Pay is set by years of service, $38–$44/hr, with 12% super paid on top of it.
This page carries the CareGuider income calculator — hours a week, and pay per week, per month and per year.
We don't price by how well you negotiate. We price by experience and time served — which matters most to the people who are least comfortable asking for more.
Learning on the job with a mentor. Training time is paid.
Induction and sign-off complete; working independently.
Can mentor new starters and take more complex clients.
Senior Caretaker, eligible for tiers two and three.
Base rates for weekday standard hours (06:00–20:00). Evenings, weekends and public holidays attract the statutory penalty rates, and overtime is paid on top. Super is the legislated 12%, paid by us in addition to the hourly rate — not deducted from it. Actual terms are set out in your employment contract.
This is the easiest thing to skim past and the one that most changes what you actually take home.
On a marketplace, the rate you see is a contractor rate and it excludes super. You register an ABN, do your own tax, buy your own insurance, and fund your own retirement out of that number. It looks bigger until you subtract all of it.
At CareU you are an employee. Super is paid on top of the hourly rate, tax is withheld for you, insurance is ours. The “all up” line above is the number you can hold against a marketplace rate.
The table above is the 50% floor. What you actually get comes down to four things: the client's package level, whether they chose the 10% or the 25% MDT model, the share they have agreed to, and your own pay stage. It shows hours per week, and what those hours come to before tax, after tax, and in super paid on top.
Which model did the client choose? Same package level, different model, very different hours.
This income sits on top of whatever else you earn, so it is taxed at your marginal rate — pick the band your total year lands in, not this stream alone.
What those hours pay (per year)
These three are after tax and exclude super — super is paid on top of your rate into your super fund and cannot be drawn until retirement, so it is not take-home. The monthly figure is the year averaged over twelve. Tax is an estimate at your marginal rate; actual withholding depends on your employment type and declarations, and is settled at your annual tax return.
Set out in full on Three tiers · the limits of the role.
An estimate. It assumes the funding is spent entirely on one service: personal care at $100/hr under the standard 10% model, or core support services at $72/hr under the 25% MDT model — the maximum-hours case. Real clients also use domestic assistance and allied health, which are priced differently (and are not discounted to $72), so the hours shift. Pay is the weekday standard-hours base rate (06:00–20:00) plus 12% super; evenings, weekends and public holidays attract statutory penalty rates, and overtime is paid on top. The final allocation is decided by the older person and the Carer Manager together.
We are not going to tell you one is better — they suit different people. Here are the facts side by side.
| CareU Caretaker | Marketplace (Mable and similar) | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Employee (casual or part-time) | Independent contractor |
| ABN needed | No | Yes — you register and maintain it |
| Superannuation | 12%, paid on top of your rate | Funded by you, out of your rate |
| Tax | Withheld for you; payment summary at year end | Your own books, your own returns, your own set-aside |
| Insurance and workers comp | Carried by us, workers compensation included | Usually your own cover, or platform cover only |
| Penalty rates and overtime | Paid at statutory rates | Whatever you negotiate |
| How work reaches you | Allocated through the app, coordinated by us | Build a profile, find clients, negotiate each one |
| Time spent finding work | None — that part is our job | Unpaid; no bookings means no income |
| Headline hourly figure | Lower | Higher |
| After super and self-borne costs | Much closer than the headline suggests. The real difference is stability, and whether you want to run your own business. | |
A five-minute first call, and we will tell you honestly what your area can currently roster. If you want to see how far the role goes first, read the three tiers.