A new portable long service leave scheme will start in NSW from July 1 for a key group of workers
A new portable long service scheme for community service workers – giving them access to six weeks of paid leave without having to work for the same employer for 10 years - is set to start in New South Wales.
The scheme, to be introduced from July 1, 2025, will give workers in a community service role entitlement to long service leave after working in the industry for seven years with one or more employers - a change from traditional long service leave entitlement that is based on continual service with a single employer.
According to the NSW Government website, this long service leave will allow eligible workers to claim up to six weeks’ paid leave with payment based on ordinary wages, with overtime not included. It doesn’t need to be taken straight away or all at one time.
This is different to traditional long service leave, where employees traditionally get an entitlement of around eight weeks leave. The Government says the change does not override requirements of the Long Service Leave Act 1955.
Announcing the change last year, NSW Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis said the change would benefit about 250,000 community service workers, many of them women.
"In a sector where short-term contracts are common, workers rarely spend enough time in the same workplace to access their long service leave. These workers currently lose all accrued long service leave when they change employers," the statement said.
HRD spoke with Greg Leather, Partner at BlackBay Lawyers in Sydney, about what employers need to know ahead of the scheme coming into force.
“This change represents recognition by the government that community service work is important, and that workers shouldn’t be missing out on the benefits that the rest of the sector enjoys. This scheme makes it more accessible.”
“It’s difficult for people in the industry to achieve, not least because they tend to work with various employers over a period of time. They don't necessarily stay with one employer over an entire 10-year period,” Leather added.
Leather told HRD workers are encouraged to sign up for the new scheme as soon as possible to gain the additional benefit of an additional year of service granted.
When the scheme starts, employees already have a year of service “in the bank,” meaning workers aren’t being treated as starting their career from day one.
“Employers are required to sign up within a month of the scheme starting – there will be penalties for non-compliance – and I think this has been done because the government are aware that there will need to be some monitoring to get things right" he said.
“The whole idea of this scheme is it’s portable, so because all employers in the area must sign up, and it's not relative to their employees, it's relative to their participation in the sector. Generally, if you change employer, you lose your long service benefits, unless your company is purchased. That’s then called a transfer of employment, so you technically aren’t in a new job."
This, Leather said, is the basis of the logic behind the scheme – to ensure those that may not always work for the same employer are still benefitting from their long service in the industry.
“The community services sector just don't necessarily spend 10 years in the sector - or certainly not 10 continuous years - So it is probably the case, without putting words in people's mouths, that it's been set at seven years to make it more accessible,” Leather summarised.
Leather noted that there are 31 different types of community service worker that are eligible, with some still missing.
“It’s important to note too that the scheme, defines the types of community service work that it'll apply to. Two things that are generally considered community service work aren’t included – those being early childhood education and residential aged care services.”
“Whilst it does address the needs of children, it doesn’t directly address everything. It’s quite a broad church, though.”
