If you are a father or a partner looking up paternity leave in Australia, the first thing to understand is that no Australian law uses that name. There is no entitlement called paternity leave in the Fair Work Act, in any award, or in any Centrelink payment. What partners actually get is a combination of two separate things: unpaid parental leave under the National Employment Standards, which is job protection from your employer, and Parental Leave Pay, which is money from the government at the national minimum wage. The old two-week Dad and Partner Pay no longer exists as a separate payment. This guide explains what a partner can take, how many weeks are reserved for you on a use it or lose it basis, how much you can be paid at the same time as the other parent, and what you need to qualify. All figures on this page were verified against Services Australia and the Fair Work Ombudsman on 26 July 2026 and apply to children born or adopted from 1 July 2026.
Key takeaways
- Australia has no entitlement named paternity leave. Partners use NES unpaid parental leave plus the shared government Parental Leave Pay pool.
- Dad and Partner Pay was merged into Parental Leave Pay for children born or adopted from 1 July 2023, and claims closed permanently on 30 June 2024.
- For a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026 a family gets 130 Parental Leave Pay days (26 weeks at 5 days a week), paid at $200.94 a day or $1,004.70 a week before tax.
- If you have a partner, 20 days (4 weeks) are reserved for each parent on a use it or lose it basis, so no partnered parent can claim more than 110 days.
- Both parents can be paid Parental Leave Pay for up to 20 days at the same time, and there is no longer any cap at all on taking NES unpaid parental leave concurrently.
- A 12% superannuation contribution is now paid by the ATO on Parental Leave Pay for children born or adopted from 1 July 2025.
There is no entitlement called "paternity leave"
Search engines and workplace policies still use the words paternity leave, but the Australian system does not. Two completely separate schemes do the work, and they have different rules, different eligibility tests and different administrators:
- Unpaid parental leave is a minimum entitlement in the National Employment Standards, enforced by the Fair Work Ombudsman. It gives you time off and a guaranteed right to return to your job. It does not pay you anything.
- Parental Leave Pay is a government payment administered by Services Australia. It is money, not leave. It gives you no right to be absent from work by itself.
On top of those two, many employers offer their own paid parental leave through a contract, policy, award or enterprise agreement. Employer-funded leave sits on top of the government payment and can be taken at the same time as it. If your workplace policy says "paternity leave" or "secondary carer leave", that is your employer's own scheme and its rules are whatever the policy says, provided it does not go below the NES. You can see how the standards fit together in our National Employment Standards guide, and the mechanics from the birth parent's side are covered in our maternity leave guide.
What happened to Dad and Partner Pay
Dad and Partner Pay was a separate Centrelink payment worth up to 2 weeks at the national minimum wage, paid to eligible fathers and partners. It no longer exists. It was folded into the single Parental Leave Pay scheme for children born or adopted from 1 July 2023, and Services Australia closed claims for it permanently on 30 June 2024.
This matters practically, not just historically. Under the old arrangement a father got his own separate two weeks that did not touch the mother's 18 weeks. Under the current scheme there is one pool of days for the family, and a partner's days come out of that pool. The government offset this by reserving a block of days that only the partner can use, and by increasing the total pool each year. If you are reading an old article that tells you to claim two weeks of Dad and Partner Pay on top of the mother's payment, that advice is out of date.
Services Australia, Dad and Partner Pay (page last updated 1 July 2025): "On 30 June 2024 claims for Dad and Partner Pay closed. Dad and Partner Pay and Parental Leave Pay combined into one payment for children born or adopted from 1 July 2023."
Unpaid parental leave for partners under the NES
This is the entitlement that actually gets you time off work. Under the National Employment Standards, an employee who has completed at least 12 months of continuous service with their employer can take up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave, and can request a further 12 months on top of that, up to 24 months in total. Crucially for partners, the Fair Work Ombudsman states that an employee's entitlement is not affected by how much leave their partner takes. Your 12 months is yours. It is not carved out of the birth parent's 12 months, and the two of you can work for the same employer or different employers.
The rules that apply to a partner specifically are:
- Eligibility. At least 12 months of continuous service before the birth or placement. Casual employees qualify if they have been employed on a regular and systematic basis for at least 12 months and had a reasonable expectation of continuing work. See our casual versus permanent guide for how continuous service is judged.
- Responsibility for care. You must have, or be about to have, responsibility for the care of the child. You do not need to be the primary carer.
- Timing. If you are not the pregnant parent, your leave must start and end within 24 months of the birth or placement. You can start it on the day of the birth or much later, for example when the birth parent returns to work.
