Rostering

What is NDIS rostering?

NDIS rostering is the process of scheduling support workers to shifts so each participant receives the supports agreed in their service agreement, at the right times, from workers who are screened, trained and suited to them. A good roster also follows the SCHADS Award's rules on shifts and breaks, and stays within what the participant's NDIS funding can pay for. It is the provider's plan for delivering support, and the source of the times that later flow into timesheets, pay and claims.

"Rostering" is an operational term, not one the NDIA defines. It is easy to confuse with a roster of care, which is a planning document for Supported Independent Living (SIL) that sets out a typical week of support and ratios in a home. A roster of care describes the support a participant needs; the roster is who actually works which shift, week by week.

Rostering matters to everyone involved:

• Participants get consistent workers they know, at the times they chose.
• Workers get predictable shifts, notice of changes and correct pay.
• Providers avoid award breaches, unclaimable hours and gaps that leave a participant without support.

How NDIS rostering works

Most providers follow the same cycle, whether they use a spreadsheet or rostering software. The work starts from what the participant has agreed to, not from who happens to be available.

Rules an NDIS roster has to meet

A roster sits where three sets of rules meet: the NDIS quality and safeguarding rules, the SCHADS Award, and NDIS pricing. Checking them before you publish is far cheaper than fixing them at payroll or claiming.

The SCHADS rules that catch rosters out

Most disability support workers are employed under the SCHADS Award, and many underpayments are created on the roster. The rules to build in are:

• Breaks between shifts: at least 10 hours, or 8 hours by agreement either side of a shift attached to a sleepover. A non-casual who worked overtime and comes back without a 10-hour break is paid double time until they get one.
• Roster notice: rosters are posted at least two weeks ahead, and changes need 7 days' notice unless it's an agreed swap or covers illness or an emergency.
• Minimum payment: part-time and casual disability workers are paid at least 2 hours per shift or broken-shift period, so very short visits cost 2 hours anyway.
• Broken shifts: no more than 2 unpaid breaks (the second only by agreement), all within a 12-hour span. See broken shift.
• Sleepovers: a sleepover is not a break between shifts; work before and after it is treated as one shift.
• Days off: non-casual employees get at least two full days off a week, four a fortnight or eight in a 28-day cycle.

Use the SCHADS pay calculator to see what a draft week of shifts costs in wages before you publish it.

Rostering vs roster of care vs timesheets

The roster is the plan, the timesheet is what actually happened, and shift notes are the evidence of what was delivered. When the three disagree, at least one is wrong, and the error flows into pay, claims or both.

Rostering in SIL and shared living

Shared homes add two extra layers. First, the roster must deliver each resident's funded support ratio across the day: for example 2:3 during morning routines, 1:3 in the evening and a shared sleepover overnight. The NDIA's roster of care guide says to list everyone who lives in the home, including people who aren't NDIS participants, because staffing depends on everyone in the house.

Second, overnight support must be the right type. The NDIA's SIL operational guideline funds a sleepover where a person needs up to 2 hours of awake support a night, and active overnight support where a worker must be awake. Roster the shift type that matches what is funded and what actually happens, and record wake-ups so the evidence is there if needs change. The NDIA no longer requires a roster of care to be submitted, but many SIL providers still build one and roster from it; the free SIL roster of care tool lays out shared hours by resident.

Rostering to the budget

Every rostered hour becomes a claim against a participant's plan. For many core supports, the pricing schedule has separate support items and price limits for weekday daytime, evening, night, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, so moving a shift from Friday to Saturday changes both the wage cost and the amount claimed. A weekly check keeps the roster honest:

1. Compare rostered hours with the hours in each participant's service agreement.
2. Check the time-of-day and day-of-week mix against the support items you will claim.
3. Project the weekly cost across the remaining weeks of the plan and compare it with remaining funding, for example with the NDIS budget tracker.
4. Raise any shortfall early with the participant, their nominee or support coordinator.

Cancellations also need a rule. A short notice cancellation by the participant may be claimable under the pricing arrangements, but the award separately decides what the rostered worker must be paid.

Common rostering mistakes

• Filling a gap with a double shift that leaves less than 10 hours before the worker's next shift.
• Treating a sleepover as a rest period between two day shifts.
• Rostering the same worker in two places with overlapping times, especially across houses.
• Screening and training expiry dates in a separate spreadsheet the roster never checks.
• Rostering from staff availability, not participant need, so ratios and hours drift from the service agreement.
• Short notice changes without a recorded agreement or reason.
• A new worker every week, which breaks continuity and is often an early sign of burnout or turnover.