More than a worker, a friend for the journey.
Bringing a smile and a clean home to every visit. Dedicated to independence with a personal touch.
Not a word game. The two describe genuinely different ways of working.
Being able to clean a house and assist with care is the baseline. What actually makes an older person open the door, talk, and accept help is the person themselves — remembering their grandson's name, knowing which tea they like, noticing that today they seem off.
Almost all our clients are Chinese-Australian elders. Many have never had a stranger in the house and were raised not to be a burden. Speaking their language and understanding that hesitation is itself a professional skill.
On most platforms a support worker's career has one direction: more shifts, more hours. Year five looks like year one.
We built three tiers. You can stay on the first one — plenty do, and do well. From the second, your income stops being purely a function of hours. On the third you help design how a client actually lives, and we share the proceeds with you.
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 40% of that person's support hours are allocated to you.
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.
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.
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. | |
Our clients use government Support at Home funding, which splits services into three categories. You can work in one, or grow across several as you train.
Note: the government service list funds Essential light cleaning — mopping, vacuuming, washing dishes. It excludes spring cleans, carpet cleaning, ladder work on outside windows and moving heavy furniture. That is the rule, and it also protects you. See the task-by-task list
Worth knowing: from 1 October 2026 personal care becomes fully government funded with no client contribution — demand in this category is expected to rise noticeably. See the change
AHPRA registration or equivalent qualification required. Pay for these roles is negotiated separately and does not follow the years-of-service scale above. See all services
You look after our clients. We look after you.
Address, time, the client's situation and what this visit involves — all on your phone. Clock in and out, notes and incident reports all happen in the app. No chasing clients, no negotiating rates.
The legislated 12% super paid on top of your hourly rate, and tax withheld for you. No ABN, no doing your own return.
Covered from your first shift, workers compensation included. If something happens on the way to a visit or during one, there is a process and a person.
Induction, dementia care, transfers and falls prevention, infection control, first aid refreshers — free, and your training time is paid.
Care managers, rostering and training all available in Chinese. Say what you mean without translating it first.
Care work carries real emotional weight, especially around dementia and end of life. Confidential support is available and does not affect how your work is assessed.
Reimbursable travel between visits and necessary consumables are not taken out of your hourly rate.
Rates rise with years served, and the three tiers are published. You should not have to ask, or know someone.
Our North Sydney showroom lets you get familiar with walkers, shower chairs and hoists before you meet them in someone's home.
Two to four weeks from application to first shift. Most of that is background screening, which is a legal requirement and cannot be shortened.
Fill in the form below, or just call. Five minutes.
In Chinese or English: your experience, what you want to do, your area, hours you can work.
Identity, work rights and qualifications verified; worker screening and police check arranged.
Training and mentored shifts before you work alone. Paid.
Matched to clients in your area and skill set. Someone usually comes with you the first time.
You can apply without a certificate. We run apprentice positions — learn on the job, training paid.
Yes. We run apprentice positions starting at $36/hr plus 12% super, working alongside a mentor while you learn, with training time paid. After induction and sign-off you move to $38, then $40 after a year and $42 after two. Willingness matters more than a certificate — we can help you get the certificate.
An employee, and no ABN. We pay the legislated 12% super on top of your hourly rate, withhold your tax, and carry insurance and workers compensation. This is a fundamentally different arrangement from the contractor model on a marketplace.
The headline figure is lower, but the two numbers describe different things. A marketplace rate is a contractor rate that excludes super, and out of it you fund your own ABN, tax, insurance and the unpaid hours spent finding clients. Ours has 12% super on top, tax and insurance handled, and work allocated to you. Counted properly they are close — the real difference is stability, and whether you want to run your own business. See the comparison
It depends on client volume in your area, the services you can deliver, and the availability you give us. We will not promise what we cannot roster. On the first call we tell you honestly what your area can currently support — and if it is thin, we say so rather than signing you and leaving you waiting.
For a client you introduce, at least 40% of their support hours are allocated to you, and up to 70% depending on the service type and what the work involves. With one condition stated up front: the older person and the Carer Manager decide together. The law gives older people the right to choose who supports them, and we cannot assign a worker over that. It protects the client — and it protects you, because being placed with someone you don't suit helps nobody.
That tier is arranged individually and set out in a written agreement. What it looks like depends on how many clients you carry, how deep the work goes, and the role you take on (lifestyle planning, family extension and so on). It will not be a verbal promise — every arrangement is documented.
Yes. Outside standard hours (06:00–20:00), on weekends and on public holidays, statutory penalty rates apply, and overtime is paid separately. These are legal entitlements, not company generosity.
Yes. We also serve Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane. Tell us your city and area when you apply and we will tell you what the demand there actually looks like.
Not necessarily for domestic assistance, personal care or social support, though having one noticeably increases the shifts available to you. Transport work requires a licence and a vehicle. Travel between visits is reimbursed under our policy.
The Carer Manager looks into it first. Most issues are communication or matching, and change with a different approach. If it genuinely isn't working we rematch — one poor fit does not affect your overall hours. Equally, if a client or their family makes you feel unsafe, tell us immediately: ensuring you can work in a safe environment is our legal obligation, not a favour.
About two minutes. We reply within two business days.
Already working in this field? If you already support several older people, contact us directly about a tier-two CareGuider arrangement.