How Australia’s only Direct Employ service helped Sarah to build her dream support worker team

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Busy mum of three Sarah Jones, says she can’t thank Carer Solutions enough for creating a service that gives her the power to directly employ support workers for her son Jimmy. 

Jimmy, 15 was born with Fragile X Syndrome, a genetic condition that causes mild to severe intellectual disability.  

Sarah explains how everything just clicked when she learnt about Carer Solutions and their unique Direct Employ service. It is the only service in Australia that enables her to employ support workers who already know Jimmy and their family. 

One of Jimmy’s support workers Eloise, whom Jimmy and his family fondly refers to as ‘Nanny Elle’ has known the family for over 14 years, as her brother and Jimmy went to the same specialist school. 

Sarah says it made perfect sense to approach Elle and see whether she would be interested in becoming one of Jimmy’s support workers. 

“Carer Solutions is so wonderful for us and our family, because it allows us to find and employ our own support workers – support workers that we have a beautiful connection with and that we are happy to come into our home.” 

Sarah says not only does Carer Solutions give them the freedom and independence to employee support workers who they trust and who Jimmy has a rapport with, but that all the time-consuming obligations that come with being an employer, is taken care of for them. 

“Carer Solutions does all the rest, they do all the paperwork and everything that needs to be, I don’t need to worry about it,” she explains.

Sarah says she loves how all that she needs to do is approve her support workers timesheets, while Carer Solutions takes care of everything else. Even if she forgets to approve her employee’s timesheets, the Carer Solutions team send her a friendly reminder. 

They even take care of onboarding all of Jimmy’s support workers – ensuring all the compliance documents are received and they take care of the employer obligation such as payroll, superannuation and insurance.

Sarah says she loves that she is in total control of who she employees. She explains that she specifically looks for people who are studying to be nurses, teachers, or paramedics, like Nanny Elle does. 

“Looking forward, I know that we will eventually lose Nanny Elle as she will graduate university soon, but I have already connected with a new gorgeous support worker.”

Sarah no longer worries about finding the right support for Jimmy, as she says she has finally found the solution that works for her family.

Find out more about this unique service by visiting the Carer Solutions website or giving their friendly team a call on 1300 729 839.