- Flexible days. Part of your 12 months can be taken as flexible unpaid parental leave, in single days or short blocks, at any time within 24 months. For a child born or placed for adoption on or after 1 July 2026 you can take up to 130 days flexibly. Those days come out of your 12 month entitlement.
- Notice. At least 10 weeks written notice of your intention to take leave, then confirmation at least 4 weeks before it starts. Flexible days need at least 4 weeks notice of the specific days.
- Extension. A request to extend beyond the first 12 months must be in writing at least 4 weeks before your initial period ends. Your employer must reply in writing within 21 days and can only refuse after genuinely trying to reach agreement, considering the consequences for you, and on reasonable business grounds.
- Extras. You also get 10 keeping in touch days during a 12 month period of leave, and all employees regardless of service length get up to 2 days of unpaid pre-adoption leave.
Because the leave is unpaid, many partners combine it with accrued annual leave or, where a policy allows, other paid entitlements. Unpaid parental leave does not break your continuous service, but it generally does not count towards accruing paid leave either. Our leave without pay guide explains how unpaid periods affect accruals and long service leave.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Parental leave and related entitlements fact sheet (content last updated 11 May 2026) and Extending parental leave (content last updated 20 May 2026). Unpaid parental leave is provided for by sections 70 to 85 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
How the Parental Leave Pay pool is shared
Parental Leave Pay is a single pool of days for the whole family, counted in days rather than weeks. For a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026, a family can get up to 130 days, which Services Australia describes as 26 weeks based on a five day work week. The current rate is $200.94 a day before tax, or $1,004.70 per five day week, set by the national minimum wage and normally reindexed each 1 July. The payment is taxable, and the rate you receive depends on the financial year the days fall in, not on when your child was born.
The pool has grown quickly, so check the date of birth or adoption rather than the date you are claiming:
| Child born or adopted from | Total days for the family | Equivalent weeks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 July 2023 | 100 days | 20 weeks |
| 1 July 2024 | 110 days | 22 weeks |
| 1 July 2025 | 120 days | 24 weeks |
| 1 July 2026 | 130 days | 26 weeks |
As the partner you cannot simply help yourself to a share. The birth mother, first adoptive parent or first gaining parent in a surrogacy arrangement has to give approval for the number of days shared with you, and you must lodge your own separate claim to receive them. Days can be taken as one continuous block, several smaller blocks, single days, or a mix. Your employer will normally deliver only the first single continuous block through payroll, with Services Australia paying the rest directly.
The weeks reserved for each parent
The design feature that replaced Dad and Partner Pay is the reserved daysrule. If you have a partner on the day you claim, a set number of the family's days can only be used by the other parent. They cannot be transferred, and if that parent does not claim them, the family loses them. This is the "use it or lose it" part of the scheme, and it exists specifically to encourage fathers and partners to take leave.
The number of reserved days depends on the child's date of birth or adoption: 10 days from 1 July 2024, 15 days from 1 July 2025, and 20 days from 1 July 2026. Services Australia states the rule from the claiming parent's side, that 20 days are reserved for your partner, and confirms in its own worked examples that a parent who has a partner can claim a maximum of 110 days. The same 20 day reservation applies in the other direction, which leaves 90 days the couple can divide however they choose.
| Component of the pool (child born or adopted from 1 July 2026) | Days | Weeks at 5 days |
|---|---|---|
| Total Parental Leave Pay pool for the family | 130 days | 26 weeks |
| Reserved for parent A (cannot be transferred) | 20 days | 4 weeks |
| Reserved for parent B (cannot be transferred) | 20 days | 4 weeks |
| Shareable days the couple divide as they wish | 90 days | 18 weeks |
| Maximum one partnered parent can claim | 110 days | 22 weeks |
| Maximum both parents can be paid at the same time | 20 days | 4 weeks |
There are exemptions to the reserved days limit, so a parent can sometimes take all 130 days despite having a partner. They apply where the partner has died, is in prison, cannot be located, is subject to a parenting order preventing care, has a medical condition preventing care, or is a defence force member deployed overseas for the whole period, and also where the claimant is experiencing family or domestic violence, or the child was stillborn, died, or needs at least 18 weeks of hospital or high care. You apply for an exemption by calling Services Australia after you claim, and evidence is usually required.
Services Australia, How much Parental Leave Pay you can get (page last updated 1 July 2026) for the 130 day pool, the $200.94 daily rate and the 20 reserved days; Exemptions to the reserved days limit; and Meeting the income test (page last updated 1 July 2026), whose worked example confirms that a parent with a partner can get a maximum of 110 days.
