Broken shift

What is a broken shift?

Under the SCHADS Award, a broken shift is a shift split into two periods of paid work by one unpaid break (other than a meal break), or into three periods by two unpaid breaks if the employee agrees. The whole shift must fit within a 12-hour span, work beyond that span is paid at double time, and the worker gets a broken shift allowance. The rules are in clauses 25.6, 20.12 and 10.5 of the SCHADS Award (MA000100).

Broken shifts suit disability support, where participants often need help with a morning routine and an evening routine but not in between. Instead of two separate shifts, which the award's 10-hour break rule would usually rule out on the same day, the provider rosters one broken shift with an unpaid gap in the middle.

Broken shifts only apply to two groups of SCHADS Award employees:

• Social and community services (SACS) employees when doing disability services work.
• Home care employees.

For other social and community services work, the award says shifts must be worked in one continuous block, apart from meal breaks and sleepovers. The rules were rewritten from 1 July 2022, so older templates and rosters may not reflect them.

How broken shifts work under SCHADS

The Fair Work Ombudsman's broken shift guidance and clause 25.6 set these rules:

• One unpaid break is the default. An employer may roster a broken shift of 2 periods of work with 1 unpaid break (meal breaks aside).
• Two unpaid breaks need agreement. A broken shift of 3 periods with 2 unpaid breaks needs the employee's agreement before each occasion, unless it is part of a part-time employee's agreed regular pattern of work. Three unpaid breaks are not allowed.
• The 12-hour span. The span runs from the start of the first period to the end of the last. All work beyond 12 hours is paid at double time (clause 25.6(f)); the casual double-time rate in the pay guide includes the casual loading.
• Rest between broken shifts. Broken shifts on successive days need at least 10 hours off between them (clause 25.6(g)). If today's broken shift ends at 9pm, tomorrow's can't start before 7am.
• The break must be real. If a gap falls inside a minimum payment period, it counts as time worked and is not a break (clause 25.6(c)).

Travel between clients is also time worked and doesn't break a shift, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman's SCHADS pay and allowances guidance. A worker who supports one client, drives 30 minutes and supports another is working one continuous shift, not a broken one.

Broken shift pay: allowance, minimums and loadings

The broken shift allowance

The allowance is a flat amount per broken shift, set as a percentage of the award's "standard rate" (the Level 3 pay point 3 weekly rate):

It is paid once per broken shift, not per break or per period, and it is the same for every classification. The dollar amount changes whenever the standard rate changes; check the current figure in the SCHADS pay rates table or the Fair Work MA000100 pay guide.

The 2-hour minimum for each period

Under clause 10.5, part-time and casual employees doing disability services or home care work are paid at least 2 hours for each shift or each period of work in a broken shift. A broken shift of 7:00am–8:00am and 6:00pm–7:30pm is paid as 2 hours plus 2 hours, plus the allowance.

Penalties and loadings

Weekend, overtime and public holiday rates apply to broken shifts as normal (clause 25.6(d)). Afternoon and night shift loadings apply only to the period that meets the definition, not to the whole broken shift (clause 25.6(e)). For 9:00am–11:00am and 5:30pm–8:30pm, only the second period finishes after 8pm, so only it attracts the afternoon loading. The night loading is not payable on a period just because it starts before 6am (clause 25.6(e)(ii)).

Part-time and casual employees are also on overtime after 10 hours of work in a day or shift, even inside the 12-hour span. To test a broken shift line by line, use the SCHADS pay calculator, which adds the allowance, tops up short periods and flags work beyond the span.

Broken shifts vs other split arrangements

A sleepover is different again: it is not an unpaid break, and work immediately before and after it is treated as part of the same shift. Don't roster a sleepover as the "break" in a broken shift.

Rostering broken shifts without underpaying

Broken shifts are where NDIS rosters most often underpay. Build these checks in before you publish:

On travel, the Fair Work Ombudsman's guidance says the vehicle allowance generally isn't paid for travel during the unpaid break when the employee is free from work duties, including travel to the next part of the broken shift. Travel between clients within a period is work and is paid.

What broken shifts mean for participants and claims

Broken shifts are an award rule about how workers are paid, not an NDIS support type. A participant is not charged for the unpaid break, and providers can generally only claim for supports actually delivered at the item and price in the NDIS pricing arrangements. Time a worker is paid but doesn't work, such as a 2-hour minimum topping up a 45-minute visit, is a wage cost for the provider rather than support delivered to the participant. That's why providers try to roster each period with at least 2 hours of real work, and why the times recorded in shift notes for each period need to be accurate.

Common broken shift mistakes

• Rostering three unpaid breaks, or two without a prior agreement.
• Paying the allowance but not the double time for work beyond the 12-hour span.
• Paying only the hours worked on short periods instead of the 2-hour minimum.
• Applying the afternoon loading to the whole broken shift, or leaving it off the evening period.
• Using broken shifts for non-disability SACS work, where the clause doesn't apply.
• Treating a gap inside a minimum payment period as a break and paying the allowance for what is really one continuous shift.
• Less than 10 hours between the end of one day's broken shift and the start of the next.

Broken shifts matter to participants too. Morning and evening routines are often delivered as a support worker's broken shift, so a provider that rosters them well can offer the same worker at both ends of the day.