Paid Parental Leave work test calculator.

How the work test works, in days

Services Australia describes the test as working 10 of the 13 months before your child is born or adopted. It counts those months in days, and the calculator does the same:

Services Australia, Work requirements (updated 1 April 2026); DSS Paid Parental Leave Guide 2.2.1 and 1.1.P.130.

A few things follow from the arithmetic. 392 days is exactly 56 weeks, so the work test period starts on the same weekday as the birth. 295 days is 42 weeks and 1 day, and 330 hours across it averages 7.83 hours a week, Services Australia’s “around one day a week”. If you have worked throughout, the earliest 295-day stretch ends 98 days before the birth. For a due date of Wed 14 Apr 2027, the work test period runs from 18 Mar 2026 to 13 Apr 2027, and someone working full time since before then could stop on 6 Jan 2027 and still pass. These are our calculations from the official figures.

Which date the period ends on matters. Before the birth, it is the 392 days before the due date. Once the baby arrives on or before the due date, it is the 392 days before the actual birth. An early birth does not move it back to the due date. A late birth is tried on the actual date first, and if you fail only because the baby came late, the 392 days before the due date can be used instead. For an adoption, the period ends the day before the child enters your care.

What counts as work, and what does not

A day counts if you did at least one hour of paid work, or took at least one hour of paid leave, on it. Work overseas counts too.

Services Australia, Activities that count as work (updated 1 April 2026); DSS Paid Parental Leave Guide 1.1.Q.20 (reviewed 11 May 2026).

Two rows catch people out. Paid parental leave from your employer before the birth is paid leave, so it keeps your days counting. Unpaid leave does not, so starting leave early without pay leaves a gap at the end of your work history that no later work day closes.

Gaps between work days: the 84-day rule

A break between two work days is allowed if there are no more than 84 days between them, which is 12 weeks. Allowed break days count towards the 295 days even though they add no hours. A longer break splits your history in two, and one side must reach 295 days by itself.

• A break across the start of the period. If your last work day was before the work test period began and you were back at work within 84 days of it, the days at the start of the period still count as an allowed break.
• The gap before the birth. Days after your last work day are never an allowed break, because no later work day closes them. That is why the 295 days have to end on or before the last day you worked or took paid leave.
• Old 8-week rule. For children born before 1 January 2020, the limit was under 56 days. Any page still quoting 8 weeks is out of date.

Changing jobs, two jobs, casual and self-employed

The test follows you, not your employer. Hours from several jobs add together, a recent change of job is fine, and casual, seasonal and contract work all count. If you are self-employed or work in a family business, your hours count even when the business makes no profit, as long as you work for financial gain or benefit. Keep records of your hours, because Services Australia can ask for them.

Ren also shows the trap. Passing the work test is not the same as having job-protected leave. Unpaid parental leave under the National Employment Standards needs 12 months of continuous service with your employer, and at her due date Ren has 7 months with her new one. She can get Parental Leave Pay, but she has no right to unpaid parental leave from that job. The maternity leave guide explains how the two systems differ.

If your baby comes early, late, or you had to stop work

An early birth shortens your work test period, because it still ends the day before the actual birth. Services Australia can apply an exception if you would have met the test but for one of these:

• premature birth, meaning born before 37 weeks of pregnancy (birth mother, other parent or partner; not adoptive parents)
• pregnancy-related illness or complications
• a severe medical condition, for you or someone you care for
• family and domestic violence
• a natural disaster
• a dangerous job or workplace hazard, where the work test period moves to end on the day you stopped that work

Each one needs documents, and Services Australia decides. The calculator never shows a flat pass for an exception: it shows “may qualify” when your planned dates would have passed. The COVID-19 rule that used a 600-day period is a legacy rule and is not modelled.

Partners: both of you must pass

The birth mother, a first adoptive parent and a gaining parent under a surrogacy arrangement are assessed on their own work. A partner is different. If you are the birth mother’s partner, the biological father or his partner, you can only get Parental Leave Pay if both you and the birth mother meet the work test. The same applies if your partner adopted the child, or has a surrogacy agreement, and you are not named on the documents. Run the calculator once for each of you, and pick your role in the first field so the partner check is shown.

The income test for 2026-27 claims

The work test is half of eligibility. The other half is income, measured as adjusted taxable income for the financial year before the birth or the date you lodge your claim, whichever is earlier. A child born, or a claim lodged, between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027 uses 2025-26 income:

Services Australia, Meeting the income test (updated 1 July 2026).

You only need one of the two. The family test applies when you are over the individual limit, and your partner is whoever you are in a relationship with on the day you claim. A single parent is tested against the family limit on their own income, which is why a high-earning single parent can still pass. Lodging a claim before the birth can change the year used: a claim lodged in June 2027 for a baby due in August 2027 still uses 2025-26 income.

• Bilal earned $172,000 in 2025-26 and has a partner. He passes the individual test, so his partner’s income does not matter. Being partnered, he can claim at most 110 of the 130 days.
• Noor earned $201,500, over the individual limit. Her partner earned $148,000, so the family income is $349,500, under $386,525: she passes on the family test. Had her partner earned $199,000, the family income of $400,500 would fail.
• Keira is single and earned $243,000. That is over the individual limit, but a single parent is tested against the family limit, so she passes.

What you get if you pass

Services Australia, How much you can get (updated 1 July 2026).

For a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026, that is 130 days, or 26 weeks of 5 days. A single parent can claim all of them. Partnered parents can take up to 20 days at the same time for a child born from 1 July 2025. The rate is set by the financial year of each day you are paid: $200.94 a day, or $1,004.70 for a 5-day week, in 2026-27, and $189.62 a day in 2025-26. It is taxable. For twins or triplets you are paid for one child.

Our calculation at the 2026-27 rate. Days paid from 1 July 2027 will use a rate not yet published.

Super is paid separately by the ATO as the Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution, for children born or adopted from 1 July 2025. It is based on the 12% super guarantee rate, includes an interest component, and is paid as a lump sum to your fund after the end of the financial year you were paid in, starting in 2026-27. If you share the days, each parent gets super on their own share. It is generally taxed at 15% in the fund and counts towards your concessional contributions cap.

Claiming

You can lodge a claim up to 97 days before the due date: for a baby due on 26 September, from 21 June. That is also roughly the earliest date you could meet the work test. The latest is the day before your child’s first birthday, or the day before their second birthday if an effective claim was already made before the first. Claims go through Services Australia, which also checks the residence rules this page does not cover.

Related calculators and guides

• Maternity leave calculator for 26 weeks of pay and the gap against your own salary.
• Parental Leave Pay calculator, the parental leave hub for paid, unpaid, paternity and adoption leave.
• Maternity leave: unpaid NES leave and Parental Leave Pay side by side.
• Paternity leave: what partners get and the reserved days.
• Returning to work after maternity or parental leave, for your rights when you go back.