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Parental Leave Pay is a flexible payment that can be shared.
How to use your days
You can take your Parental Leave Pay before or after you return to work. You can take it on any days both of the following apply:
- you’re caring for the child
- you’re not working, unless it’s for an allowable reason.
This can include weekdays, weekends, holidays or any time you’re on leave from work.
You don’t need to take your days on the same days you were working before you went on leave. For example, if you worked Monday to Friday you can take Parental Leave Pay days on weekends as well.
You can also take it before, during or after any paid or unpaid employer funded leave. This includes all of the following:
- maternity or parental leave
- annual leave
- long service leave.
When you claim this payment
You must tell us at least one day that you plan to take when you make your claim. You can also tell us any of the following:
- when you want to take a block of payment
- when you want to take a single day
- when you want to take a combination of these.
You can’t include or use any days before your child’s birth or adoption.
If you don’t know when you want to use your remaining days, we’ll hold them in a balance. You can use them later or share them with your partner or another parent. You must use them within 2 years of your child’s birth or adoption. We’ll send you a letter to remind you if you still have days to use before this date.
If you’re giving your child up for adoption or as part of a surrogacy arrangement
There are special rules if you’re giving your child up for adoption or as part of a surrogacy arrangement. Parental Leave Pay is only available to you either within the:
- first 20 weeks after the birth of the child if the child is born before 1 July 2024
- first 22 weeks after the birth of the child if the child is born from 1 July 2024.
All of your Parental Leave Pay days must be in those first 20 or 22 weeks, depending on when they’re born. You can’t share your Parental Leave Pay with anyone else.
How to change and manage your days
After you make a claim online, you can do all the following:
- claim or change Parental Leave Pay days
- give or remove approval for someone else to claim days, if you’re the birth mother or first adoptive parent or gaining parent in a surrogacy arrangement to claim Parental Leave Pay
- view details about your Parental Leave Pay.
If your Centrelink account is linked to myGov you can claim or change your Parental Leave Pay days online.
To do this:
- Sign in to myGov.
- Select Menu, then My Family.
- Select Parental Leave Pay circumstances.
If you don’t have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account you’ll need to create them.
What are some examples of taking different days
You can take your Parental Leave Pay days in a range of ways.
These examples don’t cover every situation.
Kym’s child is born on 8 August 2024. Kym works full time Monday to Friday and plans to go back to work after 6 weeks. She chooses to take 30 days or 6 weeks of Parental Leave Pay in a block. Kym keeps the remaining days in her balance.
Kym shares 10 days of Parental Leave Pay with her partner Louise. Louise decides to take the 10 days in the first 2 weeks following the child’s birth.
After 12 weeks back at work, Kym decides to get the remaining 70 days on the weekends. She won’t be working and has care of her child.
Peter and his partner Alicia adopt a child, Tom on 12 September 2024.
Peter takes time off work to care for Tom. His employer provides paid leave. He decides to use one day of Parental Leave Pay and keep the rest in his balance. He returns to work after 3 months of paid leave from his employer.
Alicia takes 12 weeks off work to care for Tom. Peter shares 60 days or 12 weeks of his Parental Leave Pay with Alicia.
Peter keeps the rest of the Parental Leave Pay in his balance. He then uses the days when he takes leave from work.
Fatima and Yusif are expecting their third baby on 24 July 2024. Yusif will stop work to care for the baby. Fatima plans to take 6 weeks leave before returning to work.
Fatima shares 10 days with Yusif and they each decide to take Parental Leave Pay for the first 2 weeks. Fatima chooses to take another 20 days or 4 weeks. After that, Fatima shares the remaining 70 days with Yusif for him to take later.
Zia has a child on 2 July 2024. Zia is single and decides to get her Parental Leave Pay in a single block from the child’s date of birth. She gets it for Monday to Friday and is paid in her usual pay cycle from her employer. She gets all 110 days over 22 weeks, until 18 November 2024.
Amira has gone back to work part-time to help balance her family and work commitments. She starts working 3 days a week after having her child. Amira has been able to use the parental leave provided by her employer to have some time at home with her child after the birth.
Amira decides to use 2 days of Parental Leave Pay each week to add to the 3 days a week of employment income she gets. This means Amira’s income is similar to what it would be if she was working full-time. She continues to do this until all of her Parental Leave Pay days are used up.
Sienna’s employer has given her 12 weeks of maternity leave after the birth of her child. Sienna has chosen to take this at half pay so she can have a longer time at home with her baby. This means Sienna can have 24 weeks paid maternity leave off work. Sienna has decided to use 3 days a week of Parental Leave Pay so her income during this time will be similar to what it would be if she was working full-time.
Sienna will still have some days left at the end of the 24 weeks which she can choose to use in the way that best suits her family at the time. Sienna doesn’t have to decide straight away how she is going to use all her Parental Leave Pay days. We will hold them in a balance for up to 2 years after the child’s date of birth.
Giovani’s baby enters his care on 4 September 2024. Giovani is eligible for 14 weeks of paid leave from his employer. He is also eligible to get Parental Leave Pay for 22 weeks. After using the 14 weeks of leave from his employer, Giovani’s circumstances change and he wants to start doing one shift a week at his workplace.
Giovani signs in to his Centrelink online account through myGov and changes his planned block of Parental Leave Pay into smaller blocks. This allows him to return to work one day a week while still using his Parental Leave Pay days on the other days he is not working.