The portable long service leave scheme for people who care for others in our community
When you’re registered with ACT Leave, your portable long service leave benefits go with you if you move between eligible jobs within the industry.
If you do relevant work in the community sector industry, you should be registered for portable long service leave.
Eligible workers in the community sector industry
In the community sector scheme, workers are in 2 groups:
Registration | Levy | Benefit type | Notes | |
Employees | Mandatory – must be registered by the Employer | 1.6% of gross ordinary wages, paid by the employer | Accrued portable long service leave | Includes full-time, part-time and casual employees performing relevant work. Also includes workers on a visa that allows them to work in Australia |
Contractors | Optional – can self-register | 1.67% of ordinary remuneration or profit component, paid by the contractor | Contribution refund plus interest | Includes working directors, sole traders or individual partners in a partnership. |
Getting registered in the community sector industry
As an employed worker, your employer would normally register you when you start work with them.
Once registered, we’ll send you a letter with your registration number.
If you don’t think you’ve been registered and you have not received a letter from us with your registration details, submit an employee registration form.
We’ll also send you an annual statement to ensure:
- all work was recorded correctly
- your contact details are current.
Use your registration details to log into the portal to:
- check and update your contact details
- see your service history
- update your contact details if you didn’t receive an annual statement.
Sole traders and working directors in the community sector
You can still benefit from the portable long service leave scheme if you’re a:
- contractor (sole trader or individual in a partnership)
- working director.
To do this, register with us as a ‘voluntary member’ to gain a portable long service leave benefit. You can also backdate your service up to 1 year from the date you register.
When you claim, instead of taking leave, we’ll give you back the amount you paid in levies plus interest.
If the scheme fund investment made a return, you’ll receive interest of 75% of the rate of return.
Registering as a contractor
To register as a contractor, complete the relevant form:
Recording service as a contractor
If you register with us as a contractor, you must then lodge quarterly returns through the portal.
Each quarter, you’ll declare:
- how many days you worked
- your gross ordinary wages or profit part of your income for the quarterly return period.
You’ll pay a levy of 2.5% on what you declare. Most contractors use a $130 minimum daily rate of pay to calculate the gross ordinary wages.
If you record service as an employed worker as well as a contractor, you’ll receive the sum of the worker part and your contractor part when you claim.
Accruing portable long service leave in the community sector industry
If you were registered in the community sector scheme in the ACT on or after 1 July 2010, you accrue 8.67 weeks of portable long service leave for every 10 years of service.
Your service combines under the scheme when you accrue it as:
- an employed worker
- contractor.
For example, you would gain a total of 10 years of service in the scheme if you recorded:
- 6 years as an employed worker
- 4 years as a contractor.
See more information on entitlements and how to claim.
Getting deregistered
If you have had no service recorded in the ACT for 4 years, your account will deregister (close) from ACT Leave.
We’ll let you know 3 to 6 months before this is due to happen.
To avoid deregistration, contact us to provide proof of continued work in the ACT community sector industry.
Work in interstate community sector
The community sector scheme is not portable outside the ACT.
If you worked in the industry in another state, it does not count towards service recorded in the ACT.
Recording missing service in the community sector
If you think your employer has not recorded your service with ACT Leave, submit a missing service claim form so we can investigate your claim.
Your will need to ensure you were:
- working in the community sector in the ACT
- performing relevant work
- an employed worker.
Along with the completed form, you will need to provide evidence that you were employed by the employer during the period of missing service. Evidence could include:
- copies of your pay slips
- group certificates for the period of service missing.
