It’s a question that often comes up among independent support workers on Mable, in the lead up to public holidays or the festive season: What should I charge for my support services during a public holiday or over the holiday season?
As an independent support worker on Mable, you’re an independent contractor, and so, you have the opportunity to set and update your rates.
If you’re considering updating your rates for the upcoming holidays or a public holiday, here are 5 things to consider. Remember, you and your client need to agree on the rates you include in your service agreement.
1. Take into account budget limitations
Keep in mind that depending on their type of funding (aged care or NDIS) and level of funding, clients may have certain budget limitations. This doesn’t mean you need to undervalue your support. It means taking into consideration the budgets they are working with. This is also true for clients paying privately for support through Mable.
2. Consider your support worker skills, experience and qualifications
3. Talk to other support workers
Mable’s community of independent workers is incredibly valuable when it comes to connecting with support worker peers. As an approved support worker, you can access this group on Facebook to network with other support workers and find out from those in your local area (with similar levels of skills and experience) what they are charging for similar support services to get an idea.
4. Contact Mable
Did you know that as an approved support worker on Mable, you can book in a session with Mable to get insight into setting your rates? Through this session, we can guide you to understand the value of your support services. Simply contact our onboarding team and ask for a session to be booked with one of our support specialists.
5. Have conversations about support needs and availability sooner
If you plan to take time off during the holidays, make sure you discuss it with clients sooner rather than later, to give them enough time to arrange support for that duration. If you have a support worker ‘buddy’ in the same area, ask them if they can step in. If you don’t, you can ask in the Mable’s community of independent workers group, as many do, to ‘buddy up’.
Don’t forget to update your service agreement on Mable
If you and your client have come to a mutual agreement about your updated rates, make sure you include all terms relating to these by updating your service agreement before providing support for the holidays. This is important to avoid misunderstanding and confusion during payment and approval of your support hours. You can explore our guide to negotiating rates with clients to help you through this process.
FAQs
Why do I need a signed agreement before providing support?
Remember, every hour of support invoiced via Mable comes with high-level insurances arranged on behalf of you, to protect both you and your client for every support session logged and invoiced via Mable. In order for this insurance cover to apply, you need to ensure:
- You have created an agreement for the work
- The agreement has been approved by your client
- You have logged your timesheets following your shift
- Your client has approved your timesheets.
What rates can I charge?
You can set your own rates on Mable, subject to our minimum rate. Rates can be set for service types, session lengths, days and times of the week and public holidays. All pricing is agreed with clients before support is delivered on Mable. We have a helpful guide on setting your indicative rates available.
