Caretaker → CareGuider → CarerLeader.
Moving up is optional, but the path is real — and from the second tier your income stops being only your own hours.
Moving up is optional. Many Caretakers stay on tier one, do it well, and earn steadily. But if you want to go further, the path is there.
Register with us. This is where everyone starts.
Suits: anyone with care experience or willing to learn from scratch, who speaks Chinese and wants steady hours.
Introduce older people you already know, who genuinely need help, to CareU.
Most Caretakers already know someone like this — a neighbour in the same block, an elder at church, an uncle or aunt in a hometown group chat. They qualify for government funding but have never applied, because nobody explained the process in a language they read.
Introduce them, and at least 50% of that person's support hours are allocated to you.
This table turns the 50% floor into real numbers: how many support hours that client has in a year, how many of them are yours, what that is per week, and roughly what it pays over a year.
| Package level | Annual budget | Hours/yr at 100% personal care | Your 50% (per year) | Per week | Estimated annual pay, before tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support at Home (SAH) | |||||
| Level 1 | $11,010 | 99 | 50 | 1.0 | $1,883 – $2,180 |
| Level 2 | $16,451 | 148 | 74 | 1.4 | $2,813 – $3,257 |
| Level 3 | $22,537 | 203 | 101 | 2.0 | $3,854 – $4,462 |
| Level 4 | $30,469 | 274 | 137 | 2.6 | $5,210 – $6,033 |
| Level 5 | $40,730 | 367 | 183 | 3.5 | $6,965 – $8,064 |
| Level 6 | $49,365 | 444 | 222 | 4.3 | $8,441 – $9,774 |
| Level 7 | $59,660 | 537 | 268 | 5.2 | $10,202 – $11,813 |
| Level 8 | $80,137 | 721 | 361 | 6.9 | $13,703 – $15,867 |
| Home Care Package (HCP) — transitional | |||||
| HCP Level 1 | $11,272 | 101 | 51 | 1.0 | $1,928 – $2,232 |
| HCP Level 2 | $19,822 | 178 | 89 | 1.7 | $3,390 – $3,925 |
| HCP Level 3 | $43,149 | 388 | 194 | 3.7 | $7,378 – $8,543 |
| HCP Level 4 | $65,416 | 589 | 294 | 5.7 | $11,186 – $12,952 |
How this is worked out: the annual budget less the 10% care management fee, spent entirely on personal care at $100/hr, then 50% of those hours. This column assumes the client is on the standard 10% model; on the 25% MDT model (75% to care, core services at $72/hr) the same level buys noticeably more hours. It is the maximum-hours case — real clients also use domestic assistance and allied health, which are priced differently, so the hours shift. Pay is calculated at the base rate, $38/hr (apprentice) to $44/hr (two years' service), and is before tax — it excludes super (12% is paid on top into your super fund) and no tax has been deducted. What you take home depends on your total income for the year; the calculator works that out at your marginal rate. 50% is the floor and can reach 70%; the condition below still applies.
Want to run it on the client's model (10% or 25% MDT), the share they have agreed to, and your own pay stage? Open the CareGuider income calculator →
Suits: Caretakers with community connections who are willing to walk an elder through an application.
From delivering services to designing how someone lives.
By this point you know a group of clients well — their health, their family, their habits, what they worry about. You can become their:
At this tier we speak with you individually and share the proceeds. The form it takes depends on how many clients you carry, how deep the work goes, and what you take responsibility for — and it is set out in a written agreement.
Suits: experienced Caretakers carrying several clients, with a track record and an appetite for more responsibility.
“CareGuider” can sound like a way to roster yourself work. It is the opposite. These three are not disclaimers — they are the conditions the role exists under.
Whether it is the 50% floor or the 70% ceiling, not one hour is assigned by us. The share, who visits, and how many hours a week all require the older person's own agreement — or, where they have a cognitive impairment or have appointed someone, their legal representative's.
The decision is theirs. We advise, and we train the Caretaker — that is the whole of our part. This is not politeness: the law gives older people the right to choose who supports them, and we will not assign a worker over that. They can ask to change at any time, and owe nobody a reason.
Concentrating the hours on one person is not a reward for introducing a client. It exists so that the same person keeps turning up. Changing faces costs an older person a great deal: routines explained again, conditions described again, trust built again — and for someone with cognitive decline, more than that.
Someone they already know, already trust, and who speaks their language gives steadier care, and notices a change in body or mood earlier. Continuity of care is what this design is buying.
The CareGuider who then supports the client cannot be their immediate family — spouse, parent, child, or a close relative living with them or in a dependent relationship. Government funding buys professional services; it does not pay family members for the care they give day to day. The rule also removes a conflict of interest, which protects the older person.
You can absolutely help your own relative apply for funding — we assist with that free of charge — the visits simply have to be staffed by someone else. Not sure whether you count as immediate family? Ask a Carer Manager first, and we will tell you what the rule says.
The pay page carries the CareGuider income calculator: pick the level, set the agreed share, pick your pay stage, and read the hours a week and the pay per week, per month and per year.