The vehicle allowance has temporarily increased for the Aged Care Award and Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award (SCHADS) Award.
What’s changed
From 1 September 2026, the vehicle allowance under the Aged Care Award and SCHADS Award increases from $1.01 to $1.05 per kilometre. It applies for 6 months, or until 28 February 2027.
The vehicle allowance increase applies from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 September 2026. This means if the weekly pay period starts on Tuesday, the new rates will apply from Tuesday 1 September 2026.
Example: Applying the temporary vehicle allowance
Alex is a payroll officer for a disability services provider covered by the SCHADS Award.
Alex’s employer employs several personal care workers also covered by the SCHADS Award. The employer requires the personal care workers to use their own vehicles when travelling between clients and transporting them to activities. The employees receive the vehicle allowance for doing this.
The employer’s pay period runs from Monday to Sunday, and clients are scheduled in line with this.
Alex learns about the vehicle allowance increase and reads that it starts from 1 September 2026.
As the next full pay period starting after 1 September 2026 won’t be until the following Monday, Alex sends an email to employees confirming the increase and where they can find the allowance on their pay slip.
Alex then uses the Pay and Conditions Tool to check the new vehicle allowance that applies from 1 September. He enters this new amount into their payroll system.
The updated allowance of $1.05 per kilometre will be paid to eligible employees from the start of the next pay period.
Why the change
The Fair Work Commission increased the vehicle allowance under these 2 awards because:
- employees under these awards often use their own vehicles to perform work, and
- a temporary increase was necessary to maintain a fair minimum safety net for these employees due to increases in fuel costs.
The Fair Work Commission is the national workplace relations tribunal and registered organisations regulator. It’s a different agency to us (we’re the Fair Work Ombudsman).
What you can do now
We’ve updated our pay tools to include the new vehicle allowance rates.
If you’re affected, we encourage you to:
- calculate the updated allowance using our Pay and Conditions Tool
- access an updated Pay guide
- communicate this change to your employees so they also know about the increase
- go to the Fair Work Commission website for more information (including to access its decision): Vehicle allowances – applications to vary multiple awards (AM2026/10 and others).
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