Taking leave at the same time as the other parent
This is where the two schemes diverge sharply, and where most partners get confused. The paid scheme has a cap on overlap. The unpaid NES entitlement no longer does.
Parental Leave Pay. There is a limit on how many days both parents can be paid for simultaneously. For a child born or adopted before 1 July 2025 the limit is 10 days. For a child born or adopted from 1 July 2025 the limit is 20 days, which lines up neatly with the reserved block. So a partner can be paid for four weeks at home together with the birth parent immediately after the birth, then the remaining days have to be taken at different times unless an exemption applies. Exemptions to the concurrency limit cover multiple births, a caesarean or a birth complication for the birth mother, a child hospitalised for at least 14 days, a child needing extended medical care, a medical condition affecting either parent, and stillbirth or the death of the child.
NES unpaid parental leave. Since 1 July 2023 there is no limit. The Fair Work Act previously prevented an employee from taking more than 8 weeks of unpaid parental leave at the same time as their spouse or de facto partner. The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Act 2023 removed that restriction. Both parents can now take up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave each, at any time within 24 months of the birth or placement, concurrently for part or all of their leave, and both can separately apply to extend by up to a further 12 months.
In practice this means a partner who wants a long stretch at home alongside the birth parent can do it, but only the first 20 days of the overlap will attract Parental Leave Pay. The rest is unpaid unless your employer's own policy or your accrued annual leave covers it.
Services Australia, Exemptions to the limit for taking days at the same time (page last updated 14 January 2026) for the 20 day concurrency cap; Fair Work Ombudsman, Protecting Worker Entitlements, confirming that from 1 July 2023 "employees are no longer prevented from taking more than 8 weeks of unpaid parental leave at the same time as their spouse or de facto partner".
Superannuation on Parental Leave Pay
Superannuation is now paid on Parental Leave Pay, which was not the case in earlier years. If your child was born or adopted from 1 July 2025, the Australian Taxation Office pays a 12% superannuation contribution on your Parental Leave Pay, called the Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution. Payments started flowing from July 2026. See super on Parental Leave Pay for how the ATO calculates and pays it, and Paid Parental Leave hits 26 weeks for the day count that applies to your child.
The mechanics matter for partners. You do not lodge a separate claim, and your employer does not calculate or pay it. The ATO pays it straight into the fund your super normally goes to, after the end of the financial year in which your Parental Leave Pay days fall. Importantly, if you share Parental Leave Pay, each parent gets the contribution on their own share, so a partner who claims 20 days gets 12% of those 20 days paid into their own fund. That is a direct reason for a partner to claim the reserved days rather than let them lapse.
Services Australia, Paid Parental Leave scheme changes (page last updated 1 July 2026): "If you get Parental Leave Pay for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2025, the ATO will pay a 12% superannuation contribution on this payment." Confirmed by the Fair Work Ombudsman, Payment during parental leave (content last updated 1 July 2026).
Who counts as a partner, and the tests you must pass
The scheme is deliberately broad about who can claim. Services Australia lists the birth mother, the partner of the birth mother, the child's biological father, the partner of the biological father, an adoptive parent and their partner, gaining parents in a surrogacy arrangement and their partners, and a person caring for a child under exceptional circumstances. The Fair Work Ombudsman defines a de facto partner for NES purposes as someone who lives with the employee in a relationship as a couple on a genuine domestic basis, and states plainly that the partner "can be the same sex or different sex to the employee". Same-sex partners, non-birth parents and adoptive parents are covered on exactly the same terms.
There is no primary carer testfor a partner under the current scheme. You need to be caring for the child, and for NES leave you need to have or be about to have responsibility for the child's care, but you do not have to be the main carer and the birth parent does not have to have returned to work.
You do, however, have to pass three tests:
- Work test. You must have worked 10 of the 13 months before the birth or adoption, and a minimum of 330 hours (around one day a week) in those 10 months, with no gap of more than 12 weeks between work days. Multiple employers and self-employment count, and paid leave counts as work.
- Income test. Your individual adjusted taxable income must be $186,487 or less in the 2025-26 financial year. If you fail that, you can still qualify on the family income test of $386,525 or less for you and your partner combined.
- Residence rules. You must meet Services Australia's residence requirements.
One trap catches a lot of partners. If you are the birth mother's partner, the biological father, or the biological father's partner, both of you must meet the work test. If you meet it and she does not, neither of you is eligible. The same applies if your partner adopted the child or is the gaining parent in a surrogacy arrangement and you are not named on the adoption or surrogacy documents. This is separate from the income test, which is assessed individually, so it is possible for one parent to pass the income test and the other to fail it.
