NSW construction long service leave calculator
After 10 years (2,200 recorded days) in NSW building and construction, the Long Service Corporation pays 8.67 weeks at your award rate, then 4.33 weeks for every further 5 years. Contractors are covered too.
NSW building and construction long service
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| Component | Formula | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Credited days (S) | Recorded days on your LSC statement | 2,200 |
| Weeks of pay | 2,200 / 220 x 13 / 15 | 8.67 |
| Weekly rate (P) | Award or agreement ordinary rate, 38 hours max | $1,500.00 |
| Claim gate | First claim at 10 years, s 28(1)(a) | 2,200 days |
| Long service payment | 8.6667 weeks x $1,500.00 | $13,000.00 |
Disclaimer: An estimate, not an LSC determination. Your payment uses the days LSC has recorded and the award rate for the work you did in your last 55 working days. Interstate service counts toward the claim gates, but each scheme pays its own share. Check your record and claim through Long Service Corporation.
How the payment is worked out
Section 29 of the Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Act 1986 sets one formula for every claim: LSP = S / 220 x 13 / 15 x P.
- S is the number of days credited to you in the register on the date you lodge the application.
- 220 is the number of days that make one year of service (s 3(5)).
- 13 / 15 is the weeks of pay for each year of service. Ten years gives 10 x 13 / 15 = 8.667 weeks, which is the 8.67 weeks LSC publishes and the same as 2 months.
- P is ordinary pay for 5 working days at the rate for your classification, counting no more than 38 hours a week.
S counts days, not completed years, so the payment rises with every day recorded after a claim gate. LSC says you do not need to apply as soon as you reach 10 years, and that if you wait, your payment may continue to grow. Twelve years of days pays 10.4 weeks, not 8.67.
Worked examples at an illustrative award rate of $1,500 a week
| Case | Credited days (S) | Weeks | Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
First claim at 10 years | 2,200 | 8.67 | $13,000.00 |
Waits until 12 years | 2,640 | 10.40 | $15,600.00 |
Second claim, 5 years after the first | 1,100 | 4.33 | $6,500.00 |
Leaves the industry at 6 years | 1,320 | 5.20 | $7,800.00 |
Retires at 56 with 900 days | 900 | 3.55 | $5,318.18 |
Still working at 9 years | 1,980 | Not yet | 220 days to go |
Payment = S / 220 x 13 / 15 x $1,500. The rate is an input, not an award figure.
How days are credited
A full year of service is 220 days, and 220 is also the most you can be credited for any financial year (s 24(2)). Weekends, public holidays and annual leave are already built into that number, so a worker employed full-time for the whole financial year is credited exactly 220.
- Part of a financial year: two-thirds of the calendar days in the period, with any fraction rounded up to the next whole day (s 22(2), s 24(6)). Full-time from 1 October 2025 to 30 June 2026 is 273 calendar days, so 182 days are credited.
- Part-time or mixed duties: a day counts in full when you do building and construction work for more than half of your ordinary working day (s 22(3A)). LSC gives 4 or more hours in an 8-hour day as the example.
- Contractors: 220 days when net income for the year reaches the minimum annual income, which the Act defines as 52 times standard pay, and a proportion of 220 below it (s 22(4), (5)).
- Special service credits: training while unemployed, voluntary emergency work, light duties after an injury, certified illness after a contract ends, and building a home for sale on spec (s 23).
Two limits catch people out. No day before your registration date can be credited (s 24(1)), and service reported more than 2 financial years after it was due is excluded unless LSC accepts special circumstances.
