Consider a sole-trader support worker in Melbourne's west with a full week of private clients, several of whom she's helped for years. Two of them have now been assessed for Support at Home, and both want to keep her — but their funding can only be spent through a registered provider. She looks at what provider registration would involve for a business of one, and closes the laptop. Surely, she thinks, there's another way to keep working with the people who already trust her.

This example is illustrative, created to show how the local partner model works in practice.

There is another way — and it's built precisely for this situation. Since the new Aged Care Act commenced on 1 November 2025, you don't have to choose between registering as a provider yourself and walking away from aged care clients.

Why registration is a heavy lift for a business of one

Under the new Act, providers must be registered with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission in the relevant registration categories, and registered providers carry the compliance and audit obligations that come with the strengthened Quality Standards. For a large organisation, that's a compliance department's job. For a sole trader, it's evenings and weekends spent on governance documentation instead of paid work — plus ongoing audit exposure sitting entirely on you.

The partner model: same clients, different structure

Here's the alternative the legislation allows: businesses can deliver services to Support at Home participants by working with or through a registered provider that carries the provider obligations. That's Partner with Care's local partner model. PWC is the registered backbone — we hold the registration, carry the compliance and audit obligations, and handle the claiming and government-facing work. You deliver the services you already deliver, under your own name.

Because Support at Home clients who self-manage choose their own workers and suppliers, your existing clients simply keep choosing you. Nothing about the relationship changes except that their government funding can now pay for it. You can see how the arrangement is structured at become a partner.

What you still need in place

Working through a registered provider doesn't mean no standards — it means the right-sized version of them. You'll still need:

  • Your business fundamentals — ABN, appropriate insurance for your trade or service.
  • The checks relevant to working with older people — the screening and documentation the partnership requires before you see clients.
  • Day-to-day professionalism — safe, respectful service delivery, and telling PWC promptly if something goes wrong, so the provider obligations can be met.

What you don't need is your own registration, your own audit program or your own government claiming setup.

Speed matters when clients are waiting: new partners are typically live in around two weeks once documents are complete. If you're already an established provider in another scheme with paperwork ready, clients can be activated in hours — so the person who wants to keep you doesn't have to wait a quarter to do it.

Your brand, your clients, your pricing

The model is deliberately built so partners of all sizes fit — from sole traders to established providers. You keep your brand, your client relationships and your pricing power; PWC stays in the background doing the registered-provider work. And with Australia's ageing population and government policy both favouring care at home, the sole traders who move early are the ones local families will already know when demand keeps growing. Our why us page covers what we carry so you don't have to.