# R3 — NDIS Pricing & Labour Cost Research Prepared: 2026-08-20 | Class: STANDARD | REQ-SYS-05, REQ-SYS-01, REQ-CON-01 ## METHOD NOTE — READ THIS FIRST - Primary sources attempted: ndis.gov.au (NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27) and fairwork.gov.au / fwc.gov.au (SCHADS award MA000100, Annual Wage Review 2026). - `ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment=` (NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 PDF) fetched successfully via WebFetch. - Multiple `fairwork.gov.au` pages returned `ROBOTS_DISALLOWED` / robots.txt timeout errors when fetched directly (the crawler is blocked from those paths). Where this happened, figures were cross-corroborated across **two independent secondary calculators** (RosterElf, CrossVault) that both cite "FWO Pay Guide MA000100" as their source and both independently produced the *same* dollar figures — this materially raises confidence but these are NOT first-party fetches, so wage-table rows are marked "Medium" not "High" confidence. - The 4.75% Annual Wage Review 2026 increase (which underpins the SCHADS wage table) WAS confirmed from a first-party document: `fwc.gov.au/documents/resources/annual-wage-review-2026-decision-announcement.pdf`. - IMPORTANT CAVEAT: WebFetch summarises large PDFs using a smaller/faster model. There is a residual risk of extraction error on any single figure, particularly the NDIS item-level table (a 65+ page PDF). Where a figure could not be cross-checked against a second independent source, this is flagged explicitly in the Confidence column. - All NDIS "Pricing Schedule 2026-27" prices below are labelled **National** rates by the source document itself — the fetched extract stated Victoria is not price-differentiated from the national rate in the 2026-27 schedule (this is a change from earlier price guides which had separate remote/very-remote loadings but a single national/standard rate for non-remote areas including VIC). This is flagged as UNVERIFIED-DIRECT — see Unverified section. --- ## A. PRICE TABLE — NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 | Support item name | Item code | Price limit AUD/hr (National/VIC-equivalent) | Source URL | Document version | Effective from | Accessed | Confidence | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Assistance With Self-Care Activities – Standard – Weekday Daytime | 01_011_0107_1_1 | $73.58/hr | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, v1.2 (22 Jul 2026) | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium (single-source PDF extraction via summarising fetch; not independently cross-checked line-item by line-item) | | Assistance With Self-Care Activities – Standard – Weekday Evening | 01_015_0107_1_1 | $81.07/hr | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, v1.2 | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | | Assistance With Self-Care Activities – Standard – Saturday | 01_013_0107_1_1 | $103.54/hr | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, v1.2 | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | | Assistance With Self-Care Activities – Standard – Sunday | 01_014_0107_1_1 | $133.50/hr | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, v1.2 | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | | Assistance With Self-Care Activities – Standard – Public Holiday | 01_012_0107_1_1 | $163.46/hr | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, v1.2 | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | | Access Community Social & Recreation Activities (Social & Community Participation) – Standard – Weekday Daytime | 04_104_0125_6_1 | $73.58/hr | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, v1.2 | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | | Support Coordination – Level 2 (Coordination of Supports) | 07_002_0106_8_3 | $100.14/hr | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, v1.2 | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | | Support Coordination – Level 3 (Specialist Support Coordination) | 07_004_0132_8_3 | $190.54/hr | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, v1.2 | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | | Assistance With Daily Life Tasks in a Shared/Group Living Arrangement (SIL) – weekly quoted support | 01_821_0115_1_1 (and sibling codes 01_026/01_027/01_045/01_046/01_050_0115_1_1) | **"Quote"** — not a fixed published $/hr; priced individually (see narrative below) | https://carevo.com.au/tools/ndis-price-guide/01-821-0115-1-1 (secondary tool referencing the schedule); underlying primary doc: https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Low — could not independently confirm the per-ratio $/hr breakdown from a primary fetch | | Plan Management – Monthly fee | 14_034_0127_8_3 | $104.45/month (unchanged from prior year per secondary source) | https://mycarespace.com.au/resources/ndis-pricing-2026-27-explained | Cites NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 | 1 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Low — secondary source only, establishment fee not found at all | | Plan Management – Establishment fee | Not located | UNVERIFIED — no figure or item code found in any source fetched | — | — | 2026-08-20 | — | ### SIL pricing narrative (item 5) SIL / "Assistance With Daily Life Tasks in a Shared Living Arrangement" is **not** sold as a flat published $/hr rate the way core supports are. The NDIS Pricing Schedule lists SIL under Registration Group 0115 with item codes such as `01_821_0115_1_1` (Assistance in SIL – Weekly) plus related codes for host-family, individual living for complex needs, and residential aged care variants. Every SIL item in the schedule the secondary tool displayed showed **"Quote"** rather than a dollar figure — consistent with the well-established NDIS methodology of SIL being individually quoted by the provider against a person-centred **roster of care**, using the standard hourly self-care rates (e.g. 01_011_0107_1_1 series above) as the building blocks, then dividing the rostered staff cost across the co-residents sharing that shift (1:1, 1:2, 1:3, etc.) to produce a per-participant weekly SIL price. I could **not** find a primary-source table publishing a specific $/hr figure broken out by 1:1 / 1:2 / 1:3 ratio — this is UNVERIFIED and should not be quoted as a fixed rate; it is a quoting methodology, not a price list. ### Temporary Transformation Payment (TTP) — item 7 **TTP no longer exists as at August 2026.** It was a temporary 7.5% loading on personal-care and community-access supports introduced July 2019 to help providers transition to NDIS pricing; the NDIA phased it out, with most services ending in 2023 and the remaining TTP-eligible services ending **1 July 2024**. Source: https://support.lumary.com/hc/en-us/articles/9701824173967-Temporary-Transformation-Payment-TTP-services-ending-on-1-July-2024 (secondary, but consistent with general NDIA policy history; Confidence: Medium — could not locate a primary ndis.gov.au page confirming the exact end date in the time available). **Implication for the model: do NOT add any TTP loading to 2026-27 price limits.** ### Provider travel / non-face-to-face / cancellation (item 8) From the fetched extract of the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (Confidence: Medium, single-source PDF extraction): - **Provider travel (`_PT` suffix items)**: claimable at **50% of the direct service hourly rate**, intended to cover a worker's travel time between participants, subject to the standard NDIS travel policy caps (typically limited to a maximum number of minutes/dollars per participant per day, not fully reproduced in the extract fetched). - **Non-face-to-face supports (`_NF` suffix)**: covers report writing, preparation and documentation directly related to delivering the support, claimable at the **direct service rate**, subject to prior agreement with the participant and typically capped as a proportion of the total support. - **Cancellation (`_CA` / `_CA2` suffix)**: a short-notice cancellation (or no-show) can be claimed at the **same rate as the direct service** would have been, provided the provider meets the NDIS cancellation policy notice-period and attempted-rebooking conditions. These are general rules described in the extract; exact minute/dollar caps and notice-period thresholds were **not** captured in the fetched excerpt — flagged UNVERIFIED for the precise numeric caps (see below). --- ## B. WAGE TABLE — SCHADS Award MA000100, effective first full pay period on/after 1 July 2026 **Classification used and why:** Social and Community Services (SACS) employee stream, **Level 2** (the classification most commonly used for a "Disability Support Worker" providing core/personal-care supports) and **Level 3** (used for higher-responsibility DSW / senior support work, and as the benchmark classification NDIS pricing itself references when it calibrates support-worker cost inputs). Pay Point 1 shown as the base of each level's range. | Classification | Base hourly (F/T–P/T) | Casual hourly (+25% loading) | Saturday (150%) | Sunday (200%) | Public Holiday (250%) | Source URL | Effective from | Confidence | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | SACS Level 2, Pay Point 1 | $36.22 | $45.28 | $54.33 (permanent) | $72.44 (permanent) | $90.55 (permanent) | https://www.rosterelf.com/guides/award-rates/schads and https://crossvault.com.au/resources/schads-award-pay-rates-calculator (both cite FWO Pay Guide MA000100) | 1 Jul 2026 | Medium — two independent secondary calculators agree exactly; direct fairwork.gov.au fetch blocked by robots.txt | | SACS Level 3, Pay Point 1 | $40.49 | $50.61 | $60.74 (permanent) | $80.98 (permanent) | $101.23 (permanent) | https://www.rosterelf.com/guides/award-rates/schads and https://crossvault.com.au/resources/schads-award-pay-rates-calculator | 1 Jul 2026 | Medium — same as above | | Annual Wage Review 2026 increase applied to reach these rates | 4.75% from 1 July 2026 | — | — | — | — | https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/resources/annual-wage-review-2026-decision-announcement.pdf | 1 Jul 2026 | **High — first-party FWC document fetched directly** | | Casual loading | 25% (standard SCHADS casual loading, applied instead of paid leave) | — | — | — | — | https://www.rosterelf.com/guides/award-rates/schads | 1 Jul 2026 | Medium | | Sleepover allowance | $62.87 per sleepover (broken shift/night allowance, plus payment for any active work performed) | — | — | — | — | https://crossvault.com.au/resources/schads-award-pay-rates-calculator | 1 Jul 2026 | Medium | | Evening/afternoon shift penalty | +12.5% (afternoon shift finishing after 8pm Mon–Fri) | — | — | — | — | https://crossvault.com.au/resources/schads-award-pay-rates-calculator | 1 Jul 2026 | Low — single secondary source, not cross-checked | | Night shift penalty | +15% | — | — | — | — | https://crossvault.com.au/resources/schads-award-pay-rates-calculator | 1 Jul 2026 | Low — single secondary source, not cross-checked | | Superannuation Guarantee rate FY2026-27 | 12.00% | — | — | — | — | https://www.ato.gov.au/tax-rates-and-codes/key-superannuation-rates-and-thresholds/super-guarantee | 1 Jul 2026 | High — first-party ATO source fetched directly | **On-cost multiplier guidance (item 12):** No single published ATO/Fair Work "on-cost multiplier" figure was found. Industry practice (NOT a primary-source figure — treat as informed estimate only) commonly layers: Superannuation Guarantee 12% + annual/personal leave loading (~10–12% for a permanent employee; N/A for casuals, who instead get the 25% loading in lieu) + workers' compensation insurance (state-based, disability/community-services sector typically ~1.5–3% of wages in Victoria) + payroll tax (Victoria: 4.85% standard rate / 1.2125% regional, only above the tax-free threshold, and many NDIS charities are exempt) + WorkCover. **No authoritative single blended multiplier was located; this must be built up on-cost-by-on-cost per the model's own assumptions, not taken from a source.** This whole item is UNVERIFIED as a single citable figure. --- ## C. DERIVED — CALCULATION, NOT A SOURCED FACT All figures in this section are arithmetic performed by this researcher from the rows in Tables A and B above. They are NOT independently sourced facts and must not be cited as such elsewhere. ### Assumptions carried into the calculation (stated explicitly) - Casual support worker used for direct service delivery (typical of the small/medium provider model this study is examining) — casual SACS Level 2 base rate used ($45.28/hr, already includes the 25% casual loading in lieu of leave). - On top of the casual hourly rate, superannuation guarantee of 12% is added (casuals are still owed SG on ordinary time earnings under the SG Act). - No annual/personal leave loading is added for casuals (the 25% casual loading already substitutes for this). - Workers' compensation and payroll tax are NOT included in this specific derived figure because no sourced multiplier exists (Item 12 above is UNVERIFIED) — so the "fully-loaded" cost below is a **partial** load (wages + casual loading + super only). This is flagged explicitly so the model does not silently understate true cost. - Weekday-daytime NDIS price used: Assistance With Self-Care Activities – Standard – Weekday Daytime, $73.58/hr (item 01_011_0107_1_1). - Weekend NDIS prices used: Saturday $103.54/hr (01_013_0107_1_1); Sunday $133.50/hr (01_014_0107_1_1). - Weekend wage cost: SACS Level 2 casual Saturday $54.33 × 1.25 casual-loading-already-in-base logic — **note**: the casual penalty rates were not separately published by the secondary sources (they showed *permanent* Saturday/Sunday/PH rates only for the penalty columns). For this calculation, the casual weekend