Information you need to give us

To claim Parental Leave Pay for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2023, you’ll need to give us certain information before and after your child’s birth or adoption.

When you claim online, we’ll tell you what supporting documents you need to give us to complete your claim.

You’ll need all of the following:

We’ll also ask for details about all of the following:

  • your Australian residency - for example, citizenship papers, passport or other documentation
  • periods when you have lived outside Australia
  • your income for the financial year before your claim, or before your child’s birth or adoption - whichever is earlier
  • your partner’s income (if you have one) for the same financial year, if your income is over the individual income limit
  • your work, including hours worked and any unpaid leave you took.

We’ll also ask for proof of your child’s birth or adoption if you’re claiming after their birth or adoption.

During your claim, you might need to provide some supporting documents. The quickest way is to take a photo of each document and upload it using the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

Parents whose relationship to the child is not one of the following can still claim:

  • birth mother
  • first adoptive parent to claim
  • first parent to claim in exceptional circumstances.

You’ll need to give us some more information so we can confirm one of the parent’s listed is sharing their Parental Leave Pay with you.

You’ll need to give us information about the other parent if their relationship to the child is one of the following:

  • birth mother
  • first adoptive parent to claim
  • first person to claim in exceptional circumstances.

We’ll confirm with them if they’re sharing Parental Leave Pay with you.

After your child’s birth or adoption

You must have registered or applied to register your newborn child’s birth with your state or territory birth registry. You must tell us in your claim that you’ve done this.

You also need to give us proof of birth or adoption as soon as possible so we can finalise your claim. You have some options for how you give us proof of birth or adoption.

Page last updated: 11 August 2023.
QC 64499