ACT Long Service Leave Calculator.
Calculate every leave entitlement for Australian Capital Territory employees, under the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT), Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the National Employment Standards.
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| Component | Formula | Value |
|---|---|---|
| State | - | ACT |
| Trigger | - | 7 years |
| Pro-rata from | - | 5 years |
| Years of service | (2026-11-02 − 2025-11-02) | 1.00 yrs |
| Service counted | Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT) ss 3, 11C | completed years and months |
| LSL weeks | state formula | 0.00 wks |
| Hours of LSL | 0.00 × 38h | 0 hrs |
| LSL value | 0 × $35.00 | $0.00 |
Disclaimer: This tool does not constitute legal or financial advice. Results may be inaccurate due to changes in legislation or your circumstances. This tool does not constitute legal or financial advice. We do not recommend taking actions based solely on these results. The calculator makes assumptions and results may be inaccurate due to changes in legislation, modern awards, or your personal circumstances. You use this information at your own risk. We can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong. For official guidance, visit Fair Work Ombudsman (fairwork.gov.au). Fair Work Ombudsman.
Three numbers every ACT employee should know.
The NES sets the federal floor; state law adds the long service entitlement and gazetted holidays.
Every ACT leave calculator.
Each calculator below is pre-configured for ACT law.
ACT Long Service Leave
6.07 weeks after 7 yrs. Pro-rata from 5 yrs for a qualifying reason. Under the Long Service Leave Act 1976.
Open ACT Long Service Leave calculatorACT Public Holidays 2026 & 2027
15 gazetted holidays in 2026 plus the 2027 calendar. Penalty rates by award, substitute days when a holiday falls on a weekend.
Open ACT Public Holidays 2026 & 2027Redundancy Pay (National)
NES sliding scale, 4-16 weeks based on years of service. Small business exemption built in. Section 119 Fair Work Act.
Open Redundancy Pay (National) calculatorAnnual & Personal Leave
Federal entitlements identical across every state, 4 weeks annual + 10 days personal under the NES. National calculator.
Open Annual & Personal Leave calculatorLong service leave is the one entitlement Australian Capital Territory sets for itself. Under the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT) you reach 6.07 weeks at 7 years, with a pro-rata payout available from 5 years, worked out on ACT long service leave. Whether that pro-rata amount is actually paid depends on why the job ended, which differs by state and is set out in pro-rata long service leave. Australian Capital Territory also gazettes 15 public holidays in 2026, listed with penalty rates on ACT public holidays.
Everything else comes from the National Employment Standards and is identical in every state: 4 weeks of annual leave, 10 days of personal and carer's leave, unpaid parental leave, and redundancy pay on the section 119 scale. When a job ends, final pay brings the notice, unused leave and redundancy components together. The rules themselves are explained in the National Employment Standards guide.
Australian Capital Territory long service leave
The ACT reaches the full entitlement at 7 years, not 10, under the Long Service Leave Act 1976. That is 6.0667 weeks at 7 years, with a further one-fifth of a month accruing for each further completed year.
The full entitlement is 6.0667 weeks at 7 years, plus a further 1/5 of a month for each further completed year, set by the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT) rather than federal law. The calculator above opens on long service leave, so enter your start date to work out your own balance.
Leaving before 7 years: pro-rata in ACT
Pro-rata long service leave becomes possible at 5 years of continuous service in Australian Capital Territory. That threshold is necessary, but here it is not sufficient.
The rule for all eight states is side by side in the pro-rata long service leave guide.
What counts as continuous service
Continuity survives paid leave, authorised unpaid leave and a transfer of business. ACT coverage follows the place where the employment is properly located, which matters in a city where a large share of workers live across the border in NSW.
How the payment is calculated
Payment is at your ordinary rate when the leave is taken. Where hours have varied, the ACT averages over the preceding 12 months of employment.
Sam, 7 years with one employer, a Canberra policy officer, on $1,810 a week.
91/15 x $1,810 = $10,980.67 gross, whether taken as paid leave or paid out on termination. The tax on a payout depends on when the service was performed: see the long service leave tax calculator.
The ACT catch worth knowing
The ACT and Victoria are the only jurisdictions where the full entitlement arrives at 7 years. For ACT workers the practical effect is that the conditional 5-to-7-year window is short, and most people simply reach the unconditional 7-year mark. Living in Queanbeyan does not change this: what matters is where the employment is based, not where you sleep.
The ACT has the broadest portable long service leave scheme in Australia
Most jurisdictions run a portable scheme for building and construction and stop there. The ACT, under the Long Service Leave (Portable Schemes) Act 2009, has ACT Leave administering schemes across building and construction, contract cleaning, security, and a Services Industry Scheme. From 1 January 2027 that services scheme extends to hairdressing and beauty services and to accommodation and food services, an entry date deferred from an earlier plan to give small businesses relief in difficult trading conditions. Portability matters because it decouples the entitlement from a single employer: service accrues with the industry, so changing employers within a covered industry does not reset you to zero. If you work in hospitality or hairdressing in the ACT, this is the single most valuable thing on this page for you.
ACT Leave, what we do. Verified 11 August 2026.
The ACT full entitlement arrives at 7 years, not 10
The Long Service Leave Act 1976 gives the full ACT entitlement after 7 years of continuous service rather than the 10 years used across most of the country. That is the earliest full trigger in Australia, shared with Victoria. The practical effect is that the conditional pro-rata window, which in the ACT runs from 5 years to 7, is unusually short: most workers who stay long enough to think about long service leave pass straight through it to the unconditional mark. Compare NSW, where the gap between the 5-year threshold and the unconditional 10-year entitlement is a full five years, and where a great many resignations fall into it and pay nothing. In the ACT the risky window is two years wide instead of five. APS staff working in Canberra are not covered by it: their long service leave comes from the federal Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976.
Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT). Verified 11 August 2026.
Between 5 and 7 years in the ACT you still need a qualifying reason
Short as it is, the ACT conditional window works the same way as in NSW and Queensland: reaching 5 years does not by itself entitle you to a pro-rata payment. A qualifying reason is also required, which covers illness, incapacity, a domestic or other pressing necessity, resigning at or after the minimum retiring age (65 unless an award or agreement sets another), death, or termination by the employer for something other than serious and wilful misconduct. A plain resignation at 6 years to take another job generally pays nothing. At 7 years that stops mattering and the entitlement is payable however the employment ends. So if you are in the ACT at 6 years and 6 months and weighing an offer, the arithmetic is simple and it usually favours waiting.
Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT). Verified 11 August 2026.
How ACT compares.
Federal annual leave is identical everywhere. State LSL and public holidays differ.
Modern awards common in Australian Capital Territory.
Industry awards layered on top of the NES. Each award has its own penalty rates, leave loading and (sometimes) RDO arrangements.
ACT-specific leave questions.
How much long service leave do I get in ACT?
When does ACT long service leave become payable on termination?
What's the ACT pro-rata LSL formula?
Do ACT casuals get long service leave?
How many public holidays does ACT have in 2026?
Does ACT substitute public holidays that fall on weekends?
Is annual leave different in ACT?
What law governs long service leave in ACT?
Built on ACT law.
This ACT calculator is built directly from the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT), the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), and current ACT Industrial Relations guidance.
Reviewed by a registered HR practitioner based in Canberra.