When you can claim
| Your situation | Days needed | In years | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
First claim while still in the industry | 2,200 | 10 | s 28(1)(a) |
Each further claim while still in the industry | 1,100 more | 5 | s 28(1)(f) |
Permanently leaving building and construction | 1,100 | 5 | s 28(1)(c) |
Retiring at 55 or over | 55 | A quarter | s 28(1)(d), s 27(1) |
Totally and permanently incapacitated | 55 | A quarter | s 28(1)(e) |
Retiring on a veteran service pension, or a deceased worker's estate | 55 | A quarter | LSC claims page |
The 5-year door is narrower than it looks. Resigning from one builder triggers nothing, because the days stay on your record and keep growing with the next employer. The early payment is for people leaving the industry for good, and it costs something: registration is cancelled and no service can be credited for the 12 months after the application (s 24(3)). Anyone likely to be back on a NSW site within a year gives up those days.
What rate LSC pays
P is the award rate, not your pay packet. LSC uses the ordinary pay for your classification under the award, or your certified agreement rate, for 5 working days and a maximum of 38 hours (s 29(3), (5)). It does not recognise informal or handshake arrangements and cannot pay more than the award or agreement rate, so over-award money is left out.
Your classification comes from the last 55 working days of building and construction work before the claim (s 29(4)). Move up a classification before you apply and the whole balance is paid at the higher rate. Supervisors and working directors are paid at the rate for the workers they supervise.
Over-award example. A carpenter paid $60 an hour over the award, whose award rate is $1,200 a week (both figures illustrative), claims at 10 years. LSC pays 8.667 x $1,200 = $10,400, not 8.667 x 38 x $60 = $19,760. Check your classification on the Building and Construction Award pay rates page before you rely on a figure.
Contractors and working directors
Contractors are covered in NSW. The scheme takes full-time, part-time and casual workers and contractors, which includes sole traders and partners doing building work, working directors, family members doing eligible work, and direct supervisors of building workers. LSC notes that contractors cannot join the schemes in every other state, so a subbie moving interstate should check before assuming the same deal.
A contractor's days come from income rather than attendance. Each year a registered tax agent lodges a Self-Employed Worker Certificate of Service, and LSC credits 220 days if net income (assessable income less prescribed costs) reaches the minimum annual income, or a proportion if it does not. The dollar figure is set by regulation, so get the current number from your tax agent or LSC.
Coverage turns on the work, not the job title or the ABN. Office and administration work is outside the scheme, government and council employees are not covered (contract work done for government is), and no service is credited for work on Commonwealth land or a Commonwealth place.
LSC payment or leave from your employer
Ten years with one builder can give you two overlapping rights: 2 months' paid leave from the employer under the Long Service Leave Act 1955, or a payment from LSC. It is one or the other for the same period (s 31(2), (6)). Your employer has to contact LSC before paying you any long service entitlement, and can then be reimbursed. The statutory side is on the NSW leave calculator page.
The LSC payment is money, not time off. Leave from employment is not an entitlement under the 1986 Act (s 30A), so you agree any unpaid leave with your employer and draw the payment to cover it.
If your employer goes into liquidation and the liquidator offers a smaller long service payout, talk to LSC before you accept. A top-up claim has to be made within 3 months (s 31(3), (4)).
Gaps, interstate work and cancellation
Service adds up across every NSW employer and contract. It does not need to be one unbroken run. What hurts is 4 consecutive years with no service recorded, and the outcome depends on how much you had banked when the gap ends.
| Recorded service | After 4 years with no service |
|---|---|
Under 5 years | Registration cancelled and the service is lost |
5 years or more | Registration suspended and the service is kept |
Some time away can be recorded as non-service days that protect your registration: pregnancy, receiving a carer's payment, illness, the death or illness of a family member, government employment, and work on Commonwealth places.
The state construction schemes are party to a national agreement. Days banked in another state count toward an NSW claim gate, you lodge with the scheme where your most recent service is recorded, and each scheme pays its own share. Part of your career in Tasmania? The TasBuild long service leave calculator covers that scheme.
Check your service and claim
- The LSC Worker Portal shows your recorded days, and your annual statement is on it from September to January.
- Missing days: ask the employer to fix their return first, then lodge a Missing Service application with proof of employment.
