Long service leave for Commonwealth employees: 1976 Act calculator

How much long service leave Commonwealth employees get

Section 18 of the Act sets the credit in months, not weeks: credit = 3a / 10 - b, where a is your years of service and b is the months of long service leave already granted to you. That gives 3 months at 10 years and 0.3 months for every year after, with no 5-year steps. At 15 years the credit is 4.5 months; at 20 years, 6 months.

The Department of Finance policy turns the months into calendar days: 9 calendar days for each completed year, or 90 at 10 years, and leave is taken on a calendar-day basis, so weekends and public holidays inside the leave count. That conversion is agency practice; the Act itself only speaks in months.

0.3 months a year is 1.3 weeks a year (0.3 x 52 / 12). That matches South Australia and the Northern Territory and is 50% more than the 8.67 weeks per 10 years in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and the ACT.

Why leaving can pay more than your balance shows

The years in the formula are counted two ways (s 18(2)). While you are employed, only completed years count, so the balance moves once a year on your anniversary. On the day you stop being an employee, completed months count. At 12 years 8 months your balance is 3.6 months, but a payment on leaving is worked out on 12.6667 years, which is 3.8 months: on a $95,000 salary, $30,083.33 instead of $28,500.00.

When you can take it

• Not before 10 years. An employee is not eligible to be granted long service leave unless the period of service is at least 10 years (s 16(1)). The only exception is leave running up to retirement or retrenchment under s 17(1).
• The approving authority decides when. From 10 years it “may” grant leave up to your credit (s 16(2)). Finance's policy, as one agency example, approves leave where there is no unreasonable operational impact, and says an employee cannot be directed to take it.
• Half pay doubles the time. At your request, leave can be granted on half salary for up to twice the period (s 16(3)). Half-pay leave comes off your credit at half (s 19(2)(a)): 2 months away at half pay uses 1 month of credit.
• At least 7 calendar days at a time in the APS. The Act sets no minimum, but long service leave is a common clause across APS enterprise agreements from the 2023-24 bargaining round. The APSC's own agreement (2024-2027, cl 232) sets a minimum of 7 calendar days, whether at full or half pay, and says long service leave cannot be broken with other periods of leave.

Do you lose long service leave if you resign?

Before 10 years, yes. Between 1 and 10 years, the Act pays only for the reasons listed in s 17(2), and resignation is not one of them. From 10 years, you are paid however you leave.

Section 16(4) has no misconduct exclusion, so an employee with 10 years or more who is dismissed is still paid the credit. The trap is the last month before 10 years: resign at 9 years 11 months and you are paid nothing; be retrenched on the same day and the credit is worked out on 9.9167 years, $23,552.08 on a $95,000 salary.

APS long service leave after 7 years

At 7 years an APS employee has a credit of 3 x 7 / 10 = 2.1 months, worth $16,625.00 on a $95,000 salary. It cannot be taken, because leave needs 10 years (s 16(1)), and it is not paid out on resignation (s 17(2)). Before 10 years it is reachable only four ways: retirement at or after the minimum retiring age, which is 55 for APS employees, retrenchment, leaving because of ill health, or death.

The 7-year figure people quote belongs to a different law. The Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT) covers ACT private-sector employees and gives 6.07 weeks after 7 years. It does not apply to APS staff, even in Canberra.

Does state, territory or council service count?

Yes, by law. Earlier continuous service with a State, a State authority (which includes a local council, s 6(1)(b)), or the ACT or NT public service or teaching service counts toward the 10 years if it was continuous with your Commonwealth job (s 11(2)). Because it is in the Act, it does not depend on your agency agreement.

• Gaps: a new job that starts not more than 12 months after the last one ended keeps continuity (s 12(5)), but the gap itself does not count as service (s 12(9)). Longer gaps can be bridged only for ill health (s 12(7), (8)).
• Leave already paid: leave taken or paid out for any included period is deducted (s 18, s 19). A state public servant paid pro-rata leave by the state on leaving brings the service, and the deduction with it.
• Unpaid leave: it does not break continuity, but it does not count as service unless it is for illness or certain defence service, or is determined to count (s 12(3)).
• Other prescribed employers: the 2026 Regulations also list State authorities, such as universities, public hospitals and harbour boards (s 8, Sch 1), and former employers such as the Australian National University and Qantas before privatisation (Sch 2), whose service can count.
• Moving the balance: the APSC says portability of accrued paid leave from a state or territory public service is set by each agency's employment instrument, where legislation does not specify it.

Redundancy pay is different: the APSC says only continuous Commonwealth service is generally counted, which excludes state or territory service. See the redundancy calculator for the national scale.

Which “Long Service Leave Act 1976”?

Three Australian Acts share the name, and each covers different people.

The Commonwealth Act covers anyone employed by the Commonwealth, full-time or part-time, under a law or a contract of service or apprenticeship (s 10(1)). It does not cover, by reason of that employment alone, members of the Defence Force, ACT and NT public servants and teachers, or people engaged for work outside Australia only (s 10(6)).

Pay rate and part-time service

A full-time employee on leave is paid at their current rate of salary (s 20(1)). A part-time employee whose hours have changed is paid the hourly rate times the prescribed average hours: the average over the 12 months before the leave, or the whole-of-service average if that is lower and the employee satisfies the approving authority (s 20). A payment in lieu uses the full salary rate on your last day (s 21).

What counts as salary is set by the Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Regulations 2026, in force from 1 October 2026:

• Included: allowances for qualifications, for permanent additional duties, in lieu of quarters, and for an officer-in-charge (s 14), plus district allowance (s 16) and tool and equipment allowance (s 17).
• Higher duties allowance: included on conditions (s 15). For a payment when you leave, you must have performed the higher duties for a continuous period of at least 12 months ending on the relevant day (s 15(4)).
• Not included: shift penalties (s 19), overtime (s 20), and restriction or on-call allowances (s 21).

The 2026 Regulations replaced the 2016 Regulation, which ceased on 30 September 2026. Where the change would reduce someone's entitlement, the 2016 Regulation keeps applying to that person (s 22(1)). The calculator takes one annual salary figure and assumes full-time service throughout (category A in s 18); part-time and mixed service use other parts of s 18 that it does not model.

Retirement, retrenchment, ill health and death

• Retirement: from 1 year, at or after the minimum retiring age. For APS employees that is the age in s 30 of the Public Service Act 1999: 55, or a higher or lower age prescribed by regulations. For other Commonwealth employees it is 60, unless an earlier retiring age is fixed (s 4(10)). Retiring earlier is treated like a resignation before 10 years.
• Retrenchment: compulsory termination because the role is not necessary, the work is finished, or fewer employees are needed because there is less work (s 4(1)).
• Leave instead of payment: on retirement or retrenchment between 1 and 10 years, the credit can be taken as leave running up to your last day (s 17(1)).
• Ill health: paid if the approving authority is satisfied the illness justified leaving (s 17(2)(c)).
• Death: the payment goes to a dependant (s 16(7), s 17(5)), or to the legal personal representative if no dependant payment is authorised within 12 months (s 23(3)).

Worked examples

Illustrative salary of $95,000 a year, full-time throughout; an input, not a classification rate. Payment = salary x credit / 12. Full credit at 10 years: $23,750.00, or 6 months at half salary.

Related calculators and guides

• Long service leave calculator for state and territory Acts in private employment.
• ACT long service leave calculator for ACT private-sector employees.
• Long service leave tax calculator for the tax on a payment when you leave.
• Redundancy calculator, noting that APS redundancy generally counts only Commonwealth service.
• Long service leave after 10 years for the state milestones compared.