How to claim

You can claim up to 3 months before the birth or adoption of your child.

We won’t pay you before the birth or adoption of your child.

If you’re the first parent or person to claim for your child, you must claim within 52 weeks of their birth or adoption.

If the other parent or someone else has already claimed for your child, you have 2 years to make a claim. We won’t pay you until you have made your claim. You must use all the Parental Leave Pay days within 2 years of your child’s birth or adoption.

Before your payment can start, you need to do both of the following:

• make a claim
• provide all supporting documents including proof of birth or adoption.

Steps to claim Parental Leave Pay

1.  

   1. Talk to your employer

   You should talk to your employer at least 10 weeks before your child’s expected date of birth or adoption. You’ll need to negotiate your leave and tell them if you want to claim Parental Leave Pay.

   Your employer needs to register with us and read the Parental Leave Pay information for employers.

   If they’re not required to provide your Parental Leave Pay but opt in, they need to register before you claim.

2.  

   2. Before you claim

   Before you claim it’s important to decide what will work for your family. Only claim the days you intend to take.

   If the child has another parent, discuss with them how many days you’ll each take.

   You can choose to share some or all of your days with the other parent.

3.  

   3. Check your online accounts

   The easiest way to claim is online.

   To claim online you need a Centrelink online account linked to myGov. If you don’t have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account you’ll need to create them.

   You may need to prove your identity with us before you start your claim.

   If you can’t claim online, call us on the Centrelink families line.

4.  

   4. Get your documents ready

   You’ll need to get some supporting documents ready to help answer some of the questions in the claim.

5.  

   5. Start your claim

   If you can claim online

   If your Centrelink account is linked to myGov you can claim online.

   To do this:

   1. Sign in to myGov.
   2. Select Make a claim or view claim status, then Make a claim.
   3. Under Families select Get started.
   4. Select Apply for Family Assistance (including Paid Parental Leave) then follow the prompts to complete your claim.
   5. Answer all the questions. Each screen has information to help you complete the claim. This includes how to submit your supporting documents.
   6. If the other parent needs to approve sharing Parental Leave Pay days, they can do this online. They’ll need to log into their Centrelink online account through myGov and review your request to share. They must do this before you can submit your claim. If they don’t have a Centrelink account, they will need to set one up first.
   7. Submit your claim.

   Sign in to myGov

6.  

   6. Track your claim

   After you submit your claim online, you’ll get a receipt telling you all of the following:

   • the ID number of your claim
   • the date we estimate your claim will be complete
   • a link to track its progress.

   To track the progress of your claim online, sign in to myGov and select Make a claim or view claim status.

   Sign in to myGov

   You can also use the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

   After your child is born or adopted, you’ll need to give us proof of birth or adoption to finish your claim. Sign in to your Centrelink online account through myGov and select Add Newborn.

   We’ll let you know the result of your application. We’ll send a message to your myGov Inbox.

   If you don’t get electronic letters, we’ll send you a letter in the mail.

   If we need more details we’ll ask you for them.

   In many cases, your employer will pay into your bank account. Otherwise, we’ll pay you directly.

   If you think we’ve made a mistake you can ask us to review our decision.