Aged Care Support Worker: What the Role Involves and How to Start

An aged care support worker is a paid worker who helps older people with everyday tasks so they can keep living at home. Depending on the person, that can mean personal care, cleaning and shopping, meal preparation, transport, company and social activities, or giving a family carer a break.

If you are looking for an aged care support worker for someone in your family, rather than looking to become one, you can find independent support workers on CareVicinity.

What the work covers

The Australian Government's Support at Home service list is a useful map of the work. Support at Home is the government's in-home aged care program. It replaced the Home Care Packages Program on 1 November 2025, and what that means for independent support workers is covered separately.

Six service types on the list cover the everyday help an aged care support worker provides:

• Personal care. Assistance with self-care and daily activities, including attendant care for essential and ongoing needs such as mobility, eating and hygiene.

• Domestic assistance. General house cleaning and laundry, and shopping with or without the person.

• Meals. Support to prepare meals in the person's home.

• Transport. Transport assistance that connects an older person with their usual activities.

• Social support and community engagement. Support for a person's need for social connection and for taking part in community life. That can include going with them to appointments or community events, and support to join in cultural activities. The guide to working respectfully with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds covers that side of the work.

• Respite. Supervision and assistance of an older person by someone other than their usual informal carer, at home or in the community. For a family member who provides unpaid care, it can mean a break.

Where the work stops

Clinical care sits in separate service types on the same list. Nursing care is one, with registered nurses and enrolled nurses among the people who deliver it. Allied health is another, covering professions such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists and podiatrists. Both are separate from the everyday support above.

Medication shows where the line falls. Personal care on the list includes assistance with the self-administration of medication. The department's service list FAQs describe that as reminding a person to take their medications or helping with opening packaging, for someone who is able to self-administer. The administration of medications is listed separately, under nursing care.

What a worker can do depends on their scope of practice, the person's service agreement and their care plan. The FAQs add that care planning for medication support will generally need input from a registered nurse, especially when it goes beyond support with self-administration. If a request falls outside your qualifications or the service agreement, say so plainly and suggest the person speaks to their provider or a nurse.

Do you need a qualification?

Certificate III in Individual Support is a nationally recognised qualification that people entering aged care work commonly complete. The department's service list FAQs also say that all aged care workers must have the appropriate qualifications, skills or experience to deliver funded aged care services, and must work to their scope of practice.

What CareVicinity asks for depends on the kind of support you offer. Its Deliver Care page lists the requirements by type of work, so check it for the kind of work you plan to offer before you apply.

Working independently in aged care

Working independently means running your own small business instead of being employed. Support workers on CareVicinity are independent contractors. As the marketplace, CareVicinity does not employ them, assign them to clients or supervise the care they deliver.

You register your own business, get your own ABN and choose the jobs that fit your skills. You then agree the hours and responsibilities with the care seeker in a clear, simple agreement, so both sides know what to expect.

Whether that suits you is a different question from whether you would rather work through an agency. The two are compared in independent support worker vs agency.

How to start

To start working through CareVicinity:

1. Register your own business and get an ABN. It is free to do on the Australian Business Register.

2. Get a current police check. Every support worker providing support through CareVicinity needs one.

3. Line up two professional references. Have their contact details ready before you apply.

4. Check the requirements for the work you want to offer. The Deliver Care page lists them by type of work.

5. Create your profile and look for work.

When your documents are ready, you can sign up and create your profile from the Deliver Care page.

Frequently asked questions

Is an aged care support worker the same as a personal care worker? The names overlap, so read the list of duties in a job ad or service agreement rather than relying on the title. Personal care is also the name of one service type on the government list, covering the hands-on help described above.

Is a carer the same as a support worker? No. A carer looks after a family member or friend without being paid, while a support worker is paid for the work.

Sources

• Support at Home service list, health.gov.au

• Support at Home service list FAQs, health.gov.au, published 7 October 2025

• Support at Home program, health.gov.au, last updated 27 August 2026