Wages just went up 4.77%. The NDIS price limits also increased. But the two numbers are not moving at the same rate, and that gap is where your margin lives or dies.
Every year providers wait for the Fair Work Commission decision. Every year they check the new NDIS pricing schedule. Most stop there.
The real question is not what each number is. It is what the distance between them means for every hour of support you deliver.
That is what this blog is about.
Two documents. One margin calculation.
From 1 July 2026, two documents govern your cost position:
The SCHADS Award pay guide (published 24 June 2026) sets your legal wage floor. The most common classification for disability support workers is Level 2 pay point 1. That rate is now $36.22 per hour for weekday daytime work.
The NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 sets the maximum you can charge a participant for that same hour. Standard disability support worker, weekday daytime, national rate: $73.58 per hour.
On the surface, that looks like a healthy gap. $73.58 minus $36.22 leaves $37.36.
That $37.36 is not profit. It is the pool your business has to cover superannuation, workers compensation, leave entitlements, portable long service leave levies, rostering costs, administration, insurance, travel, management, and everything else that keeps the lights on before a single dollar reaches your bottom line.
Understanding exactly how wide that pool is, across every shift type, is the work providers need to do this week.
The raw gap: NDIS price versus SCHADS wage rate by shift type
The table below uses published figures from both documents. The NDIS price is from the 2026-27 Pricing Schedule (national rate, standard disability support worker, DSW Level 1). The SCHADS wage rate is from the FWO pay guide (Social and Community Services employee, Level 2 pay point 1). For weekday evening, the SCHADS afternoon shift rate of $40.75 is used, as this is the applicable penalty rate for the evening window under the award. The raw gap is the difference between the two published rates before oncosts.
| Shift type | NDIS price limit | SCHADS wage rate | Raw gap | % of price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday daytime | $73.58 | $36.22 | $37.36 | 50.8% |
| Weekday evening | $81.07 | $40.75 | $40.32 | 49.7% |
| Saturday | $103.54 | $54.33 | $49.21 | 47.5% |
| Sunday | $133.50 | $72.44 | $61.06 | 45.7% |
| Public holiday | $163.46 | $90.55 | $72.91 | 44.6% |
Important: the raw gap is not your margin. Your actual cost per hour delivered includes superannuation (currently 12% of the wage), workers compensation insurance, leave loading, portable long service leave levies where applicable, and your non-billable operational costs. Depending on your business model, your real cost per hour is typically 25 to 35% higher than the wage rate alone. That narrows the gap significantly.
What this table is telling you
Three things stand out.
First, the gap narrows as the shift type gets more expensive. Weekday daytime gives you $37.36 before oncosts. Sunday gives you $61.06. That sounds better. But Sunday also carries the highest wage cost, which means your oncosts are proportionally higher too. The percentage of the NDIS price left after paying the wage falls from 50.8% on a weekday to 44.6% on a public holiday.
Second, both sides of the equation increased this year. The NDIS pricing schedule went up. SCHADS wages went up. The net movement depends on which grew faster. The SCHADS increase was 4.77%. The NDIA has published the new pricing schedule and the rates for disability support workers have moved. Check the 2026-27 Pricing Schedule against your prior year rates to confirm the exact movement for your specific line items. For providers billing at or near the price limit, the key question is whether your pricing keeps pace with your wage increase. The providers who feel it most are those billing below the price limit or carrying misclassified workers.
Third, the gap tells you nothing about profit until you know your cost per hour delivered. A 50.8% raw gap on a weekday daytime shift sounds comfortable. Add 12% super, 1.5 to 2% workers comp, leave loading, portable long service leave, and 15 to 20% for overheads, and your actual margin on that shift can be thin or negative depending on how your business is structured.
Five things to do in your business this week
Step 1: Pull your roster split by shift type.
How many hours last week were weekday daytime versus evening, Saturday, Sunday, and public holiday? Most providers know their total hours. Few know the breakdown. That breakdown determines your average cost per hour across the week, which is a completely different number to the weekday rate.
Step 2: Calculate your actual cost per hour delivered, not just your wage rate.
Take your Level 2 pay point 1 wage rate for each shift type. Add 12% for superannuation. Add your workers compensation rate (check your current premium, typically 1 to 2%). Add leave loading if applicable. Add portable long service leave levy if you operate in a state where this applies. That gives you your employment cost per billed hour. Then add your non-billable overhead costs across your total hours delivered. That is your true cost per hour.
Step 3: Check what you are actually billing against the price limit.
The NDIS pricing schedule sets a maximum. Some providers are billing below it, either because their service agreements were set at old rates or because they have not updated their schedules of supports since the last pricing change. If you are billing below $73.58 per hour for weekday daytime standard support, close that gap now. You are leaving compliant revenue on the table.
Step 4: Verify your worker classifications.
Misclassification is one of the most common sources of financial risk in this sector. A worker doing the work of a Level 3 employee but paid at Level 2 is an underpayment liability. A worker correctly classified at Level 3 but still being billed to participants at the Level 1 price is a margin problem. Check both directions this week.
Step 5: Update your payroll system before the effective date.
The new SCHADS rates apply from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. If your pay cycle starts on a Monday, that is 6 July 2026. Confirm with your payroll provider that the correct rates have been loaded against each classification and will apply from the right date. Do not assume it has been done. Check.
The number that matters most
The NDIS price limit is a ceiling. Your wage rate is a floor. Everything between them is where your business operates.
Both moved this year. The question is whether the space between them is still wide enough to run a sustainable business, given your actual overhead structure.
Most providers do not know the answer to that question with precision. They know it approximately, or they feel it in the cash flow, or they discover it at tax time.
The providers who are building stable, profitable businesses know their cost per hour delivered by shift type. They review it when the pricing schedule changes. They review it when the award increases. They do not wait for the numbers to find them.
That review is this week’s work.