Flexible Paid Parental Leave days

What Flexible Paid Parental Leave days are

You can access Flexible Paid Parental Leave days when you claim Parental Leave Pay. Flexible Paid Parental Leave days help you to balance work and family commitments.

Parental Leave Pay includes both:

• a continuous Paid Parental Leave period of up to 12 weeks, which is 60 payable days
• 30 Flexible Paid Parental Leave days.

Who can get Flexible Paid Parental Leave days

You can get Flexible Paid Parental Leave days before or after you have returned to work for the first time after the birth or adoption of your child. You must use them after your Paid Parental Leave period and within 2 years of your child’s birth or adoption.

If you are the second carer, you will need to use your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days both:

• after the primary carer’s Paid Parental Leave period
• within 2 years of your child’s birth or adoption.

You can get Flexible Paid Parental Leave on days that you are both:

• not working
• caring for your child.

You can get them on days that you are on leave from work. They can be paid before, after or while you are on paid or unpaid leave from your employer.

How to claim and use Flexible Paid Parental Leave days

Choosing how to get your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days

We’ll ask you to tell us when you want to use your days when you claim Parental Leave Pay. You can use Flexible Paid Parental Leave days in several ways. You can do any of the following:

• connect them to the end of your 12 week Paid Parental Leave period for a longer continuous block of payment
• access them later at a time that suits you
• give them to another person such as your partner, to use on days they have primary care of the child.

If you don’t know when you want to use your days we’ll hold them in a balance. You can use them at a later date but you must use them within 2 years of your child’s birth or adoption. We’ll remind you if you still have days to use before this date. You can manage your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days online.

Connecting your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days

The simplest way to use your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days is to connect them to your Paid Parental Leave period at the time of claim. This will give you a single continuous 18-week block of payment that you’ll get before you return to work.

This block connects your 30 Flexible Paid Parental Leave days to your 12-week Paid Parental Leave period. It’s for 90 weekdays.

You may want to do this if both of the following apply:

• you don’t plan to return to work within 18 weeks of your Paid Parental Leave period start date
• you’re a newly arrived resident with an exemption from the waiting period.

You can choose a shorter block of Parental Leave Pay of between 12 and 18 weeks. This means you connect only some of your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days. You can take your remaining days later, when it suits you.

When you connect Flexible Paid Parental Leave days to your Paid Parental Leave period you don’t have to tell us the dates you want to get them. We’ll work this out using your Paid Parental Leave period start date. In most cases your employer will pay these to you.

This means you have until the start of your Paid Parental Leave period to connect your flexible days. After your Paid Parental Leave period starts you can both:

• reduce the number of days connected to your Paid Parental Leave period
• claim Flexible Paid Parental Leave days for a later date.

Read more about getting your payment.

Using Flexible Paid Parental Leave days

You can choose to access Flexible Paid Parental Leave days separate from your Paid Parental Leave period. You can use them either:

• one day at a time, including on weekends
• in blocks you choose.

You may want to do this if you plan to return to work within 18 weeks of your Paid Parental Leave period start date.

We’ll pay these Flexible Paid Parental Leave days directly to you, not your employer.

You’ll need to tell us the dates that you want to get these days. You can do this when you claim Parental Leave Pay or at a later date.

You must use your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days within 2 years of your child’s birth or adoption. Read more about how to add or remove Flexible Paid Parental Leave days using your online account.

You can choose a day in the future as long as it’s before your child’s 2nd birthday.

You can choose a day in the past as long as it’s all of the following:

• no more than 42 days ago, unless you included COVID-19 Disaster Payment in your work test or you accessed the extended work test due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
• after your or your partner’s Paid Parental Leave period
• after your child’s birth or adoption.

You can’t get them on any day that you or another person are also getting either:

• Parental Leave Pay for the same child
• Dad and Partner Pay for the same child.

Giving your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days to another person

You can give permission for another person to claim some or all of your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days. But they must be caring for your child.

You may want to do this if you either:

• return to work
• are no longer the primary carer for your child.

Both you and the second carer must first claim and be eligible for Parental Leave Pay.

You’ll need to tell us the number of days you want to give. You should also tell the other carer this number so they can include it in their claim.

Once we’ve granted their claim, they’ll choose when they want to get your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days.

If they don’t use a day you can remove permission for them to use it. This allows you to use the day for yourself. You can do this using your Centrelink online account.

Read more about transferring your payment.

How to manage your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days

After you’ve claimed Parental Leave Pay, you can manage your Flexible Paid Parental Leave days online. You can do all of the following:

• claim or change Flexible Paid Parental Leave days
• give or remove permission for someone else to claim Flexible Paid Parental Leave days
• view details about your Parental Leave Pay.

To do this, sign in to your Centrelink online account through myGov. Then, select ‘My family’ from the menu, then ‘Paid Parental Leave’, followed by ‘Parental Leave Pay circumstances’.

When you claim Flexible Paid Parental Leave days you must confirm that all of the following apply on the dates you choose:

• you’re on leave from work or you’re not working
• you’re caring for your child
• you meet the residence rules.

If we haven’t assessed your claim yet, call the Centrelink families line.

Flexible Paid Parental Leave days need to be used within 2 years of your child’s birth or adoption. We’ll remind you closer to this date if either of these apply:

• you still have days available to use
• you gave permission for someone else to use Flexible days and these days are still available.

You’ll need to decide how and when to use remaining Flexible Paid Parental Leave days.

If you still have days remaining, you can claim them yourself or give permission to someone else to claim days.

If you gave permission to someone else to use days which are still available, you should check if they’ll use them. If they won’t use a day you can remove permission for them to use it. This allows you to use the day for yourself or give permission to someone else to use them.

An outstanding task will appear in your Centrelink online account through myGov until all days are claimed. The task will not appear in the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app but you can still use the app to claim any remaining days.