Free profile · no commission

Become an independent support worker

To become an independent support worker in Australia, get an ABN (free), an NDIS Worker Screening Check ($112 to $163, valid 5 years), first aid and insurance, then find self-managed and plan-managed NDIS clients through a worker profile, platforms and support coordinators.

1,034 workers registered · 2300+ support requests · 10,359 providers active in the last 30 days

Find participants to work with

Tell us your availability, supports and checks
See real care requests within 30 km of you
Contact the ones that fit directly
No agency fees, no commission, ever

Two minutes. Requests near you are on your dashboard.

Becoming an independent support worker: at a glance

What you need: An ABN, an NDIS Worker Screening Check, public liability and professional indemnity insurance, and first aid and CPR where your supports call for it. The screening check and first aid are not legal requirements for an unregistered sole trader, but participants, plan managers and support coordinators ask for them. Worker screening guide.
Cost and time: ABN: free, with most numbers issued on the spot. Worker screening: $112 to $163 depending on your state, valid 5 years. No screening unit guarantees a turnaround, and two now publish an average: about 8 weeks in the ACT and about 4 weeks in South Australia. First aid and CPR: about $100 to $180. Insurance: $600 to $1,500 a year combined.
What you can charge: Up to the NDIS price limit for plan-managed participants: $73.58 an hour on weekdays, $103.54 on Saturdays, $133.50 on Sundays and $163.46 on public holidays (2026-27). Self-managed participants can agree any rate with you in writing. Employed support workers are paid $28 to $37 an hour on weekdays under the SCHADS Award (MA000100), before casual loading. Support worker pay rates.
Who can hire you: Self-managed and plan-managed NDIS participants. NDIA-managed participants must use a registered provider.
Clients through Carevo: Registering a worker profile is free. You see care requests within 30 km that match your services and funding types, and a request shows the person's contact details when you choose to contact it. Contacting requests needs the Support Worker Plan: $99 a month ex GST for up to 5 contacts a month, with a 7 day free trial. Up to two workers can contact each request and providers (agencies) receive the same requests, so you are not the only one who can respond. Carevo takes no commission and no cut of your pay.
What Carevo does not do: Carevo does not employ workers, does not vouch for workers or clients, and does not guarantee clients.

Next: how to find NDIS clients as an independent support worker compares every client channel, and the guide to becoming an independent support worker covers tax and invoicing. Support worker jobs lists recent care requests, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide.

What is an independent support worker?

An independent support worker is a sole trader with an ABN who is engaged directly by NDIS participants, their families or a Support at Home client, instead of being rostered by an agency. You agree the rate, hours and supports in a written service agreement, invoice the participant or their plan manager, and carry your own insurance, tax and super. Most independents are unregistered NDIS providers, which is the default and involves no application: it just means you work with self-managed and plan-managed participants, who together make up most of the scheme.

Independence is a spectrum. Some workers run everything themselves, others use marketplaces like Mable for shifts while building direct relationships, and many keep a casual agency roster alongside. The one thing every version has in common is that you are the business, so the checks, the paperwork and the clients are yours to arrange. The rest of this page is that list, with the current costs, and the register button is how the clients part happens. If you would rather be employed, with super and leave handled for you, support worker jobs on Carevo is the page for that.

Why do participants hire independent support workers?

Because there is no one in the middle: a family pays less than an agency charges and you earn more than an agency pays.

$73.58

is the 2026-27 NDIS weekday price limit an agency bills against. Independents typically charge $60 to $70 for the same hour, so the participant's plan stretches further and you still take home more than award pay.

Short shifts

Agencies set minimum bookings. An independent can do an hour of showering and dressing each morning, or two hours after school, which is what a lot of families actually need.

One face

The same worker every visit, not whoever is on the roster. For participants with autism, dementia or complex communication, consistency is the whole point.

How does Carevo work for independent support workers?

You register a free worker profile, see the care requests within 30 km that match your supports and funding types, and contact the ones that fit, which needs the Support Worker Plan ($99 a month ex GST). Carevo is not a marketplace that sits between you and the client, so the relationship is yours.

Register your worker profile

Availability, the supports you offer, your checks and a photo. Two minutes, no CV. Registered and unregistered workers are both welcome, and what you have self-declared is shown as self-declared.

You see the care requests near you

Open requests within 30 km of your suburb that match your supports and funding types show on your dashboard and are emailed to you as they arrive. Families browsing independent workers by suburb, and providers looking for staff, see your profile too. 2300+ requests for personal care and daily support have come through Carevo so far.

