Can I get paid to care for a family member in Australia?
What the NDIS, Support at Home and Carer Payment actually allow when you care for someone you love, and how to turn that care into paid work.
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Australia has 3.0 million unpaid carers, and 1.2 million of them are primary carers, according to the ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers 2022. Most of them are doing work a paid support worker would be doing anywhere else: personal care, medication prompts, meals, getting someone to appointments.
So can you be paid for it? Sometimes, through a narrow door. The more reliable path is the one next to it: the skills you already use at home are the skills Aged Care and Disability providers are short of, and the credentials to prove them take months, not years.
Carer Payment is income support, and you can work alongside it
Carer Payment and Carer Allowance are paid by Services Australia. They recognise that caring limits your ability to work. They are not wages, and nobody employs you to receive them.
The rule that matters most if you want to start paid care work changed on 20 March 2025. You can now do up to 100 hours of paid work over a 4-week period and keep Carer Payment, replacing the old cap of 25 hours a week (Services Australia). Travel to and from work, study, training and volunteering do not count towards the 100 hours. You still need to provide care for a significant period each day.
That makes part-time care work for someone else, or study towards a qualification, realistic while you keep caring at home.
The NDIS funds family members only in exceptional circumstances
The NDIS expects families to provide some support as part of ordinary family life. The NDIA's operational guidelines ("Including specific types of supports in plans") say it funds a family member to deliver supports only in exceptional circumstances. The examples it gives include:
- a risk of harm or neglect to the participant
- religious or cultural reasons
- strong personal views about privacy or dignity.
For personal care and community access, the NDIA expects other options to have been tried first. Approvals are uncommon, need the NDIA's agreement before the arrangement starts, and are often time-limited. If you think your situation fits, raise it with the participant's planner or local area coordinator and keep a written record of the decision.
The NDIA says it is updating its guidelines to reflect the NDIS legislation changes that started on 3 October 2024, so read the current version before relying on any of the above.
Support at Home allows it when there are no other options
For older people, Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025 under the Aged Care Act 2024. The Support at Home program manual (V4.4, September 2026, section 10.6.2) lets a registered provider engage a participant's family member to deliver funded services, but only "when there are no other options available".
When deciding, the provider considers whether:
- the participant is at risk of harm or neglect without the services
- the participant lives in a rural or remote area under the Modified Monash Model
- the participant is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or from a culturally and linguistically diverse background
- the family member is appropriately qualified to deliver the services
- the family member meets all other worker obligations under the Act.
If those criteria are met, the provider can engage you as a third-party worker. The provider makes the decision, needs a specific agreement in place, and stays responsible for the quality and safety of the care. You cannot set this up yourself: the provider engages you, and the funding flows through the provider.
Points 4 and 5 are the ones you control. Every other point is about the person you care for.
Worker obligations apply to family too
A family member engaged under Support at Home is an aged care worker under the Act. That means Aged Care screening (a National Police Check (Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check) issued in the last 3 years, or a current NDIS Worker Screening Clearance), the Aged Care Code of Conduct, and whatever qualification the provider needs for the services you deliver.
Being qualified opens both doors
Whether a provider engages you for your own family member or for someone else's, it will ask the same questions. Can you show you are qualified, and are you cleared to work?
A practical order to work through:
- Certificate III in Individual Support (CHC33021). The standard entry qualification for personal care in Aged Care and Disability, with at least 120 hours of supervised work placement. Many states have offered it through Fee-Free TAFE, so check your state's current list. Study does not count towards the Carer Payment 100 hours.
- Screening. For Aged Care, a National Police Check issued in the last 3 years or an NDIS Worker Screening Clearance. For NDIS work with risk-assessed roles, the NDIS Worker Screening Check. See NDIS Worker Screening vs police check for which one you need.
- First aid and CPR. HLTAID011 Provide First Aid covers both, and HLTAID009 CPR needs a refresher every 12 months.
- The NDIS Worker Orientation Module. Free, online and widely expected by Disability providers.
Your caring experience counts in an interview. Write down what you do: the routines, the equipment, the conditions you manage, the professionals you work with. It is your own account, and a provider will treat it as that, but it shows you know what the job involves before day one.
Keep it in one place a provider can check
Most providers ask for the same documents again at every new job. A Career Passport keeps your qualification, screening and first aid together, tracks expiry dates, and lets you share them with a provider when you apply. Kooka, Koora's AI coach for care workers, can help you work out which credentials a role needs and what to do next. For questions about your Carer Payment, talk to Services Australia directly.
What we do not know yet
Two things are still moving. The NDIA is rewriting its guidelines for the 2024 legislation, and the Support at Home manual has been revised several times since 2025. The family member rules could change in either program. Check the current versions before you or a provider makes a decision.
Where to get help
- Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737 for counselling, respite and coaching for carers.
- Services Australia for how work affects your Carer Payment.
- The participant's NDIS planner, or the Support at Home provider's care partner, for whether a paid family arrangement is possible in your situation.
Frequently asked questions
Will the NDIS pay me to support my family member?
Usually not. The NDIA's operational guidelines say it funds a family member to provide supports only in exceptional circumstances, such as a risk of harm or neglect, or religious or cultural reasons. Any arrangement needs the NDIA's agreement before it starts and is often time-limited.
Can a Support at Home provider pay me to care for my parent?
Sometimes. The Support at Home program manual (V4.4, September 2026, section 10.6.2) lets a provider engage a participant's family member as a third-party worker when there are no other options. The provider weighs risk of harm, rural or remote location, First Nations or culturally and linguistically diverse background, whether you are appropriately qualified, and whether you meet the worker obligations under the Aged Care Act 2024. The provider decides and stays responsible.
Can I work and keep Carer Payment?
Yes, within a limit. Since 20 March 2025 you can do up to 100 hours of paid work in a 4-week period and keep Carer Payment, as long as you still provide care for a significant period each day. Travel, study, training and volunteering do not count towards the 100 hours. Check your own situation with Services Australia.
This is general information, not compliance advice. Always confirm requirements with the relevant regulator, and remember that providers keep the legal responsibility to sight credentials and decide who can work.
We work hard to keep everything accurate, and our compliance engine keeps up with the rules as they change. Even so, we might get a detail slightly wrong or miss something. No one's perfect. If you think something here needs updating, email us at resources@koora.care. We would genuinely rather know, because we all do better when we help each other get it right.
Your credentials, ready for every job.
Add your checks, certificates and expiry dates once, then share your Career Passport with each new employer instead of uploading the same documents again. Free for care workers.