How Much Does an Aged Care Agency Actually Take From Your Pay in Australia?

Most aged care workers in Australia know roughly what they get paid per hour. Far fewer know what the agency is actually charging the family or the government package for that same hour of their work. The gap between the two is the agency margin, and it is larger than most workers realise.

What families and packages actually pay

Private in-home aged care rates from major agencies in Australia typically run from $85 to $115 per hour for a support worker, with some providers charging more for nursing care or after-hours support. This is the rate billed to the family or drawn from their government-funded package.

What the worker actually receives

PayScale data for 2026 puts the average aged care support worker hourly pay in Australia at $27.74. Even allowing for variation by experience and location, most agency support workers take home somewhere between $27 and $35 per hour for work the agency is charging $85 to $115 for.

What the margin is actually paying for

Agencies frame this margin as covering recruitment, compliance management, insurance, rostering and client support. Some of that is real overhead. But the margin is also where the business makes its profit, and there is no requirement for an agency to disclose the family-facing rate to the worker, so most workers never see the full picture of what their hour is actually worth to the business.

Why this matters when comparing your options

When you are comparing where to work, the headline pay rate only tells you what you receive, not what the arrangement is actually worth. A platform or agency that is transparent about the full rate, and what portion goes to the worker versus the platform, gives you the information needed to actually compare your options. One that is not transparent is asking you to trust a number you cannot verify.