You contact the ones that fit and agree the terms

Choosing to contact a request shows you the contact details. Up to two workers can contact each request, and providers receive the same requests. Contacting needs the Support Worker Plan: $99 a month ex GST for up to 5 contacts a month, with a 7 day free trial. You negotiate rates, hours and the service agreement directly, and Carevo takes no commission and no cut of your invoices.

Carevo, marketplace platforms and agency work, side by side

Feature	Carevo	Mable, Hireup, Careseekers	Agency employee
Cost to you	Free profile. Contacting requests needs the $99 a month plan (ex GST). No commission	Mable deducts 10% of the agreed rate; Hireup sets the pay rate	None, but award pay of roughly $32 to $48 an hour
Who sets your rate	You, up to the NDIS limit for plan-managed clients	You, above a platform minimum, minus the fee	The agency
Employment status	Sole trader (ABN)	Sole trader on Mable; casual employee on Hireup	Employee
Insurance and super	Your own	Some platform cover; super is yours	Employer covers both
Who you work with	Self-managed and plan-managed participants, families, and providers hiring	Platform clients only	Assigned clients
Where the relationship lives	Directly between you and the participant	Inside the platform; leaving costs you the client	With the agency

Mable's 10% fee is from Mable's pricing page, checked 10 October 2026. Hireup's employment model as published on its site, August 2026. Award figures are SCHADS rates for employed disability support workers; see NDIS support worker pay rates. Most independents use a platform for early shifts and a direct profile for the long-term clients; the two are not exclusive.

What do you need before your first shift?

An ABN, an NDIS Worker Screening Check, first aid and CPR, public liability and professional indemnity insurance, a written service agreement and invoices with support item numbers. Each is listed below with what it costs. Registered-provider requirements (audits, Practice Standards) are not on this list because you do not need them to start.

An ABN

Free

Apply free at the Australian Business Register (abr.gov.au). You are "carrying on an enterprise" from your first paid shift, and an ABN is what lets you invoice a plan manager or a self-managed participant without PAYG being withheld. Have your tax file number ready; most applications are approved on the spot. How to get an ABN as a support worker. Source: ABR: applying for an ABN.

NDIS Worker Screening Check

$112 to $163, valid 5 years nationally

Run by your state screening unit, recorded on the NDIS Commission database. As a sole trader you nominate yourself as the employer: create a PRODA account, register in the NDIS Commission applications portal, then apply to your state unit using the same name. Aged care work recognises the same clearance. Worker screening: cost and how to apply in every state. Source: NDIS Commission: worker screening.

Working With Children Check

$80 to $131 depending on state

Required if any participant is under 18. Tasmania and the ACT fold this into a Working With Vulnerable People registration that you need regardless of age. Mandatory-reporting rules for children differ by state, so read yours.

First Aid and CPR

About $100 to $180

HLTAID011 Provide First Aid (renew every 3 years) with CPR refreshed annually. Not a legal requirement for an unregistered sole trader, but nearly every participant, plan manager and support coordinator will ask for it, and it is the first thing a family checks.

Public liability and professional indemnity insurance

$600 to $1,500 a year combined

Public liability of $10 to $20 million is the norm plan managers ask for, professional indemnity $2 to $5 million. Add business-use cover to your car insurance if you transport participants, and consider personal accident cover because nobody pays you sick leave. Support worker insurance costs.

NDIS Worker Orientation Module

Free, about 90 minutes

The Commission's "Quality, Safety and You" module. Not compulsory for unregistered workers, but it is the evidence that you know the NDIS Code of Conduct, which does bind you from day one whether or not you ever register. Worker orientation module guide. Source: NDIS Commission: training modules.

A written service agreement

Free template

Rates, schedule of supports, the NDIS short-notice cancellation rule (7 clear days), GST-free status and how to complain, to you and to the NDIS Commission. Only mandatory for SDA, but it is what gets you paid when a participant cancels at 7am. Build a service agreement.

Invoices with support item numbers

Free template or accounting software

Your name and ABN, the participant's name and NDIS number, dates, the support item number for each shift type, hours, rate and GST status. Plan managers reject invoices without item numbers; self-managed participants pay you and claim it back. NDIS invoice generator.