- Disagree with your annual notice? Object within 6 months after it is served (s 25(2)).
- Claim through the Worker Portal, or call 13 14 41 for a paper form.
For employers the scheme is free, but it comes with paperwork: register with LSC, lodge a start notice within 7 days of a worker starting, and submit the annual service return by 31 July. An employer who has not lodged by 31 August can receive a Notice of Inspection.
The long service levy on building work
Workers and employers pay nothing into the NSW scheme. It is funded by a levy on building work: 0.25% of the total cost of works including GST, on works of $250,000 or more. Before 1 January 2023 the rate was 0.35% on works of $25,000 and above. The Act caps the rate at 0.6% of the cost (s 35).
- Who pays: the applicant for the building approval, or the person the work is being done for (s 37). On Crown work the contractor generally pays.
- When: before work starts (s 36). A council or accredited certifier cannot release a construction certificate or complying development certificate until it is paid.
- On what: the whole cost of works once it reaches $250,000, not only the part above the threshold. The cost is the figure the council, certifier or LSC sets.
- Reductions: owner-builders, churches and non-profits can apply for a partial exemption. The maximum discount is 50% and the minimum levy is $50.
- Instalments: available where the work will cost over $10 million including GST and take more than 12 months, or where paying in full is unduly onerous. Apply before work starts.
- Late or short payment: penalties apply, with interest at 6% above the Reserve Bank cash rate.
- GST: there is none on the levy, and LSC does not issue tax invoices.
Levy examples
| Cost of works, incl GST | Levy | Why |
|---|---|---|
$249,999 | $0 | Under the $250,000 threshold |
$250,000 | $625 | 0.25% of the whole cost |
$480,000 | $1,200 | 0.25% |
$1,200,000 | $3,000 | 0.25% |
$12,000,000 | $30,000 | Instalments possible on a job over 12 months |
$400,000, owner-builder with a 50% reduction | $500 | $1,000 less 50% |
$200,000 at the old 0.35% rate | $700 | Historical, before 1 January 2023 |
One dollar under the threshold pays nothing, and the first dollar at $250,000 makes the whole $625 payable.
Tax on the payment
LSC withholds PAYG at your marginal rate, using the weekly tax table on the payment's average weekly wage, and the payment goes in your tax return. To see how a long service lump sum is taxed in general, use the long service leave tax calculator.
Related pages
- NSW leave calculator for long service leave with one employer under the 1955 Act.
- NSW long service leave payout for what one employer pays when you leave.
- Long service leave calculator for statutory leave in every state.
- Building and Construction Award pay rates for the classification rate LSC pays on.
- Portable long service leave by state, the directory of every scheme.
- Coal mining long service leave calculator, since some mine-site work overlaps with Coal LSL.
Sources
- Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Act 1986 (NSW). ss 3(5), 22 to 25, 27 to 31, 35 to 37. Version in force from 21 December 2024. Retrieved 5 October 2026.
- LSC: Eligibility and benefits for workers. Who is covered, contractors, further payments every 5 years. Retrieved 5 October 2026.
- LSC: Service credits and annual statements. 220-day maximum, statement window, late service. Retrieved 5 October 2026.
- LSC: Claiming long service payments. 8.67 weeks at 10 years, claim gates, award rate, tax. Retrieved 5 October 2026.
- LSC: Long service levy. 0.25% from $250,000, the pre-2023 rate, reductions, instalments, interest. Retrieved 5 October 2026.
- LSC: Cancellations and suspensions of registrations. The 4-year rule and non-service days. Retrieved 5 October 2026.
- LSC: Employer obligations and managing employer returns. Registration, start notices, 31 July returns. Retrieved 5 October 2026.
- LSC: Working interstate. National agreement and contractor coverage in other states. Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Page published 5 October 2026, updated 5 October 2026. General information, not legal or financial advice.
NSW construction long service questions.
Taken from what NSW builders and tradies search for.