How to Claim Parental Leave Pay in Australia After a Birth or Adoption

Who can claim Parental Leave Pay in Australia?

Parental Leave Pay is an Australian Government payment administered by Services Australia for eligible parents and carers who take time away from work to care for a newborn or recently adopted child.

You may be able to claim if you are the child's birth mother, the birth mother's partner, biological father, biological father's partner, adoptive parent, partner of an adoptive parent, a gaining parent in a surrogacy arrangement or a person caring for a child in certain exceptional circumstances.

Eligibility is not based only on being a parent. You also need to satisfy the relevant work, income and residence tests and the rules applying to the days you choose to receive the payment.

How much Parental Leave Pay can you get in 2026?

The number of Parental Leave Pay days available to a family depends on the child's date of birth or adoption.

For a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026, the family can receive up to 130 Parental Leave Pay days. This is equivalent to 26 weeks when calculated on a 5-day working week.

For a child born or adopted between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026, the family can receive up to 120 days, equivalent to 24 weeks based on a 5-day week.

Parental Leave Pay rate from 1 July 2026

For Parental Leave Pay days taken during the 2026-27 financial year, the rate is $200.94 per day before tax, or $1,004.70 for a 5-day week. Parental Leave Pay is taxable and its rate is based on the National Minimum Wage.

The payment rate applying to a day depends on the financial year in which that Parental Leave Pay day is taken. This means a person whose payment days span two financial years may receive different daily rates.

What is the Parental Leave Pay work test?

Under the standard work test, you generally need to have worked for at least 10 of the 13 months before your child's birth or adoption and completed at least 330 hours of work during that 10-month period.

Services Australia counts 10 months as 295 days and 13 months as 392 days. You generally cannot have a gap of more than 12 weeks between work days during the 10-month period used for the test.

Work for multiple employers can be combined, and a range of activities can count as work, including certain paid leave. Self-employed work undertaken for financial reward or gain can also count.

Who must meet the work test when parents share Parental Leave Pay?

The birth mother, gaining parent in a surrogacy arrangement or first adoptive parent to claim must meet the work test. Additional work test rules apply when another parent claims. For example, where the claimant is the birth mother's partner, biological father or biological father's partner, both that person and the birth mother must meet the work test unless an applicable exception applies.

Exceptions to the work test

Services Australia provides specific work test exceptions where a person's ability to work was affected by circumstances including pregnancy-related illness or complications, premature birth, a severe medical condition, family and domestic violence, a dangerous job or workplace hazard, or a natural disaster. Evidence may be required to establish an exception.

What is the Parental Leave Pay income test in 2026?

Services Australia uses adjusted taxable income. It assesses income from the financial year before the earlier of the child's birth or adoption date and the date the claim is lodged.

For the 2025-26 financial year, the individual adjusted taxable income limit is $186,487. If you do not satisfy the individual income test, you may qualify under the family income test. The 2025-26 family adjusted taxable income limit is $386,525.

For the 2024-25 financial year, the individual limit is $180,007 and the family income limit is $373,094. The financial year Centrelink uses depends on the timing of your claim and the child's birth or adoption.

If you have a partner, their adjusted taxable income is relevant when Services Australia needs to apply the family income test. If you are single, your income is used against the family income limit when the family test applies.

What are the residence rules?

To qualify, you must be living in Australia and generally be an Australian citizen, permanent visa holder, Special Category visa holder or holder of certain qualifying temporary visas.

You need to satisfy the residence rules on the day of the child's birth or adoption and on every day you receive Parental Leave Pay. If you lodge the claim before the child's birth or adoption, you must also meet the residence rules on the day you claim.

A newly arrived resident's waiting period of 2 years may apply. Exemptions are available in some circumstances.

When can you claim Parental Leave Pay?

You can submit your Parental Leave Pay claim up to 3 months before your child's expected date of birth or adoption. Centrelink will not pay Parental Leave Pay for any day before the birth or adoption.

Claiming before the child arrives can allow Services Australia and your employer to prepare for payment and lets you nominate future Parental Leave Pay days in advance.

What is the deadline to claim Parental Leave Pay?

At least one parent must submit a claim within 52 weeks of the child's birth or adoption. Once one parent has claimed within that period, other eligible parents have up to 2 years from the child's birth or adoption to make their claims.

All ordinary Parental Leave Pay days must be used within 2 years of the child's birth or adoption. Services Australia can generally pay a Parental Leave Pay day no more than 100 days in the past.

How to get paid from the date of birth or adoption

If you want Parental Leave Pay to start from your child's date of birth or adoption, you need to submit your claim and provide proof of birth or adoption within 14 weeks, or 100 days, of that date.

Special timing when a child is given up for adoption or through surrogacy

Special rules apply where a birth parent gives the child up for adoption or as part of a surrogacy arrangement. For a child born from 1 July 2026, the relevant parent's Parental Leave Pay days must generally be chosen within the first 26 weeks, or 182 calendar days, following the child's birth, and days not used within that period can be forfeited.

How to claim Parental Leave Pay through myGov

The standard way to claim is through Centrelink online services linked to myGov. If you do not already have the necessary online accounts, create a myGov account and link Centrelink before starting your claim.

You can lodge a claim from up to 3 months before the expected birth or adoption. During the online claim, Centrelink asks questions about your work, income, residency, employer and family circumstances.

