CLIENTS: Frequently Asked Questions
Find a Carer is an online marketplace (website) where older Australians, people with disability and parents of children can search and find the care or support services that they need.
The services provided by care support providers listed on Find a Carer, are personalised to meet your specific requirements and delivered to where you live. True choice is in your hands!
Find a Carer has been designed as a fast, effective and safe way for Clients (Care Seekers) and Independent Support Workers (also known as Independent Carers) to find and contact one another. It is free to join and an easy to use marketplace (website) where older Australians, people with disability and parents of children can search and find the care or support services that they need.
Independent Carers register their details and provide a snapshot of their skills, qualifications and experience. This information is turned into a Carer Profile which you can view by searching our database of Carers for free. Some Carers may offer an introductory half hour free to enable you to meet and work out if you are a fit for each other.
As a Client, you will need to register your details and enter your requirements: the skills and experience that you are looking for in a Carer. This will assist our Care Support Team to know more about you when contact is made, and a summary of your care needs (e.g. location, hours of care required and days) will be messaged to a potential carer upon your instruction.
Find a Carer is an online markYou can search for Carers available in your area using our simple search engine. Your search does not have to be restricted to your residential postcode. As you travel around the country you can search by the postcode you are in. Our search engine results will provide you with a choice of Independent Carers and service providers with their listing of services and related prices.etplace (website) where older Australians, people with disability and parents of children can search and find the care or support services that they need.
Select one or more Independent Carers that best meet your requirements and connect with them via Find a Carer’s secure online messaging service. They will be advised of your interest and, if available, will respond to your request within 48 hours.
Your bookings are made via the Find a Carer website and payments are processed via Find a Carer’s secure online payment gateway. The payment is then released to the service provider 7 days after the service has been completed.
If you’re happy with the service, you can save that service provider as a ‘Favourite’ on Find a Carer and continue to book their services and rate their service using our online 5-star rating system. For further information, check out our ‘Who We Are’ video by clicking here.
No, Find a Carer is not an agency. We are simply a resource through which Care Seekers and Carers can make contact in a safe and secure environment. Find a Carer do not get involved in the engagement process between Care Seekers and Carers however, we aim to provide relevant information to make it as easy and stress free as possible.
There are many benefits to becoming a member of Find a Carer:
Local – You could be surprised and find a local Independent Carer around the corner or even living in the same street! By becoming a member and completing your care requirements, you will be able to search for local Independent Carers.
Contact – Members can contact Independent Carers on our database anytime.
Safe – Find a Carer ensures peace of mind for its members. All Independent Carers using the Find a Carer platform have been personally identified, have had a current National Employment Police Check verified and, when relevant, a validated current Working With Children Check. The Find a Carer platform is also community regulated via a star rating system, which helps to ensure positive and safe service experiences for Carers and Clients alike.
Secure – Your personal and contact details are protected and never revealed by Find a Carer. Only non-identifiable information is revealed in profiles. Payment for your Independent Carer’s services is made through our secure online payment gateway. Find a Carer has arranged comprehensive insurances on behalf of all Carers who transact on the Find a Carer platform, giving you a greater degree of security.
Fast – Registration with Find a Carer is FREE and takes about 5 – 10 minutes. Upon registration, members gain immediate access to our database of several thousand Carers across the nation.
Easy – Find a Carer enables you to easily search, connect with and book an Independent Carer near to you. Our online portal also allows you to track and manage your bookings and payments in the one place.
Accessible – the Find a Carer online marketplace keeps administrative fees low, so that you can stretch your dollars further and maximise the amount that you can spend on direct personal service.
Unrestricted Access – You will gain unrestricted access to all resources available on the Find a Carer website.
Alerts – Carers set the distance that they are willing to travel. If your postcode falls within the specified distance, we will alert Carers when you are looking for assistance.
Friendly Support – the very friendly and dedicated Find a Carer Care Support Team is ready to assist you with any questions or concerns that you may have.
This website is ideal for:
- people who have their care or support independently managed or who self-direct their care;
- adults needing care for an ageing loved one
- parents who need Independent Carers for their children with special needs
- Primary carers who need some respite on a casual basis can also benefit from this service.