NDIS Worker Screening Check fee by state

State	Fee (paid work)	Where to apply
NSW	$112	Service NSW (Office of the Children's Guardian)
VIC	$139.20	Victorian NDIS Worker Screening Unit (Department of Justice and Community Safety), applications lodged through Service Victoria
QLD	$161.30	Disability Worker Screening (Queensland Government)
WA	$145	NDIS Worker Screening Unit, Department of Communities
SA	$117	DHS Screening Unit
TAS	$137.20	Department of Justice (Registration to Work with Vulnerable People, includes the NDIS check)
ACT	$163	Access Canberra (Working with Vulnerable People registration, includes the NDIS check)
NT	$149	SAFE NT (NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services)

Fees checked September 2026 and indexed annually by each state; the clearance is valid for 5 years in every state and territory. No screening unit guarantees a turnaround, and two now publish an average: about 8 weeks in the ACT and about 4 weeks in South Australia. Applications with nothing to assess can clear within days in Queensland, or within about 3 weeks of employer verification in Victoria. Anything with records to assess takes longer. In New South Wales and Queensland the employer has 30 days to verify an application before assessment starts. Tasmania and the ACT deliver it through their vulnerable-people registration schemes, which is why those fees cover more than the NDIS check alone. Use the screening cost calculator for the application link in your state.

The obligations that apply from day one, registered or not

The NDIS Code of Conduct binds anyone paid with NDIS funds. In practice that means three systems you set up before the first shift, not after the first complaint:

A complaints process. Tell each participant, in the service agreement, how to complain to you and to the NDIS Commission (1800 035 544). The Commission's participant packs are made for this.
An incident register. A simple log of any incident, injury, near-miss or allegation, what you did and who you told. Unregistered workers are outside the reportable-incident rules but not outside the duty to act.
Privacy handling. Disability information is health information under the Privacy Act, and the small-business exemption does not apply to health service providers. Keep participant records secured and share nothing without consent.

What can you offer with and without a qualification?

Without a formal qualification you can do daily living and social support. Personal care needs a Certificate III or two years' experience, and nursing or allied health needs professional registration. There is no licence to be a support worker, so what you can safely take on grows with your training and experience.

No formal qualification

With a worker screening check, first aid and insurance you can offer daily living and social support: meal preparation, household tasks, shopping, appointments, community access, transport, companionship. This is the largest share of what families ask for.

Working without a qualification

Certificate III or two years' experience

Personal care: showering, dressing, toileting, transfers, medication prompts, and manual handling. Plan managers and coordinators will ask for the certificate or documented experience before referring personal care.

Courses that open personal care work

AHPRA or professional registration

Nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychology and speech pathology are delivered under your professional registration and billed against the therapy price limits, not support-worker rates.

Therapy assistant pathway

Where are independent support workers needed right now?

On Carevo's records to date, most support requests come from New South Wales (453), Victoria (396) and Queensland (243). The table shows requests for personal care, daily support and community access with a recorded suburb (1,405 of the 2,333 requests above; the rest gave no suburb), against the workers registered in each state. A high ratio means more families looking than workers listed.

These requests move fast: a support-worker request on Carevo gets its first provider connection in a median of 3 minutes, and 79% get one within the hour. If you are not visible, someone else gets the call.

State	Support requests	Workers registered	Requests per worker
New South Wales	453	227	2.0
Victoria	396	243	1.6
Queensland	243	133	1.8
Western Australia	127	99	1.3
South Australia	118	70	1.7
Tasmania	40	37	1.1

Suburbs with the most support requests

Carevo inquiries are a platform sample, not a measure of all Australian care demand; suburbs with fewer than 5 requests are not shown. Counts regenerate from Carevo's database at each deployment, last 26 August 2026. How we calculate these numbers.

How much should I charge as an independent support worker?

For plan-managed participants the NDIS price limit is your ceiling for each shift type: $73.58 an hour on weekdays in 2026-27. For self-managed participants any rate you both put in writing is fine. The 2026-27 limits rose about 4.8% on 1 July 2026, so your ceiling moved up.

Shift type	Typical independent rate	2026-27 NDIS price limit
Weekday daytime	$60 to $70 an hour	$73.58 an hour
Weekday evening	$65 to $78 an hour	$81.07 an hour
Saturday	$80 to $95 an hour	$103.54 an hour
Sunday	$90 to $105 an hour	$133.50 an hour
Public holiday	$115 to $135 an hour	$163.46 an hour
Travel	Agreed in the service agreement	$0.99 per km plus worker time

Standard Assistance With Self-Care limits from the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2026-27, current as of 22 July 2026. High-intensity supports carry higher limits. The "typical independent rate" column is a Carevo editorial estimate, built from the price limits, the indicative rates independent workers publish on marketplaces, and the rates workers report on their Carevo profiles; it is a guide, not a guarantee. Your rate has to fund insurance, tax (set aside 25 to 30%), the super nobody pays for you, travel and unpaid admin, which is why $60 to $70 rather than $50 is the going weekday rate. Work through a real week with the support worker income calculator and the full charging guide in independent support worker pay rates 2026-27.

