The Treasurer has announced that the Federal Government will pay superannuation on paid parental leave from 1 July 2025. The intention is that the superannuation will be administered by the ATO, meaning that employers will not have to process these payments on the government’s behalf. Further details of this measure, including cost, will be released in the Federal Budget due to be handed down in May 2024.
The Treasurer has said that this reform builds on the government’s work to “modernise” paid parental leave and expand the payment to cover a full six months by 2026. The expansion to Australia’s Paid Parental Leave Scheme in the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (More Support for Working Families) Bill 2023 has been passed by both houses as of 18 March 2024, and will give families an additional six weeks of paid parental leave in total. Families will have access to an extra two weeks of leave (for 22 weeks total) from 1 July 2024. The paid parental leave period then will increase to 24 weeks from July 2025 and 26 weeks from July 2026.
Employers will continue to be involved in the administration of payments if an employee elects to take eight or more weeks of their entitlement consecutively. For any shorter periods, Services Australia will pay the individual directly.
The expansion of the scheme builds on changes which commenced in July 2023 to give more families access to the parental leave payment, including through a more generous $350,000 family income test.
Source: www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/parental-leave-pay
https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/media-releases/paying-super-government-paid-parental-leave-enhance
Parliament of Australia: Paid Parental Leave Amendment (More Support for Working Families) bill 2023