Find a Carer recognises that the relationship between care support providers and yourself is a very special one. There has to be a high level of trust between the parties for the relationship to be successful.
Find a Carer takes your safety, and that of the care support providers listed on our website, very seriously. All care support providers using the Find a Carer platform have been personally identified; have undergone a Police Check and, if offering Child Care services, have a current Working with Children card.
In addition, where care support providers list their qualifications and experience on Find a Carer, our Care Support Team verifies the validity of those qualifications (degrees, diplomas, certificates etc) before approving their profile for listing on the Find a Carer website. Registered and Enrolled Nurses are verified with the Nurses Registration Board.
Find a Carer has comprehensive Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance in place to cover your care service transactions booked on the Find a Carer website, at no cost to the Carer or Care Seeker.
Find a Carer is committed to a high safety standard, to protect vulnerable people who will be purchasing services through our marketplace. All care and support workers listed on our site must complete a National Police Check process suitable for employment purposes. We do not accept Volunteer Police Checks.
Absolutely. A secure server is used whenever you enter an area on the site that requires credit card details or personal information. This can be confirmed by looking at the address bar at the top of the page.
HTTPS at the beginning of the address bar indicates a secure server. General areas such as the Home Page, Tips and Resources, FAQs and search results use an unsecure connection which is standard practice.
Absolutely. Find a Carer will never disclose personal or contact details of Carers or Care Seekers. The site has been designed so that both Carers and Care Seekers can communicate safely and securely, without revealing personal details or email addresses until comfortable to do so. Please view our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions for further information.
No. Your credit card information is encrypted and not available for anyone, even us, to view.
We need your address to match you with Independent Carers, service provider and Experiences in your area – geographically.
Find a Carer will only display non-identifiable information. Surname, physical street address, telephone numbers, email address as well as all payment information are kept strictly confidential by Find a Carer.
We are not permitted to offer advice in this matter. However, if you have a Home Building Insurance Policy you may be covered for Legal Liability under this policy. Contact your current insurer for more information.
All bookings made and services delivered via Find a Carer portal are automatically covered by our Public Liability and Professional Insurance. It is important to note that if you trade outside the Find a Carer platform you will be in breach of the Find a Carer website Terms and Conditions.
As business owners or individual service providers, Individual Carers should have their own Workers Compensation insurance cover. You may wish to confirm with your chosen provider if they hold current cover.
A large portion of our Independent Carers are qualified with a Certificate III or above in Aged or Disability Care and come from a wide cross-section of the population. Many are experienced and have existing jobs but need to fill their working week. Others have recently graduated, are students in allied fields or mature aged carers returning to the workforce. A significant number of the care support providers are independent and are likely to have their own ABN. They are extremely diverse: culturally, ethnically and in experience. With access to several thousand (and growing) care support providers across all capital cities, regional centres and parts of rural Australia, Find a Carer community is more likely to have the right person available for you, close by.
Find a Carer does not employ the listed Carers and support providers.
Personal ID, Police checks, Working with Children checks and professional registrations are validated by Find a Carer. Feedback received from Care Seekers is sought to maintain the quality of our Carers. Find a Carer conducts regular Carer profile reviews for any discrepancies. Other measures taken include:
Rating System
Our rating system is designed to enable Care Seekers to rate their Carers out of 5 stars as well as leave comments. Find a Carer will follow up any negative feedback with the relevant person/s. To be fair, Carers will also be able to rate Care Seekers and let us know of any major issues.
Monitoring
Surveys and Feedback
We conduct periodic surveys to gauge the general performance of our Carers. Any negative feedback received is followed up immediately.
If you are the principal carer for an older person, or a person with disability, you are able to sign up to Find a Carer yourself and book services and make payments on their behalf.
When joining, you can enter the details of the care recipient in all areas except the contact details. Use your own email address and contact numbers.
Please let us know by emailing help@Find a Carer.com.au to help us validate your account.
Joining Find a Carer and searching for care in your area is FREE. Becoming a member will give you access to all of the Carers on our database.
Care support providers listed on Find a Carer set their own prices for each service that they offer. They are assured of receiving this amount directly into their bank accounts less a minimal payment gateway charge. The price you see includes an administration fee.
