Independent support worker vs agency: what you actually take home

Two support workers can do the exact same shift, for the same participant, at the same NDIS rate - and take home very different amounts. The difference is who they work through. Here is a plain look at where the money actually goes.

Through an agency, the participant is billed the NDIS rate, but you do not receive all of it. The agency keeps a share to cover its overheads and margin, and pays you an hourly wage that sits below the rate billed. In return the agency handles rostering, invoicing, insurance and finding the work. That is a fair trade for some people - especially when starting out - but it means a permanent gap between what is billed and what you take home.

As an independent worker, you bill the NDIS rate and keep it. There is no agency margin. But you also take on what the agency used to do - finding participants, rostering, invoicing, chasing payment, and carrying your own insurance. The gross pay is higher; the responsibility is higher too.

So the honest comparison is not just the headline rate. It is the rate minus your real costs and minus the value of your unpaid admin time. An independent worker who spends hours each week on paperwork and struggles to fill their schedule may not be far ahead. One who keeps admin fast and stays booked is well ahead - often dramatically so over a year.

The way to win as an independent is to keep the agency-style support without the agency-style cut. That is what a platform for solo workers does: it gives you the directory visibility to get found, the rostering and invoicing to run lean, and the record-keeping to stay compliant - for a flat fee instead of a share of every hour.

Juste is built exactly for this. The entry-level Solo membership is a single flat cost with no commission, so you keep 100 percent of the rate you bill. You get listed and found, you invoice compliantly from the current support-item catalogue, and you keep an append-only record that protects you. It is the agency scaffolding without the agency slice.