KEEPING UP TO DATE

Paid Parental Leave – October 2022 announcement

The Federal Government has recently announced a plan to gradually increase paid parental leave entitlements.

Impact HR understands how important it is for small to medium sized businesses to have early awareness of changes to support planning for their business. Here is a summary of the recently announced changes and key recommendations for business owners to prepare.

The key points are as follows:

• add another six weeks for government funded paid parental leave, increasing the benefit to 26 weeks.
• The increase will be rolled out gradually. From July 1 2024, two weeks of paid parental leave will be added to the scheme each year until it reaches 26 weeks by 2026.
• Single parents will be eligible to take the full 26 weeks of paid leave and two – parent households will be able to decide how they split the leave.
• Other changes include, allowing parents to take leave in blocks between periods of paid work.

Recommendations for business owners to prepare for the upcoming changes:

• If you have a Parental Leave policy in place, this is the time to review.
• Ensure you have a system to keep a record of employees on maternity leave
• Ensure you understand the possible changes to provide advice to any impacted employees

We are here to help and support you put a parental leave process in place and understand how the possible changes to the parental leave scheme may impact you and your business. Call us on 1300 474 672, or send us an email if you need help.