The pricing structure is currently available as an hourly rate, and the care service provider sets the minimum hours for which they are prepared to offer that service. Shortly, care service providers will also be able to set rates for a range of periods such as half day, full day, overnight, a week or even be set as a fulltime basis. The service provider will be able to reduce the administration fee for longer periods of service times but will need Find a Carer’s approval if negotiating beyond certain parameters defined by Find a Carer.
This is a minimal fee charged per booking and it is what helps us keep the business running. We aim to be competitive and ensure that you receive the maximum benefit and the best Customer Support service in the industry. This fee is scalable and it is determined by a range of factors such as your method of payment and how much help you chose to have. The Fees will range from 12.5 to 25%. Please do call us on 1300 177 877 to find out more about your options and how you can make the most benefit out of your funding.
Getting started on Find a Carer is a simple three step process:
- Register – set up your login and password details on www.Find a Carer.com.au
- Search – enter your postcode or suburb and Find a Carer will present you with a list of service providers located near you.
- Book – once you have determined which service provider(s) best meet your specific service requirements, book them online and pay via Find a Carer’s secure payment gateway.
Once becoming a member of Find a Carer you will have immediate access to all of the Independent Carers on our database.
Searching for Carers
- Enter your postcode – this will display Carers that are available to provide services in your local area.
- Place your mouse over the picture icons (located in the information bubble) to gather more information about the Carer.
- Create a favourite list of Independent Carers for the next time you need to request their service!
You browse and select services listed on Find a Carer’s website. You must book and pay for them via the Find a Carer website.
Once you have chosen your required Carer and are ready to proceed with the online booking, you will need to make payment using a credit card (Visa or Mastercard). When making this payment your personal and credit card details are protected by 256-bit encryption which means your details are absolutely safe. Find a Carer is unable to view, access, retrieve or store your credit card details.
Our online payment gateway will automatically calculate the administrative fee and apply it to the service value set by the Carer.
Your payment is held until 7 days after the care support service has been delivered and then released by the online secure payment gateway. As payment passes through the secure online payment gateway, the minimal administration & payment gateway fee is automatically deducted and paid to Find a Carer before the net amount is delivered directly into the care support provider’s bank account.
Each Carer defines the services that they offer and set their own prices. You could expect to pay:
- $28 – $35 per hour for a Carer with few responsibilities.
- $35 – $45 per hour for a Carer with many responsibilities.
- $45 + per hour for an experienced Carer with many responsibilities.
Please keep the following points in mind:
For more information visit Fair Work Australia.
Yes. Many Carers need to fill their working week and would be happy to help out and pick up some extra hours.
No, it is not mandatory, but you may wish to formalise your arrangements in which case an employment contract should be drawn up. Many Care Seekers employ Carers as contractors, especially if they engage their services frequently or on an ongoing basis. To be employed as a contractor, Carers would need to have their own Australian Business Number. To obtain more information please click Australian Business Number (ABN).
If you have your services managed by an independent Plan Manager and/or Support Coordinator, they will take care of all these arrangements for you. To find out more about how we might be able to help you further contact us!
This will depend on your care requirements and how many Carers are available in your area. To make the most of the Find a Carer website, we suggest selecting 5 to 8 profiles from your search results. Carers who are contacted are expected to respond within 48 hours; however, as many are extremely busy, it may take an extra day or two to receive a response. It is quite likely that you will receive a good amount of replies within a couple of days, and sometimes even hours!
Remember to enter as much information about your needs as possible as this will greatly increase your chances of finding the right Carer!
If you find that your first round of emails is unsuccessful, send out a second round. If you have very specific requirements, or require long hours, expect the process to take a little bit longer.
Make the site work for you
Carers could potentially be located close by or even in the same street. Carers can also make themselves ‘invisible’ on the Find a Carer website if they are holidaying or taking a break. By remaining and returning to the Find a Carer website regularly you make it known that Carers are needed and so have a much better chance of finding a Carer. You can also call us on 1300 177 877 and speak to our Customer Care team about your needs.
Although we do our best to ensure carers reply to all messages, a small percentage of carers may not due to a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons are listed below:
- Carers may have entered their email address incorrectly.
