Cancellation and Refund Policy

Where a Provider cancels a Shift before any Worker has accepted or been assigned to it, the Platform will void the payment Authorisation immediately via Stripe Payment. The temporary hold on the Provider's payment method is released in full. No amount is charged to the Provider and no fee is incurred, because the Prefunded Amount was never captured and no Worker commenced or prepared to perform the Shift.

Where a Provider seeks to cancel a Shift after a Worker has accepted or been assigned to it, the Provider must submit an in-app cancellation request, which will be determined immediately upon receipt: the request will be approved if received before the Shift's scheduled commencement time and rejected if received at or after that time.

Fair treatment of the assigned Worker. A Worker who has accepted or been assigned to a Shift and who has prepared to perform it including by declining other available work is entitled to receive a Cancellation Amount equal to 50% of the base shift cost where the Provider cancels the Shift after assignment. This Cancellation Amount is a contractual allocation of cancellation risk agreed between the Provider and the Worker as principal parties to the Support Services Contract. It is not a statutory entitlement under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth) or the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits; it is a platform contractual term designed to ensure fair and proportionate treatment of Workers who have forgone other available work to accept the Shift. The Cancellation Amount is transferred to the Worker's connected Stripe Express account within the standard settlement timeframe set out in clause 8.2.

This Cancellation Amount is a contractual obligation arising under this Agreement and the Support Services Contract; it is not a statutory NDIS entitlement and is entirely separate from any NDIS short-notice cancellation rules that may govern whether the Provider may make a cancellation claim against a Participant's NDIS plan.

Approved cancellations. If a cancellation request is approved, CareMarket will process a refund of the Prefunded Amount, less the cancellation payment payable to the assigned Worker, to the Provider's original payment method, ordinarily within 5 to 10 business days, subject to Stripe's settlement processes.

Processing costs. Where a refund is approved, CareMarket may deduct from the refund any Stripe processing costs that have already been incurred in connection with the Shift and that are not recoverable from Stripe. Any such deduction will be transparently disclosed to the Provider as part of the refund confirmation and will be limited to the actual, documented processing cost incurred it is not a cancellation penalty.

Rejected cancellations. If a cancellation request is rejected, the Shift in accordance with its terms, the Worker must continue to perform its duties and the Shift remains active and the captured funds remain held within the Platform's Stripe balance pending completion of the Shift in the ordinary course.

Where a Worker cancels a Shift after having accepted or been assigned to it, or fails to attend or perform the Shift without cancelling (a "Worker No-Show"), the Shift is automatically reopened on the Platform marketplace for other eligible Workers to claim. This mechanism is designed to minimise disruption to the Provider and to support continuity of care for the participant, without requiring the Provider to take any further action in respect of the existing Authorisation or Capture.

A Worker who cancels an assigned Shift, or whose failure constitutes a Worker No-Show, receives one administrative flag on their Platform record. The accumulation of three flags within any rolling three-month period results in automatic suspension of the Worker's Platform account.

Before any such suspension is finalised, the Worker will be given a right to review and appeal the suspension, including an opportunity to explain the circumstances of the cancellation or Worker No-Show giving rise to the relevant flag or flags (for example, a genuine emergency or other circumstance reasonably beyond the Worker's control). This fair-process right is incorporated into this Policy to ensure that the consequences of cancellation for Workers, who are engaged as independent contractors, are proportionate to the circumstances and are not applied automatically without an opportunity to be heard.

No fee is charged to the Worker in this scenario.

If no Worker has accepted a posted Shift by its scheduled start time, the Shift closes at that time and is not deemed completed, and no Platform Fee is charged. The Prefunded Amount is treated according to its applicable Authorisation or Capture state at the Shift's scheduled start time:

if the Prefunded Amount has not yet been captured, the Authorisation is voided and the temporary hold released in full, consistently with Scenario A;

if the Prefunded Amount has already been captured, it is refunded to the Provider in accordance with the timing set out in Scenario B (ordinarily within 5 to 10 business days).

