NDIS Support Worker Rates 2026: Hourly Price Caps for Sole Traders (2026-27)

Key takeaways

• New rates from 1 July 2026: the weekday daytime cap for standard (Level 1) support rose about 4.8%, from $70.23 to $73.58 per hour, under the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (the document formerly called the Price Guide or PAPL).
• 2026-27 caps at a glance: evening $81.07, night $82.57, Saturday $103.54, Sunday $133.50, public holiday $163.46 per hour.
• Caps are ceilings, not wages. You can charge less, but for plan-managed and NDIA-managed participants you cannot charge more. Super, insurance and admin time must fit inside your rate.
• Use the right line item for the right time. Billing a Sunday shift at the weekday rate costs you money. Billing last year’s cap, or the wrong time band, is what gets invoices rejected.

Understanding NDIS price limits: why you cannot bill above the cap

The NDIA sets maximum prices for most NDIS supports. From 1 July 2026 these sit in the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27, which replaced the Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (PAPL) document. The schedule lists each support item, its item number and its maximum price. The related Support Catalogue explains what each item covers and how it can be claimed. Each cap applies to one specific item: a weekday-daytime personal care hour, a Saturday personal care hour and a weekday community access hour are three different items with three different limits.

Your agreed rate is the price you and the participant put in the service agreement. The cap is the maximum for that item at that time. You invoice at your agreed rate as long as it is at or below the cap. Many independents agree a flat rate that sits below the cap on weekdays and use the full cap on weekends.

Registration note: since 1 July 2026, Supported Independent Living (SIL) providers must be registered. If you only deliver everyday supports such as personal care, community access and domestic assistance to self-managed or plan-managed participants, you can still work unregistered. Check the NDIS Commission’s current rules before taking on SIL-style work.

• Plan-managed: you can work unregistered, but you cannot charge above the cap — the plan manager must not pay more than the cap.
• NDIA-managed (agency-managed): registration required, and you cannot charge above the cap.
• Self-managed: you can work unregistered, and a higher price can be agreed — but the budget runs down faster and the cap is only a guide. The NDIS Code of Conduct also expects you not to charge a participant more than anyone else for the same support.

NDIS support worker rates 2026-27: full hourly breakdown

All figures below are the national maximum prices for standard (Level 1) support in non-remote areas, effective 1 July 2026, for the Assistance with Daily Life (self-care) items. Always confirm item numbers and caps in the current Pricing Schedule and Support Catalogue before you invoice — different support categories (for example community participation) carry their own item numbers.

• Weekday daytime (6am–8pm) — 01_011_0107_1_1 — $73.58 per hour (base rate)
• Weekday evening (8pm–midnight) — 01_015_0107_1_1 — $81.07 per hour (about 10% above base)
• Weekday night (midnight–6am) — 01_002_0107_1_1 — $82.57 per hour (about 12% above base)
• Saturday — 01_013_0107_1_1 — $103.54 per hour (about 41% above base)
• Sunday — 01_014_0107_1_1 — $133.50 per hour (about 81% above base)
• Public holiday — 01_012_0107_1_1 — $163.46 per hour (about 122% above base, more than double)
• Night-time sleepover (flat, per night) — 01_010_0107_1_1 — $311.79 per night, including up to two hours of active support

Evening and night rates

Weekday evening (8pm to midnight): $81.07 per hour. Weekday night (midnight to 6am): $82.57 per hour. The time band is set by the clock, not by when your shift started. A Tuesday 6pm to 10pm shift is two hours at the daytime rate and two hours at the evening rate, not four hours at either. A 10pm to 2am shift crosses into the night band at midnight.

Weekend and public holiday rates

Saturday: $103.54 per hour, about 41% above weekday daytime. Sunday: $133.50 per hour, about 81% above weekday daytime. Public holiday: $163.46 per hour, more than double the weekday daytime rate. Public holidays are set by state and territory, so the date that counts is the one where the support was delivered — keep a holiday calendar for each state you work in. Our guide to NDIS weekend, evening and public holiday rates (/resources/ndis-weekend-evening-public-holiday-rates) covers the edge cases.

High intensity, remote areas and sleepovers

• High intensity supports carry higher caps than standard supports (for example, weekday daytime $79.60, evening $87.70, Saturday $112.01 and Sunday $144.42 per hour). Only use these items if the participant’s plan and your service agreement cover high intensity support.
• Remote and very remote areas carry loadings on top of the national caps (40% for Remote, 50% for Very Remote, per the schedule’s remoteness classifications). Check the participant’s postcode classification.
• Night-time sleepover is a flat $311.79 per night, including up to two hours of active support. Active hours beyond that are billed at the relevant hourly rate.

Travel: time and per-kilometre costs

Provider travel is claimed on its own invoice lines, separate from your support hours. For the full rules and invoice layout, see our NDIS travel billing guide (/resources/ndis-travel-billing).

• Travel time: generally billed under the same item as the support, up to the same hourly rate, and capped by the time limits that apply to your support item (commonly 30 minutes in metro areas and up to 60 in regional and remote areas).
• Kilometres and other non-labour costs: vehicle running costs, tolls and parking are not price-controlled, but the NDIA treats up to $0.99 per km as a reasonable contribution for a standard vehicle. They must be agreed with the participant in advance and set out in the service agreement.