When you submit the claim, you must nominate at least one Parental Leave Pay day. You can nominate a continuous block, separate smaller blocks, individual days or a combination. If you do not yet know when you want the rest of your days, you can leave them in your Parental Leave Pay balance and nominate them later.

What information do you need for a Parental Leave Pay claim?

Services Australia states that claimants need their Centrelink Customer Reference Number, their employer's Australian Business Number and contact details, bank account details and tax file number.

You will also be asked for information about your Australian residency, periods you have lived outside Australia, your work and hours worked, unpaid leave, and your income for the financial year Centrelink uses for the income test.

If required for the family income test, Centrelink will also ask for your partner's income for the relevant financial year.

What supporting documents can Centrelink ask for?

The documents required depend on your circumstances, and the online claim will identify what you need to provide. This may include evidence supporting residence, income, employment and any work test exception you are relying on.

After the child arrives, proof of birth or adoption is required before Centrelink can finalise the claim.

How do you prove the birth of your child?

For a newborn child, you must register or apply to register the birth with your state or territory birth registry before Parental Leave Pay can be paid. You must tell Centrelink in your claim that this has been done.

Services Australia accepts specified evidence of birth. Depending on the circumstances, this can include information supplied through the Newborn Child Declaration, a birth certificate or certified extract, or a qualifying letter from the doctor or midwife who attended the birth.

If you lodged a claim before the child was born, sign in to your Centrelink online account through myGov after the birth and use the Add Newborn service to provide the child's details and proof.

How do you prove an adoption?

For an adopted child, adoption papers confirming that the adoption process has started can be used as proof for Services Australia. Proof of adoption must be supplied before Centrelink can finalise the Parental Leave Pay claim.

How soon after the child arrives must you update Centrelink?

If you claimed before the birth or adoption, Services Australia requires you to tell it when the child comes into your care and provide the child's details and proof. Its current claiming guidance states that this should be done within 56 days after the child comes into your care.

Should you talk to your employer before claiming?

Yes. Services Australia recommends talking to your employer at least 10 weeks before the expected birth or adoption. Discuss when you intend to take leave and tell your employer that you intend to claim Parental Leave Pay.

Parental Leave Pay and your workplace leave entitlement are separate matters. Parental Leave Pay can be taken before, during or after employer-funded paid or unpaid leave, including maternity or parental leave, annual leave and long service leave, subject to the applicable rules.

Does your employer pay Parental Leave Pay?

In many cases, Services Australia provides the funds to your employer and the employer pays Parental Leave Pay to you through its normal payroll process. In other circumstances, Services Australia pays the claimant directly.

Claiming early can help your employer complete the Services Australia arrangements required before payments are due.

How do parents share Parental Leave Pay in 2026?

Parental Leave Pay is designed as a shared family payment. For a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026, a family can have up to 130 days in total.

If you have a partner, 20 days are reserved for your partner for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026. To receive all 130 family days, both parents generally need to be eligible and claim their respective days. If only one partner is eligible, the reserved-days rule can reduce the number available to that parent unless an exemption applies.

The parents decide how to divide the remaining shareable days. The person whose approval is required under the sharing rules gives approval through Centrelink, and the other parent must lodge their own claim to receive shared days.

Can both parents receive Parental Leave Pay at the same time?

Yes. For a child born or adopted from 1 July 2025, eligible parents can generally receive up to 20 Parental Leave Pay days at the same time. Exemptions can allow more overlapping days in specified circumstances.

Can a single parent share days?

A single parent can receive all available Parental Leave Pay days if eligible, but may choose to give approval to share some or all available days with another eligible parent.

Can you choose individual Parental Leave Pay days?

Yes. You can take the payment as one block, multiple smaller blocks, individual days or a combination. You do not need to nominate every available day when first making your claim. Unused days can remain in your balance and be scheduled later, provided they are used within the applicable time limit.

You can manage nominated and shared days through your Centrelink online account linked to myGov by opening the Parental Leave Pay circumstances service.

Can you work while getting Parental Leave Pay?

Parental Leave Pay is generally for days when you are on leave or not working while caring for the child. Services Australia generally considers you to have worked if you perform more than one hour of paid work on a day. Specific allowable reasons can permit work without losing entitlement for a day, so check the rules before working on a nominated Parental Leave Pay day.

Can you get Parental Leave Pay and employer-paid parental leave?

Yes. Australian Government Parental Leave Pay is separate from paid or unpaid leave provided by your employer. Services Australia permits Parental Leave Pay to be taken before, during or after employer-funded maternity or parental leave, annual leave or long service leave.

Does Parental Leave Pay include superannuation?

For children born or adopted from 1 July 2025, the Australian Taxation Office pays a Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution on eligible Parental Leave Pay. The contribution is calculated and paid automatically to the person's superannuation fund after the relevant financial year has ended. A separate claim for this contribution is not required.

What happens after you submit your claim?

After an online claim is submitted, Centrelink provides a receipt containing the claim ID, the estimated completion date and a link for tracking the claim.

You can track the claim through your Centrelink online account linked to myGov or through the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. Services Australia may ask for additional information before making a decision.

Once the claim has been assessed, Services Australia sends the outcome to your myGov Inbox if you receive electronic correspondence, or by post otherwise. If you disagree with the decision, you can ask Services Australia to review it.