G’day ladies,
Has anyone started their own business as an independent disability support worker?
I worked for 12 years in supported independent living facilities (group homes) and have a lot of experience, but no formal qualifications.
I took a year off from support work, as I needed a break, doing retail, which is fun but doesn’t pay enough for me to sustain my family on.
Just curious as to what’s needed to get going.
2 Replies
It’s much easier to sign up to somewhere like hire up. It’s a lot less work accounting wise and insurances etc. it also gives you easy access to clients who will be looking for you. So no need to advertise etc, can pick your own hours.
But it’s a really good idea to get your formal qualifications. Most agencies expect you to be at least working towards them so if you want to go it alone you should have them.
If you do want to go it alone you need to know what clients you can and can’t work with, eg restrictive practices and medication administration etc.
There are a lot of legal requirements that protect you and the client and you need to know them.
I have just stopped working independently and started with a company. Yes the pay is higher independently but by the time you pay tax and super you earn about what you would working for a company so it's not really worth the headache of doing the accounting yourself.
If still interested though you will need an ABN, at minimum a cert 3 in individual support, NDIS worker check, working with children check, police check, first aid cert, comprehensive car insurance and depending on the person/s you are caring for you may need to look into assist with medication cert, safe swallowing food and fluid cert etc