- Carer may not have had time to look at and respond to their messages.
- Carer may be away on holiday.
- Carer may be dealing with an emergency.
This list is by no means exhaustive and there may be many other reasons why a Carer has not responded to a message. We suggest you send out 5 – 8 emails and expect to get 50% replies.
With access to several thousand care support providers listed on Find a Carer (and this number is growing daily) you are likely to be able to find a care service provider located near you.
When creating profiles Independent Carers define the distance that they are prepared to travel to provide services. This is used to determine whether or not they appear when you do a search. You may find a listing appear from a care support provider who is up to 50 kilometres away from you. This will only happen when the carer lists their travel distance as 50 km.
In the event that no care support providers are listed when you conduct a search, please contact our national care support number, 1300 177 877 and one of our very friendly Care Support Team will do their best to assist you.
Find a Carer believes that its platform and fee structure is fair to care service providers and the clients who use the website. Our margins are very low because we are endeavouring to provide a low-cost service so that your funds are not wasted on administrative overhead and are used to maximise the level of personal service that you deserve.
However, fees earned by Find a Carer are used to continue the level of personal service to you, our Clients, and to the ongoing improvements to our website.
Shortly, Find a Carer will introduce a points reward system that will encourage both care support providers and clients to benefit tangibly from ongoing use of the Find a Carer platform.
Our comprehensive insurance policies only cover care support providers while they transact upon the Find a Carer platform. Our Terms and Conditions stipulate that care support providers must not operate outside of the Find a Carer website and if they do so, their account will be deactivated and if the activity persists, will be deleted from the Find a Carer site.
As a transparent organisation, we ask that you let us know of any attempt to arrange service or payment outside of the Find a Carer website.
No. We cannot and we do not guarantee you will find a Carer. If you have utilised all of the resources available on the site (ie. sent messages via email, updated your profile and resent messages) without success, please contact our very friendly Care Support Team on 1300 177 877. We may be able to contact Carers who are not visible due to their holiday settings.
Yes, certainly! From 27th February 2017, all Home Care Packages for older Australians are provided under the principles of ‘Consumer Directed Care’. In other words, the recipient of the funding via a Home Care Package, has choice over who they want to provide the services they need and who may manage their funding package. They can choose their existing service provider to manage their funds or an approved independent funding package manager to act on their behalf.
Find a Carer cooperates fully with existing service providers and independent funding package managers to enable their clients to access the Carers that they want from the Find a Carer website.
Yes, certainly! Older Australians who are not in receipt of a Home Care Package can and do utilise Find a Carer to find the carers they want to provide the care services that they need.
People with disability who receive NDIS funding (‘Participants’) can choose to either manage their own funding package (‘self-management’) OR have their funding package managed for them by an authorised independent funding package manager, for which the NDIA provides additional funding. If a Participant doesn’t choose either of these options, then their package will automatically be managed by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
If the Participants’ funding package is self-managed or managed by an approved independent funding package manager, Participants are able to utilise ANY service provider they want, regardless of whether or not that provider is registered with the NDIA. Find a Carer cooperates fully with them to access the support providers they want, to provide the support services that they need, according to their service plan, goals and budget.
However, if a Participant’s funding package is being managed by the NDIA (the default position), only approved service providers registered with the NDIA are able to be utilised. As a result, for those Participants, only those support providers listed on Find a Carer who are registered with the NDIA are able to provide services to NDIS Participants whose funding package is managed by the NDIA.
Please call us on 1300 177 877 to see how Find a Carer can help you.
Yes, certainly! People with disability or special needs who are not in receipt of funding from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) or from their State Government, can and do utilise Find a Carer to find the support providers they want to provide the support services that they need.
If you are not reliant upon Government funding, you coordinate your services online through Find a Carer. A distinct advantage of using Find a Carer is that all your appointments and payment details are located in the one place – on the Find a Carer website.
All your records are safely secured and accessible to you at any time of day or night, simply by logging onto your Find a Carer account.
Yes. Please come visit us at https://www.facebook.com/findacarer and like our page to stay in touch.
Go to our Contact page and message us with your question. We will get back to you promptly with an answer.
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