How to arrange 24/7 disability home care support: A private payer’s guide

Key takeaways

• Private, self-funded 24/7 disability support is available regardless of your NDIS eligibility or plan status.
• Through Mable, you can build a rostered team of independent support workers to provide consistent support across the day and night.
• Privately paying for disability support may give you more control over costs and who provides support, while avoiding traditional agency overheads.
• Disability home care support can range from domestic and personal care through to complex nursing.
• You don’t need to get a referral, join a waitlist or complete an application to arrange disability support at home through Mable.

When you or the person you care for needs support around the clock, any delay or gap in funding can be frustrating and stressful. You may be facing one of these situations:

• You’re waiting for a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) application to be approved or activated.
• You’re not eligible for NDIS funding, or have chosen not to apply, and are self-funding your disability home care support.
• You’re finding it hard to manage because your current NDIS funding doesn’t fully cover your support needs.

If you can relate to any of these situations, this guide may help. It explains who is eligible for private 24/7 disability support services and how accessible self-funded support can be through Mable. It also covers how to build a rostered support team that may offer day and night coverage, consistency and more control over your funding budget.

What does 24/7 disability home care support include?

If you or the person you care for needs continuous or high-frequency care, there are different types of support you can choose through Mable.

Many people choose to use independent support workers from different support categories to help provide more consistent care. For example, a roster may include domestic support during the day, personal care in the morning and evening, and nursing care at set times.

Mable makes it straightforward to find independent support workers across different support types through a single platform. You can use 70+ search filters to find workers by service type, qualifications, experience and location.

Independent support workers providing support on Mable offer:

Social support and domestic assistance

Social support and domestic assistance may help keep your home running smoothly and reduce pressure on family members. You can get assistance with everyday tasks and routines, with sessions arranged flexibly around a 24/7 roster. Support workers don’t require clinical qualifications to offer these services.

Support may include:

• Meal preparation
• Light household tasks
• Shopping and errands
• Transport to appointments or activities
• Social connection
• Help with community participation.

Disability support personal care

These supports can be very personal, so having consistent support workers may help build strong relationships, helping you feel more comfortable and understood.

Support workers who provide personal care through Mable must hold relevant qualifications, which are verified by Mable.

Personal care may include support with:

• Bathing
• Dressing
• Grooming
• Toileting
• Mobility
• Transfers
• Mealtime
• Other personal routines.

Clinical and complex nursing care

If your disability involves ongoing clinical needs, nursing care at home may be helpful, allowing you to access qualified medical support in a comfortable space.

Independent nurses on Mable must hold current Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) registration, and Mable verifies this before nurses can offer support on the platform.

Clinical private nursing care can include:

• Vital signs monitoring, such as blood pressure
• Continence assessment and management
• Medication management
• Respiratory care, including support with devices and monitoring breathing needs.

Why should I choose a self-funded model over a traditional agency?

A self-funded team model may suit you if you want more choice, control and flexibility over your disability support than a traditional agency model can offer.

Through Mable, you can build your own team of independent support workers, rather than relying on a single provider to assign workers for you. This may be especially useful when support needs are urgent, ongoing or likely to change.

If you need to arrange round-the-clock care, this approach may help in 4 key ways:

Consistency

Consistency can be one of the most important parts of round-the-clock support. When a person needs care at critical moments, unfamiliar workers or agency-assigned substitutions can feel disruptive or uncomfortable.

Through Mable, you choose your independent support workers and can work with the same people over time. A consistent team of independent support workers means each independent support worker can get to know your preferences, needs and daily routines. This may help make support feel more settled at home.

Control

Through Mable, you can compare independent support workers before booking to work out who may be a good fit for your team. You can browse support worker profiles, review qualifications and client reviews, and then agree on a schedule before the first support session. You can also arrange a meet-and-greet session to get a sense of their support style.

This gives you, your family representative or your support coordinator more visibility over who’s providing support and when, and helps you shape the roster around your needs.

Transparency and value

If you’re self-funding disability home care support, understanding ongoing costs upfront can help you make the most of your budget. Clear support pricing can be important here.

Independent support workers on Mable set their own rates, which vary based on experience, qualifications and service complexity. Rates are visible on each support worker’s profile and you can discuss them directly with each worker, agreeing on cost before support begins.

Mable charges a flat platform fee of 7.95% on top of the agreed rate. There are no agency overheads or care management fees.

Flexibility

Disability support needs can change, sometimes at short notice. You may need more support after a hospital stay, extra overnight support for a period of time or a different mix of services.

Through Mable, support hours can be scaled up or down. Independent support workers can be added to the team or changed without disrupting the whole support arrangement.

This flexibility can help you build support around your needs, routine and preferences, or those of the person you care for, rather than being locked into a fixed agency model.

How do self-funded disability care costs work with Mable?

Self-funded disability care costs through Mable are based on the rates set by independent support workers.

• Indicative rates vary depending on the support worker’s experience, qualifications, availability and the type of support required. For example, disability support personal care and nursing care may each involve different rates because they require different skills and qualifications.
• Rates are visible on each support worker’s profile. You can also reach out directly to support workers to discuss their rates and mutually agree on a rate before support begins. This can help you plan your support budget.
• Mable charges a 7.95% platform fee on top of the agreed worker rate.
• The pricing works the same if you’re building a 24/7 care roster with multiple workers. Each support worker sets their own rate, which you can review, discuss and agree to before support starts.
• If your NDIS funding doesn’t fully cover your needs, you can privately pay to fill that gap through Mable. Payment for self-funded support can be made by credit or debit card.

How do you build a 24/7 care team on Mable?

Building a 24/7 care team may feel like a lot to take on, especially when support is needed urgently. Through Mable, the process has 4 clear steps.

Step 1: Sign up for free and work out your support needs

Your first step in building your care team is to sign up for free on Mable. You may like to then spend some time thinking about your support needs across a 24-hour period, or those of the person you care for. This may help you work out exactly which types of support are needed and guide your search for the right support workers.

You can consider:

• What clinical care is required and when
• What personal care tasks need to be covered
• What domestic or daily living support would help
• Whether support is needed during the day, overnight or both
• What experience, qualifications or communication style would suit you best.

Step 2: Search and connect

Use Mable’s 70+ filters to find independent support workers with the specific skills, qualifications and availability needed for each part of your roster. You can also access their client reviews and message them to discuss your needs before booking.

You can also post job ads directly for different roles you need and wait for independent support workers to respond.

Many independent support workers offer a free meet and greet. This can help you or your family decide whether each worker feels like the right fit before support begins.

Step 3: Build your roster

Once you have found suitable independent support workers, you can agree on rates and support session schedules, and then sign a service agreement with each support worker.

You can spread support across your team for consistent day and night coverage. Having multiple support workers who know you well may also be helpful if an independent support worker is ill or on leave.

Step 4: Manage and adjust

Mable’s scheduling and payment tools help you manage your support team in one place. Support sessions, payments and invoices are all handled through the platform.

If your needs change, the roster can be adjusted without starting from scratch. You can add independent support workers, change support hours or connect with other independent support workers who offer different services.

How can Mable help you arrange 24/7 disability home care support?

If you or the person you care for needs support day and night, it can feel like there’s a lot to organise at once. You may need to think about cost, availability, safety and routines at the same time, as well as making sure you find the right people to provide support.

Building a consistent team of verified, experienced independent support workers through Mable can give you more control over who provides support, when support is provided and what it costs. It can also offer an alternative to traditional providers’ waitlists, higher overheads and the disruption that may come from regularly changing support workers.

Sign up to Mable for free to browse independent support worker profiles and book support through Mable.