rate is derived by applying the same 150%/200%/250% penalty multiplier to the **casual base rate** ($45.28), consistent with standard SCHADS practice of penalties applying on top of the loaded casual rate. This substitution is my own extrapolation, not a sourced casual-weekend figure — flagged as an assumption. ### 13. Weekday-daytime core support — gross margin per billable hour (VIC) ``` NDIS price limit (weekday daytime, item 01_011_0107_1_1) = $73.58/hr [Table A, row 1] Casual SACS Level 2 base wage (incl. 25% casual loading) = $45.28/hr [Table B, row 1] + Superannuation Guarantee @ 12% of casual wage = $45.28 × 0.12 = $5.43/hr --------- = Partial fully-loaded labour cost (wages + super only) = $45.28 + $5.43 = $50.71/hr Gross margin per billable hour = NDIS price − partial loaded cost = $73.58 − $50.71 = $22.87/hr (≈31.1% margin on price) ``` **Caveat: this margin is OVERSTATED** because workers' compensation, payroll tax, and any rostering/travel/no-show inefficiency are not netted off (Item 12 is unsourced). Treat $22.87/hr as an upper bound on weekday gross margin per billable hour, not a final figure. ### 14. Saturday and Sunday — gross margin per billable hour (VIC) **Saturday** ``` NDIS price limit (Saturday, item 01_013_0107_1_1) = $103.54/hr [Table A, row 3] Casual base wage × 150% Saturday penalty (my extrapolation) = $45.28 × 1.50 = $67.92/hr + Superannuation Guarantee @ 12% of that wage = $67.92 × 0.12 = $8.15/hr --------- = Partial fully-loaded labour cost = $67.92 + $8.15 = $76.07/hr Gross margin per billable hour (Saturday) = $103.54 − $76.07 = $27.47/hr (≈26.5% margin on price) ``` **Sunday** ``` NDIS price limit (Sunday, item 01_014_0107_1_1) = $133.50/hr [Table A, row 4] Casual base wage × 200% Sunday penalty (my extrapolation) = $45.28 × 2.00 = $90.56/hr + Superannuation Guarantee @ 12% of that wage = $90.56 × 0.12 = $10.87/hr --------- = Partial fully-loaded labour cost = $90.56 + $10.87 = $101.43/hr Gross margin per billable hour (Sunday) = $133.50 − $101.43 = $32.07/hr (≈24.0% margin on price) ``` **Conclusion on weekend margin-positivity:** On this partial-load basis, both Saturday and Sunday remain margin-positive per billable hour, and in absolute-dollar terms the margin is *larger* on weekends ($27.47 Sat, $32.07 Sun) than on a weekday ($22.87) because the NDIS price escalates faster (150%/200%) than the modelled wage penalty in this calc (which used the *same* 150%/200% multiplier on the *casual* base — see assumption above, since a sourced casual weekend rate could not be confirmed). As a percentage of price, weekday margin (31.1%) is actually the highest, sunday the lowest (24.0%) — so weekend work is margin-positive but proportionally thinner. Because on-costs beyond super are not netted off, and because the casual-weekend wage figure is an extrapolation rather than a directly sourced rate, **these derived numbers should be treated as indicative only** until (a) a sourced casual penalty rate table is obtained and (b) a full on-cost multiplier (workers' comp + payroll tax) is added. --- ## SOURCES TABLE | Claim ID | Claim | Value | URL | Publisher | Source date | Accessed | Confidence | Why below High | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | R3-01 | NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 document identity | v1.2, effective 1 Jul 2026 | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIA | 22 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | PDF summarised by WebFetch's internal model rather than a raw table read | | R3-02 | Self-Care Weekday Daytime price | $73.58/hr, item 01_011_0107_1_1 | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIA | 22 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | Same as above | | R3-03 | Self-Care Evening/Sat/Sun/PH prices | $81.07 / $103.54 / $133.50 / $163.46 | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIA | 22 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | Same as above | | R3-04 | Social & Community Participation Weekday Daytime price | $73.58/hr, item 04_104_0125_6_1 | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIA | 22 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | Same as above | | R3-05 | Support Coordination L2 and L3 prices | $100.14/hr and $190.54/hr | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIA | 22 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | Same as above | | R3-06 | SIL priced as individualised weekly quote, not fixed $/hr | Item 01_821_0115_1_1 = "Quote" | https://carevo.com.au/tools/ndis-price-guide/01-821-0115-1-1 | Carevo (secondary tool) | undated | 2026-08-20 | Low | Secondary tool, not primary NDIA text; per-ratio breakdown not found anywhere | | R3-07 | Plan management monthly fee unchanged | $104.45/month, item 14_034_0127_8_3 | https://mycarespace.com.au/resources/ndis-pricing-2026-27-explained | MyCareSpace | 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Low | Secondary source only | | R3-08 | TTP ended 1 July 2024, does not exist in 2026-27 | 7.5% loading, ended | https://support.lumary.com/hc/en-us/articles/9701824173967-Temporary-Transformation-Payment-TTP-services-ending-on-1-July-2024 | Lumary (software vendor, secondary) | undated | 2026-08-20 | Medium | Secondary source; consistent with known NDIA policy history but not a primary ndis.gov.au confirmation | | R3-09 | Provider travel/NF/cancellation general rules | PT=50% of direct rate; NF and CA = direct rate | https://www.ndis.gov.au/media/8703/download?attachment= | NDIA | 22 Jul 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | Numeric caps/notice periods not captured in fetched excerpt | | R3-10 | SACS Level 2/3 base and casual hourly rates | $36.22/$45.28 (L2); $40.49/$50.61 (L3) | https://www.rosterelf.com/guides/award-rates/schads ; https://crossvault.com.au/resources/schads-award-pay-rates-calculator | RosterElf; CrossVault (secondary payroll calculators) | Aug 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium | Two independent secondary sources agree, but neither is fairwork.gov.au directly (robots-blocked) | | R3-11 | Annual Wage Review 2026 increase = 4.75%, effective 1 Jul 2026 | 4.75% | https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/resources/annual-wage-review-2026-decision-announcement.pdf | Fair Work Commission | 2026 | 2026-08-20 | **High** | First-party FWC document fetched directly | | R3-12 | Superannuation Guarantee rate FY2026-27 | 12.00% | https://www.ato.gov.au/tax-rates-and-codes/key-superannuation-rates-and-thresholds/super-guarantee | Australian Taxation Office | current | 2026-08-20 | **High** | First-party ATO page fetched directly | | R3-13 | Casual loading 25%; sleepover $62.87; shift penalties +12.5%/+15% | as stated | https://www.rosterelf.com/guides/award-rates/schads ; https://crossvault.com.au/resources/schads-award-pay-rates-calculator | RosterElf; CrossVault | Aug 2026 | 2026-08-20 | Medium/Low | Secondary sources; shift-penalty figures only corroborated once | --- ## UNVERIFIED / COULD NOT CONFIRM 1. **Victoria-specific NDIS price limit vs. National rate.** The fetched extract of the Pricing Schedule 2026-27 stated it provides "National" rates only and did not surface a separately-listed Victoria line. Older price guides had a single national/standard rate applying to VIC (non-remote) with separate remote/very-remote loadings, so this is *probably* still correct, but I could not directly confirm a VIC-labelled row in the source table. **Do not assume National = VIC without a follow-up check of the raw PDF/XLSX support catalogue.** 2. **SIL per-ratio (1:1/1:2/1:3) $/hr breakdown.** No source located publishes a fixed $/hr by ratio; SIL appears to be quoted individually per participant roster. Tried: carevo.com.au SIL tool, thrive365.com.au SIL/MTA article — neither gave a numeric ratio table. 3. **Plan management establishment fee** — item code and dollar limit not found in any source fetched (tried ndis.gov.au pricing schedule extract and mycarespace.com.au). Only the monthly fee ($104.45) was found, and only via a secondary source. 4. **Exact numeric caps for provider travel (minutes/day, $ cap) and cancellation notice-period rules** — the pricing schedule extract described the mechanism (PT=50% of direct rate, CA=same as direct rate) but not the specific cap/notice-period thresholds. 5. **Casual weekend/public-holiday penalty rates for SACS Level 2/3, specifically** — secondary sources only published *permanent* employee Saturday/Sunday/PH rates; the casual-loaded weekend rate used in the DERIVED section (item 14) is my own extrapolation (casual base × penalty multiplier), not a sourced figure. 6. **A single published "on-cost multiplier"** (super + leave + workers' comp + payroll tax combined) — no authoritative source found; Item 12 of the charter could not be answered with a citable figure. 7. **Direct fairwork.gov.au / fwc.gov.au page-level confirmation of SCHADS dollar rates** — every direct WebFetch attempt at fairwork.gov.au wage-rate pages returned ROBOTS_DISALLOWED or a robots.txt timeout. Only the FWC decision PDF (percentage increase, not per-classification dollar table) and the ATO super page were fetched first-party successfully.