Support worker requests on Carevo at a glance

Support requests: 2,333 requests for personal care, daily support and community access submitted through Carevo
Personal care: 2,278 of those name personal care, the most requested support on Carevo
Asked for a support worker: 55 requests asked for a support worker by name
Provider notifications: 338,865 times a provider was notified of one of these requests, because each request goes to several providers
Time to first response: Median 3 minutes for a provider to connect on a support-worker request; 79% within the hour
Independent workers: 1,034 registered, 113 active this week, 694 with self-declared safety checks

Counts are Carevo platform events regenerated from the database at each deployment, last 26 August 2026; they are not a measure of all Australian care demand. How we calculate these numbers.

Independent support workers already on Carevo

1,034 registered · 113 active this week · 694 with safety checks

A few of the workers participants and providers can find today. Your profile sits alongside them the moment you register.

New Active this week

Jade

Support Worker

Can work as an employee or under their own ABN. Drives their own insured vehicle. Helps with personal care, community outings and respite. Available weekdays, weekends and overnights, and says they can start immediately.

Working with Children Check
Police Check
First Aid
NDIS Worker Screening Check
Insurance

Reported by the worker. Carevo has not sighted or verified these documents; ask to see them before engaging anyone.

Alkimos

Location

15+ yrs

Experience

Checks

New Active this week

Lauren

Support Worker

Drives their own insured vehicle. Helps with community outings, respite and meal preparation. Available weekdays, weekends and overnights, and says they can start immediately. Works under their own ABN as a sole trader.

NDIS Worker Screening Check
Working with Children Check
Police Check
First Aid
Insurance

Reported by the worker. Carevo has not sighted or verified these documents; ask to see them before engaging anyone.

Bendigo

Location

20+ yrs

Experience

Checks

Active this week

Marzena

Support Worker

Speaks Polish. Available weekdays, weekends and overnights, and says they can start immediately. Works under their own ABN as a sole trader. Drives their own insured vehicle.

Working with Children Check
Police Check
First Aid
NDIS Worker Screening Check
Insurance

Reported by the worker. Carevo has not sighted or verified these documents; ask to see them before engaging anyone.

Burleigh Waters

Location

10+ yrs

Experience

Checks

Active this week

Michael

Support Worker

Helps with personal care, community outings and respite. Speaks Vietnamese. Available weekdays, weekends and overnights, and says they can start immediately. Works under their own ABN as a sole trader.

NDIS Worker Screening Check
Working with Children Check
Police Check
First Aid
Insurance

Reported by the worker. Carevo has not sighted or verified these documents; ask to see them before engaging anyone.

Inala

Location

10+ yrs

Experience

Checks

New Active this week

Natalie

Support Worker

Works under their own ABN as a sole trader. Drives their own insured vehicle. Helps with personal care, community outings and respite. Available weekdays, weekends and overnights, and says they can start immediately.

Working with Children Check
Police Check
First Aid
NDIS Worker Screening Check
Insurance

Reported by the worker. Carevo has not sighted or verified these documents; ask to see them before engaging anyone.

Townsville

Location

20+ yrs

Experience

Checks

Active this week

Sourav

Support Worker

Will travel up to 30 minutes. Drives their own insured vehicle. Helps with personal care, cleaning and transport. Works with older people and children.

Working with Children Check
Police Check
First Aid
NDIS Worker Screening Check
Insurance

Reported by the worker. Carevo has not sighted or verified these documents; ask to see them before engaging anyone.

Clyde North

Location

15+ yrs

Experience

Checks

Independent support worker questions, answered

Is it worth becoming an independent support worker?

It is worth it if you can fill a schedule. On our estimate, an independent charging $65 an hour on weekdays keeps roughly $45 to $50 after tax, insurance and voluntary super, against an employed casual on about $32 to $48 an hour under the SCHADS award with leave and super paid for them. The break-even is a steady 15 to 20 hours a week; most workers take 3 to 6 months to get there. If you want certainty of income and no admin, agency work still wins. These are editorial estimates from the NDIS price limits and award rates, not guarantees.

What qualifications do I need to be an independent support worker?