Worked examples (standard support, 2026-27 caps)

• Tuesday 6pm–10pm: 2 h x $73.58 + 2 h x $81.07 = $309.30 total.
• Monday–Friday 10pm–2am: 2 h x $81.07 + 2 h x $82.57 = $327.28 total.
• Saturday, 3 hours: 3 x $103.54 = $310.62 total.
• Sunday, 4 hours: 4 x $133.50 = $534.00 total.
• Public holiday, 5 hours: 5 x $163.46 = $817.30 total.
• 30 km travel to a shift: 30 x $0.99 = $29.70 total.

The cap is not your wage

Employees of a provider organisation are paid under the SCHADS Award, with base hourly pay in the high-$20s to low-$40s depending on classification and pay point. Their employer collects the NDIS price and covers super, leave, insurance, training and overheads out of the gap. As a sole trader you keep that gap — but you also carry every cost an employer normally carries, which is why a rate that looks generous next to an award wage can still leave you short.

• Business insurance: public liability and, where relevant, professional indemnity.
• Super: as a sole trader you are not required to pay super for yourself, so retirement savings only happen if you make voluntary contributions. The Super Guarantee rate is 12%, and the concessional contributions cap for 2026-27 is $32,500.
• Income tax: your income is taxed as a sole trader and you may be required to pay PAYG instalments, so set money aside as you invoice.
• Vehicle and phone costs that your per-km billing does not fully cover.
• Unbilled time: admin, invoicing, shift notes, unpaid gaps between participants, cancellations and sick days. You do not earn when you do not work.

The formula (illustration only, not tax advice)

Required average hourly rate = (target profit + voluntary super + business costs) / billable hours per year. Example: you want $75,000 profit after business costs, plan to put $9,000 (12%) into super voluntarily, and expect $4,000 of insurance, phone and admin costs — you need $88,000 of revenue. At 30 billable hours a week over 46 working weeks (1,380 hours a year), the required average rate is $63.77/hr. At 25 billable hours (1,150 hours), it is $76.52/hr — above the $73.58 weekday cap, so you would need a meaningful share of evening and weekend hours, or more hours, to reach the same income. That is exactly the kind of pricing decision to make before you quote, not after.

• Write your rate card into the service agreement before the first shift, with the cap for each time band as your ceiling.
• Don't add surcharges for super or insurance: for plan-managed participants, the cap is the maximum, so those costs have to live inside your rate.
• Review your rates every 1 July when new caps are published.
• Track your real billable hours — most new sole traders overestimate them.

Common rate calculation mistakes that get invoices rejected

• Using last year's cap: a rate saved in an old spreadsheet is still $70.23 when the cap is $73.58. You undercharge every shift, or you end up with the wrong rate on a line item and the Plan Manager has to query it.
• Blending evening hours into the day rate: billing a 6pm–10pm shift as four hours at the daytime rate "to keep it simple" costs you money and does not match the time band rules. Split at 8pm and at midnight.
• Mixing up Saturday, Sunday and public holiday: weekend and public holiday caps are different items. A Sunday that is also a public holiday is billed at the public holiday item. Use the correct state calendar.
• Charging above the cap for plan-managed participants: if your agreed rate is higher than the cap, a Plan Manager cannot pay the difference from the participant’s plan funds. The invoice gets rejected or reduced.
• Wrong item number for the support delivered: the right cap only applies to the right line item. Personal care, community participation and domestic assistance have different codes, so check the Support Catalogue rather than copying the item from a previous invoice.
• Billing travel as one lump sum: travel time and kilometres should each appear as a separate, clearly labelled line, with the time and distance shown. A single "travel: $45" line is the easiest way to get a query.
• Missing basic invoice details: a correct rate on an incomplete invoice still gets bounced. Check that your ABN, the participant’s participant reference number (NDIS number), support dates, item numbers, quantities and unit prices are all present. Our NDIS invoice requirements guide (/resources/ndis-invoice-requirements) has the full checklist.
• Not recording which price guide you used: keep a dated note of the Pricing Schedule version behind each invoice period. If a Plan Manager queries a rate, you can point to the exact source.

How Rayvice removes the rate calculation headache

Rates are where the arithmetic goes wrong: three time bands in one shift, a public holiday that changes by state, a travel line to add, and a cap that changed in July. Rayvice is built to take that off your plate. Plans start at $24 AUD a month, with a 9-day free trial and no credit card required. New to billing? Start with how to invoice an NDIS participant (/resources/how-to-invoice-ndis), then see how to send an NDIS invoice to a Plan Manager (/resources/how-to-send-ndis-invoice-to-plan-manager).

• Log a shift in about 30 seconds with the date, times and participant.
• Automatic rate splitting: your hours are split into day, evening (from 8:00 PM), night (midnight–6am), Saturday, Sunday, public holiday and travel rates.
• NDIA price cap check: the invoice is checked against the 2026 NDIA price caps before it is created, so a rate above the cap is caught before a Plan Manager sees it.
• Compliance checks: ABN and BSB format and 9-digit NDIS IDs are checked at the same time.
• One-click delivery: a tax-invoice PDF is emailed straight to the Plan Manager, and you can see whether it was delivered.

Common questions

Official sources

NDIS rules change. Verify current figures on these official pages before invoicing:

• NDIS pricing arrangements (ndis.gov.au) — 2026–27 schedules, current as of 24 September 2026
• What are the NDIS pricing arrangements (ndis.gov.au, participant guide)
• Superannuation for sole traders (business.gov.au)