The Pitfalls of Managing Your Own Support Workers -

Person dealing with stressful paperwork at home

It might sound flexible, personal, and even cheaper — but managing your own support workers comes with risks that can catch people off guard.

Many Australians managing their own NDIS funding consider directly employing their support workers, either as employees or by hiring sole traders with an ABN. The appeal is understandable: more control, more flexibility, and sometimes lower hourly rates.

But when you choose this route, you’re not just choosing a worker. You’re stepping into the role of employer or contractor, and that changes everything.

Here are some of the most common pitfalls, and why some people who try this eventually return to working with a professional provider.

You’re legally responsible — fully

Whether you’re directly employing a worker or engaging someone as a sole trader, there are legitimate ways to do it — but each comes with its own responsibilities.

Direct employment means you’re responsible for:

Paying Award wages, super, and leave
Providing safe working conditions
Following the Fair Work Act
Managing tax, superannuation, and insurance
Complying with all parts of employment law

Engaging sole traders doesn’t remove all responsibility either. You still need to do due diligence, and you may be held responsible if something goes wrong under Fair Work or NDIS guidelines. See the NDIS self-management guidelines for what this involves in practice.

Recordkeeping and admin are on you

You’ll need to manage:

Contracts or service agreements
Invoices or payslips
Time tracking and superannuation
Insurance documentation
Communication logs and agreements

If the NDIS audits your plan — which they can — you’re the one who must produce the paperwork. If something is missing, you may have to repay funds. Some people manage this well and find it straightforward. For others, it’s a significant extra burden on top of everything else they’re already carrying.

When the relationship changes, it gets complicated

Support work is personal. When you’re also the employer or the direct hirer, the lines can blur quickly.

What if your worker stops showing up on time? Doesn’t listen to what you need? Or is lovely but no longer the right fit? There’s no coordinator, no supervisor, and no one to mediate or manage the transition. It’s all on you.

If something goes wrong, you’re the contact point

Support worker cancels suddenly? Gets injured on shift? Wants to change their terms? There’s no team to call, no HR department, no manager. You are the system.

That “cheaper” rate may be missing crucial costs

Say someone offers to work for you as a sole trader for $50 an hour. That sounds cheaper than the full NDIS price cap.

But the NDIS price cap is built to cover everything: wages, super, leave loading, admin, insurance, training time, and organisational overheads. A compliant provider’s actual cost sits only around 8% below the cap.

If someone is charging $50 and making a profit, what might they be unintentionally skipping? Superannuation? Leave entitlements? WorkCover insurance? SCHADS Award allowances? They may not be acting in bad faith — they may simply not realise what the full cost actually is.

And there have been real cases in Australia where the person paying the bill — a participant or their representative — was held liable for underpayments, on the basis that they “should have known” the rate wasn’t compliant.

A note from our Managing Director

“I’ve worked as a Human Resources Manager, hold formal qualifications in HR, and I’m registered in the Supreme Court of South Australia as an expert witness on wage and salary matters. And even I’ll tell you — reading an award isn’t easy. It’s one thing to hire someone. It’s another to stay on top of compliance, risk, relationships, payroll, and backup planning. That’s why we’ve built strong systems at Heartfelt — so you don’t have to.”
Robert Godden, Managing Director, Heartfelt Support

Common things we hear from people who tried it

“I didn’t realise I was responsible for their super.”
“They didn’t invoice for weeks, then wanted back pay all at once.”
“It got awkward when I had to end things.”
“I wasn’t comfortable being someone’s boss, especially when we got along.”
“I had no backup when they were sick, and no idea what to do.”

Self-managing workers vs working with a provider

	Self-managing workers	Using a provider
Flexibility	High — you set the terms	Good — within provider structure
Admin burden	High — payroll, super, contracts all on you	Minimal — provider handles all compliance
Legal responsibility	Significant — Fair Work, NDIS audits	Shared with the registered provider
Worker backup	None — if they call in sick, you’re on your own	Provider has a pool of backup workers
Conflict resolution	Direct and personal — you manage it alone	Provider mediates and manages transitions

What working with a provider looks like instead

Working with a provider like Heartfelt Support means we handle payroll, admin, contracts, compliance, and insurance. We recruit, train, supervise, and provide replacements when needed. You still have control and flexibility — just without the legal weight and paperwork.

We’re a provider, and yes, we benefit when people choose not to manage their own workers. That’s worth saying upfront. But this post isn’t about sales. It’s about sharing what we’ve seen — the things that trip people up, even when their intentions are good.

We’ll always support your right to choose how your NDIS plan is managed. If you’d like to talk through your options, we’re happy to do that with no strings attached. Contact us if you’d like to know more.