
Paying the right amount is only half the job. Paying it on time is now just as important, particularly since Payday Super started on 1 July 2026.
A simple pay run calendar keeps everything in line:
Before every pay run: approve timesheets against the roster, check for missing travel, broken shifts, sleepovers and cancellations, and confirm any new starters are set up on the right classification.
On payday: pay wages according to your award’s pay frequency, report through Single Touch Payroll on or before payday, and issue payslips within one working day.
Within seven business days of payday: make sure superannuation has reached each worker’s fund. Under Payday Super, super is no longer a quarterly job, and late contributions can attract the super guarantee charge.
Each quarter: lodge your portable long service return and pay the levy, and pay the PAYG withholding through your BAS.
Each 1 July: update award rates, allowances and the super guarantee rate before the first pay run of the new year.
Once a year: run a full payroll review of every worker’s classification, a sample of timesheets against pay slips, and your PLSL reporting.
The cash flow side matters too. Weekly or fortnightly wages, super within days and quarterly levies all leave your account before NDIS claims are paid, so plan at least one full pay cycle of wages, super and levies into your cash buffer.
The bottom line
NDIS payroll goes wrong in predictable places: classification, short shifts, travel, broken shifts, sleepovers, cancellations, late rate increases and portable long service. Check those, build a pay run calendar around Payday Super, and you’ll catch most problems while they’re still small, cheap and quiet.
This article is general information only. Check the SCHADS Award (MA000100) on the Fair Work Commission website and your state’s portable long service authority for current rules and rates.