For daily living, social and community support you need no formal qualification: an NDIS Worker Screening Check, first aid and CPR, and insurance are what participants ask for. Personal care (showering, transfers, medication prompts) is where a Certificate III in Individual Support or two years of equivalent experience becomes the practical minimum. Nursing and allied health need current AHPRA or Speech Pathology Australia registration.

How much should I charge as an independent support worker?

Anchor to the NDIS price limits, which are the ceiling for plan-managed participants: $73.58 an hour for standard weekday support, $103.54 on Saturdays, $133.50 on Sundays and $163.46 on public holidays (2026-27). Most independents charge $60 to $70 for weekdays (our estimate from marketplace indicative rates and Carevo worker profiles) and scale the loadings from there. Self-managed participants can agree any rate in writing.

What insurance do you need to be an independent support worker?

Public liability ($10 to $20 million is what plan managers expect) and professional indemnity ($2 to $5 million). Combined policies run $600 to $1,500 a year from specialist brokers. Tell your car insurer you use the vehicle for work if you drive participants, and consider personal accident cover since a sole trader has no sick leave.

How much does an independent support worker make?

As a worked estimate: 30 billable hours a week at a blended $70 an hour is about $105,000 a year gross. Take off roughly 25 to 30% for tax, $1,000 to $1,500 for insurance, travel between clients and any super you choose to pay, and take-home for a busy full-time independent lands around $70,000 to $80,000; part-time independents commonly earn $30,000 to $50,000. Actual income depends entirely on hours filled and cancellations. Use the income calculator on this page to run your own numbers.

Do independent support workers need an NDIS check?

Legally the NDIS Worker Screening Check is only compulsory for workers in risk-assessed roles at registered providers. In practice every plan manager, support coordinator and most families require it, Mable and Hireup require it, and it is the one document that lets you work in aged care as well. Get it before you look for clients: it costs $112 to $163 and lasts 5 years.

How do independent support workers get clients?

Four channels, used together: a Carevo worker profile, which is free and shows you the open care requests within 30 km (contacting them needs the $99 a month Support Worker Plan; register above), one or two marketplaces for immediate shifts, introduction emails to the support coordinators and plan managers in your area, and word of mouth once your first participants are happy. Coordinator referrals become the biggest source within a year for most workers.

How to become an unregistered NDIS support worker?

Unregistered is the default. Get an ABN, your worker screening check, first aid and insurance, write a service agreement, and start supporting self-managed and plan-managed participants, who together make up most of the scheme. You never apply to the NDIS for anything. Only NDIA-managed participants must use a registered provider, and registration means a $3,000 to $10,000 audit.

Can I be an independent NDIS support worker?

Yes, as long as you are genuinely running your own business rather than an employee in disguise: you set your hours, carry your own insurance, invoice for your work and can take on other clients. The ATO's employee-or-contractor tool gives you a report to keep on file. If you are over 18, hold a worker screening check and have an ABN, you can start.

How to become an independent support worker in Australia?

Seven steps: get a free ABN, apply for the NDIS Worker Screening Check in your state, take out public liability and professional indemnity insurance, write a service agreement template, set up invoicing with NDIS support item numbers, set your rates against the 2026-27 price limits, then register a worker profile and introduce yourself to local support coordinators. The full walkthrough is in our step-by-step guide.

The full setup walkthrough, with the ATO contractor test, the tax and GST section and the state-by-state checks, is in the complete guide to becoming an independent NDIS support worker. Every client channel is compared in how to find NDIS clients as an independent support worker.

Working for yourself

If you plan to take on participants directly rather than joining a provider team, these guides cover the practical side.

Become an independent support worker on Carevo Step-by-step guide to going independent How independent support workers find NDIS clients Mable vs Hireup vs Carevo for support workers Getting support worker insurance Service agreement template Pay rate calculator SCHADS award rates tool

Get your first independent clients

Register your availability, supports and checks in two minutes. Real care requests near you land on your dashboard, you contact the ones that fit, and Carevo never takes a cut.

Looking for a support worker instead? Browse independent support workers.

Sources

Applying for an ABN, Australian Business Register
Employee or independent contractor, Australian Taxation Office
NDIS Worker Screening Check, NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
NDIS Code of Conduct, NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
Worker training modules (Quality, Safety and You), NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2026-27, National Disability Insurance Agency
Independent contractors, Fair Work Ombudsman
Australian Privacy Principles, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award pay guide, Fair Work Ombudsman
State screening fees checked July 2026 on each screening unit's site, linked in the fee table above.

Worker and request counts regenerate from Carevo's database at each deployment. Screening fees checked July 2026; NDIS price limits current as of 22 July 2026; page reviewed 26 August 2026.