How Support Worker Rates and Payments Work on CareVicinity

One of the first practical questions anyone asks before starting as an independent support worker is simple: how does the money actually work? Not what you might earn on average - that depends entirely on your own rate, hours and clients - but the mechanics of setting a rate, what comes off it, and how you actually get paid.

In short: as an independent support worker on CareVicinity, you set your own hourly rate - CareVicinity doesn't set it for you. That rate is what the client or coordinator sees and pays. CareVicinity's platform fee, 12.5%, is deducted from your payout after the fact - it's never added on top of your rate. So if you set a $50 hourly rate, the client pays $50, and you receive $43.75 after the fee.

You set the rate, not CareVicinity

This is the part worth being clear on from the start: CareVicinity is a marketplace connecting independent support workers with people who need support, not an employer setting pay scales. You decide what your hourly rate is, based on your own experience, the type of work, and what you think is fair for your time. Different support workers on the same platform can and do charge different rates.

Where the 12.5% platform fee actually comes from

CareVicinity charges a single 12.5% platform fee, and it applies to the support worker's side of the transaction - not as an extra charge added on top of what a client pays.

Here's the mechanism in practice, using a $50 hourly rate as the example:

• Your set hourly rate (what the client pays): $50.00

• CareVicinity's 12.5% platform fee: $6.25

• Your payout after the fee: $43.75

The client or coordinator pays exactly the rate you set - no additional CareVicinity fee is added to their side. The 12.5% comes out of your payout, not on top of the client's bill. This is a genuinely common point of confusion, so it's worth stating plainly: your rate is never inflated by CareVicinity's fee before it reaches the client, and the fee is never charged twice.

Why it works this way

Structuring the fee this way keeps one number - your rate - as the single figure everyone sees and agrees to upfront, rather than a rate plus a separate visible fee layered on top for the client. It also means the fee scales with what you actually earn: a higher rate means a larger fee in dollar terms, but the percentage stays the same regardless of what you charge.

What this means when you're setting your rate

Because the fee comes out of your payout rather than being added to the client's price, it's worth factoring the 12.5% into your own thinking when you decide what to charge - your take-home is your rate minus that fee, not your rate in full. If you want a particular amount to actually land in your account per hour, you'll need to set your listed rate slightly above that target to account for the deduction.

How payment timing works

Payments follow the shifts you complete and have approved through the platform - you're not invoicing clients directly and chasing payment yourself the way a fully independent freelancer might. The specifics of invoicing, GST and the paperwork side of this are covered separately in ABN and GST basics for independent support workers and understanding GST on your in-home support invoices if you want the fuller picture of the admin side alongside the payment mechanics here.

FAQ

Does CareVicinity set my hourly rate for me? No. You set your own rate based on your experience and the type of work - CareVicinity doesn't assign or standardise pay rates across workers.

Is the 12.5% fee charged to the client as well as to me? No - it's one fee, deducted from your payout. Clients and coordinators pay no additional CareVicinity platform fee on top of your set rate.

If I raise my rate, does the fee percentage change? No, the percentage stays at 12.5% regardless of your rate - a higher rate simply means a larger dollar amount is deducted, in the same proportion.

Can I change my rate after I've started working on CareVicinity? This article covers how the rate-and-fee mechanism works, not the specific steps for updating your listed rate - check your CareVicinity profile settings directly for that.

Setting a rate that actually works for you

Understanding the mechanism is the first step - what you actually charge is a judgement call based on your experience, the type of support you provide, and what similar work is going for in your area. Once you've got that sorted, how do I build a profile that gets chosen is a natural next step for putting your rate and experience in front of the right clients.

CareVicinity is an Australia-wide care marketplace connecting independent support workers with people needing in-home support. Availability of work and rates may vary by location.