In no case will CareMarket retain any Platform Fee, or any part of the Worker Amount, in respect of an unfilled Shift. An unfilled Shift must not result in CareMarket retaining any fee.

Where a Worker cancels a Shift after assignment, the Platform's automatic reopening of the Shift on the marketplace operates as the mechanism for sourcing a replacement Worker. Provided the original Authorisation or Capture remains valid and the Shift terms are unchanged, the Provider is not required to re-fund the Shift in order for a replacement Worker to be matched and to complete it.

If the Provider requires a different rate, duration, or other materially different terms in order to secure a replacement Worker, a new funded Shift may need to be posted, and the cancellation and refund treatment applicable to the original Shift will apply to that original Shift accordingly.

To ensure transparency, the following components of a Shift's Prefunded Amount are treated separately and are each addressed distinctly under this Policy:

Worker Amount (90% of the base shift cost): payable to the Worker only on successful completion of the Shift and satisfaction of the applicable Release Conditions, as determined by CareMarket under the verification process set out in the Release Conditions. Where a Provider cancels after Worker assignment, the Worker is entitled to the Worker Cancellation Amount (50% of the base shift cost) as a contractual cancellation payment under clause 4.1(a). No Worker Amount is payable in respect of an unfilled Shift or a Shift cancelled before Worker assignment.

Platform Fee (10% of the base shift cost): earned by CareMarket only on successful completion of the Shift and satisfaction of the applicable Release Conditions, as determined by CareMarket under the verification process set out in the Release Conditions. The Platform Fee is charged to the Provider only and is not deducted from the Worker Amount.

Stripe processing surcharges: disclosed to the Provider at the time of Shift creation. Where such surcharges have already been incurred and are non-recoverable from Stripe, CareMarket may retain that specific, disclosed amount from a refund to cover the actual processing cost incurred this is a cost-recovery measure, not a cancellation penalty.

Refund and payout timing follow Stripe's applicable settlement rules, namely:

standard Worker payouts: settle within 1 to 2 business days of becoming available;

a Worker's first payout on the Platform: may take up to 7 business days to settle, reflecting standard anti-fraud and identity verification protocols;

Provider refunds processed via Stripe: ordinarily settle within 5 to 10 business days.

Where a Provider's payment is subject to a successful chargeback after the corresponding Worker Amount has already been withdrawn by the Worker, the Worker's Platform wallet balance may be adjusted to reflect the reversed amount. If the Worker's Platform wallet balance is insufficient to cover the reversed amount, the Worker must pay CareMarket the shortfall on demand, and CareMarket may deduct the shortfall from any future amounts payable to the Worker. To manage this risk, CareMarket will not release a Worker Amount until the Provider's payment has fully cleared Stripe's processing.

A Worker or Provider who wishes to dispute a flag, a suspension, a cancellation decision, or a refund decision made under this Policy may do so through CareMarket's internal complaints and dispute resolution process, as referenced in the Terms and Conditions. That process applies to commercial disputes between CareMarket, Providers and Workers arising under this Policy; it does not extend to, and CareMarket does not thereby assume responsibility for, any dispute or complaint concerning the delivery of NDIS supports to a participant, which remains the responsibility of the Provider.

The ACL provides consumer guarantees which protect consumers when they purchase products and services. If there is any inconsistency between this policy and the ACL, then the ACL prevails. Further information about the ACL and the consumer guarantees is available on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission website.

This Policy has been drafted to avoid blanket non-refundable clauses and automatically penal cancellation consequences of the kind that may constitute an unfair contract term under the Australian Consumer Law (Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), Schedule 2).

Refunds are available in defined circumstances, cancellation consequences are proportionate to the conduct in question, and Workers are given a right to explain their circumstances before a suspension is finalised. Any retention of funds by CareMarket under this Policy is limited to actual, disclosed Stripe processing costs that are non-recoverable, rather than a punitive amount, and is clearly distinguished from the Worker Amount and the Platform Fee, each of which is earned only on successful completion of a Shift.

Providers and Workers will be notified 14 days prior to any material changes to this Policy before those changes take effect.