Services Australia, Who can get Parental Leave Pay (page last updated 1 April 2026), Work requirements (page last updated 1 April 2026) and Meeting the income test (page last updated 1 July 2026).
A worked example for a couple
Priya and Nathan have a baby on 5 August 2026. Because the child was born after 1 July 2026, the family pool is 130 days. Both meet the work test, both are under the individual income limit, and both have more than 12 months of continuous service with their employers.
The pay. Priya claims 110 days, the most a partnered parent can claim. The remaining 20 days are reserved for Nathan and cannot be transferred to her. Nathan lodges his own claim and Priya approves the share.
Nathan's Parental Leave Pay = 20 days × $200.94 = $4,018.80 before tax. Priya's = 110 days × $200.94 = $22,103.40 before tax. The family total is $26,122.20 before tax.
The super. Because the child was born after 1 July 2025, the ATO pays 12% on each parent's own share after the 2026-27 financial year ends. Nathan receives about $482 into his fund and Priya about $2,652, roughly $3,134 between them.
The timing. Nathan takes all 20 of his paid days in the four weeks straight after the birth, at the same time as Priya. That is exactly at the 20 day concurrency limit, so both are paid for the whole overlap.
The leave itself. Nathan separately gives his employer notice and takes 3 months of NES unpaid parental leave, which is his own entitlement and does not touch Priya's 12 months. His first four weeks are covered by Parental Leave Pay; the rest is unpaid, so he tops it up with accrued annual leave.
An alternative. If Nathan wanted longer paid, Priya could share 40 of her days with him instead. Nathan would then claim 60 days (12 weeks) and Priya 70 days (14 weeks). The 20 day concurrency cap would still apply, so 40 of Nathan's days would need to fall outside Priya's paid period.
Open the parental leave calculator to test different splits of the 130 days.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a separate paternity leave payment in Australia?
No. There has not been one since Dad and Partner Pay was folded into Parental Leave Pay for children born or adopted from 1 July 2023, with claims closing on 30 June 2024. Fathers and partners now claim from the same shared Parental Leave Pay pool as the birth parent.
How many paid weeks can a father or partner actually get?
At minimum, the 20 reserved days (4 weeks) that only you can use, for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026. At maximum, 110 days (22 weeks), if the other parent shares all 90 shareable days with you and takes only their own 20 reserved days. Anything between those two numbers is a matter for the two of you to agree.
Do I have to be the primary carer to claim?
No. The current scheme has no primary carer requirement for a partner. You need to be caring for the child and to meet the work, income and residence tests, but the birth parent does not need to have returned to work first.
Can we both be off at the same time?
Yes. You can both take NES unpaid parental leave for the whole of your leave period if you want to, because the old 8 week concurrency cap was removed on 1 July 2023. The money is more restricted: only 20 days of Parental Leave Pay can be paid to both of you at the same time for a child born from 1 July 2025, unless an exemption such as a multiple birth or an extended hospital stay applies.
Does my partner have to be eligible for me to get Parental Leave Pay?
For the work test, yes. If you are the birth mother's partner, the biological father, or the biological father's partner, both of you must meet the work test. If she does not meet it, you cannot be paid even if you do. The income test is assessed individually, so one of you can qualify on income while the other does not.
Is superannuation paid on Parental Leave Pay?
Yes, for children born or adopted from 1 July 2025. The ATO pays a 12% Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution directly into your fund after the end of the relevant financial year, with payments starting from July 2026. If you share the payment, each parent gets the contribution on their own share.
What if I have not worked for my employer for 12 months?
You will not be entitled to NES unpaid parental leave, because that requires 12 months of continuous service (or, for casuals, 12 months of regular and systematic work plus a reasonable expectation it would continue). You may still qualify for Parental Leave Pay, since its work test looks at 330 hours across 10 of the 13 months before the birth and can include work for multiple employers. In that situation you would need to negotiate time off with your employer, for example using annual leave or leave without pay.
Does my employer have to pay me anything on top?
Not under the NES. Any employer-funded paid parental leave comes from a contract, policy, award or enterprise agreement, and its rules are set there. Employer-funded leave can be received at the same time as government Parental Leave Pay. Check the award or agreement that covers you, and look up any unfamiliar terms in the glossary or our general FAQ.
Author & reviewer
Sarah has spent over a decade advising Australian SMBs on Fair Work, NES compliance, and payroll. Based in Sydney, she has worked across hospitality, retail and professional services.