How much is Paid Parental Leave per week in 2026-27?

$1,004.70 per week before tax, paid as $200.94 per day across the 130-day entitlement. That's the National Minimum Wage rate. Total maximum entitlement across the full 26 weeks is $26,122.20 (130 × $200.94). PPL is taxable and counts toward your income for the year. Super at 0.12% is also paid by the government on top of the PPL, from 1 July 2026 onward.

How many weeks of PPL do I get for a baby born in 2026-27?

26 weeks (130 days) for babies born on or after 1 July 2026. Of those, 20 days are reserved for the partner — use-it-or-lose-it. So the primary claimant gets 110 days (22 weeks); the partner gets 20 days (4 weeks) that can only be claimed by them, not transferred. Both parents can take PPL concurrently for up to 20 days.

What's the PPL income test in 2026-27?

Two tests. INDIVIDUAL income test — your individual adjusted taxable income (ATI) for the reference year must be at or below $186,487. FAMILY income test (alternative) — combined family ATI for that year at or below $386,525 if individual test fails. Either pass = eligible. Above both = no PPL. The reference year is the financial year before your baby's birth or your claim, whichever is earlier. These limits are for 2025-26 income, so they apply when your baby is born and you claim on or after 1 July 2026. A claim lodged before 1 July 2026 tests your 2024-25 income against $180,007 / $373,094.

What's the PPL work test?

You must have worked at least 330 hours of paid work in the 13 months (392 days) before your child's birth or adoption, with a minimum span of 295 days from first work day to last, and no gap of more than 12 weeks between two consecutive paid work days. Casual, contractor, self-employed, salary — all forms of paid work count, and paid leave (including employer paid parental leave) counts too. Failed work test = no PPL (though you may still qualify for Newborn Supplement via Family Tax Benefit Part A).

Does PPL come with super contributions?

Yes — from 1 July 2025 onward, the government pays 0.12% super contributions on top of the PPL itself. At $1,004.70/week × 26 weeks × 0.12% that is $3,134.66 super on top of the PPL. Paid into your nominated super fund by the ATO after the financial year ends. It counts toward your concessional contributions cap in the year your fund receives it, like super your employer pays.

Can I get PPL and the Newborn Supplement?

Not for the same child. PPL pays ~$26,122; the Newborn Supplement pays up to $2,125.76 (first child) + $708 Upfront. You choose one per child. With twins you can claim PPL for one and the Newborn Supplement for the other. PPL is significantly larger for families who qualify; the Newborn Supplement is the path when you don't (failed work test, or the 2025-26 income above the individual + family caps).

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Paid Parental Leave Calculator 2026-27

1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027

Calculate your Australian Paid Parental Leave for 2026-27 — days, weekly pay, total gross, plus the work + income test eligibility check.

Five questions, 60 seconds. Same engine as our paid planner.

What NestWise adds

One sign-up, ongoing watching layer — $20/yr.

Same maths Services Australia uses. When rates change (every July and March), your saved answer updates on its own — you're not stuck with last year's number.

One income number can shift what you get from CCS, FTB, kindy, and end-of-year top-ups. Save it once and every calculator stays in sync.

Save your income to profile — The paid dashboard PPL planner re-runs against your saved income whenever you update it — no re-entering.
Claim-window reminder — A reminder when you can first lodge your Paid Parental Leave claim, about three months before your due date.
Employer top-up + PPL Super figures — Both are stamped against your saved leave plan so the take-home is real, not ballpark.
Baby-year cashflow in one place — Pairs with Pre-Birth Money Map, partner-leave coordination, and Return-to-Work planning.
CCS + FTB knock-on — Same income moves what you get from Childcare Subsidy and Family Tax Benefit — updates them alongside PPL.
Rates auto-refresh — PPL rate + super rate change in July. Your saved plan updates on its own.

Save my family picture →

No credit card. $20/yr locked for life while we're building.

Expected birth or adoption placement date

Drives which PPL tier applies (130 days from 1 July 2026; 120 days before that).

Are you partnered (married or de facto)?

Your annual gross income

Use last year's income — the figure off your tax return. We'll explain the exact rule on the result page if it matters for you.

Your partner's annual gross income

Used for the family income test (the cap depends on the financial year of your due date — we show the right reference year in the result).

Have you worked at least 10 of the last 13 months?

Rough proxy for the work test (330 qualifying hours over ≥295 days, no >12-week gap). Full check in the paid planner.

Your PPL — quick estimate

$26,122 over 26 weeks

Total days

130

Weekly rate (gross)

$1,005

Your share

110 days

Reserved for partner

20 days

Quick eligibility check

✓

Work test

Looks OK based on your answer. Services Australia will verify exact hours.

✓

Income test

Below the cap (individual ≤ $186,487 OR family ≤ $386,525 on your 2025-26 (1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026) income).

✓

Residency

Assumed yes — you must be an Australian resident on the relevant days. Full check at Services Australia.

This is an estimate using the official PPL day rate ($201/day) and the rules in our PPL guide. Confirm eligibility with Services Australia before relying on it for cashflow.

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Not financial advice · 2026-27 rates from Services Australia · NestWise estimate, verify before claiming

How this calculator is built

Built by an Australian Chartered Accountant — the same engine the paid NestWise dashboard runs. Every rate table is verified against the source below every 1 July, 20 March, and 20 September and covered by a 200+ scenario regression suite.

Sources: Services Australia — Parental Leave Pay

How Paid Parental Leave is calculated

Australian Paid Parental Leave pays the National Minimum Wage to eligible parents around the birth (or adoption) of a child. The rate is fixed by law, not based on your actual salary. What varies is HOW MANY days you get and HOW you can split them between partners.

The two eligibility tests

Work test. You must have worked at least 330 hours across 10 of the 13 months before the child’s birth (or adoption placement), with no gap longer than 12 weeks between two work days.
Income test. Your individual income must be under ~$186,487 in the relevant financial year. There’s also a family income test cap (~$386,525 combined) that opens an alternative path when individual income is over.

The 2026-27 expansion

PPL is 130 days (26 weeks) for births from 1 July 2026; 120 days (24 weeks) for births 1 Jul 2025 – 30 Jun 2026. Of these, a number are reserved for each parent on a use-it-or-lose-it basisto encourage sharing. From 1 July 2025 the government also pays superannuation on PPL at the standard guarantee rate — a meaningful boost to retirement balance for parents (mostly mothers) taking the full leave.

The calculator above applies the day count for your due date + your eligibility flags. Numbers should match Services Australia’s assessment within rounding.

When PPL doesn’t fit — Newborn Upfront + Newborn Supplement

PPL isn’t the only Centrelink payment for a new baby. If you can’t clear the work test (330 hours in 10 of the 13 months before the birth) or you’d rather not take PPL, you can claim Newborn Upfront Payment + Newborn Supplement instead — together they’re usually smaller than PPL, but they don’t require the work test.

It’s one or the other, not both. Once you claim PPL for a child, Newborn Upfront + Supplement are off the table for that child (and vice versa). Choose at the time you lodge — you can’t collect both.

The numbers for 2026-271 July 2026 – 30 June 2027

Newborn Upfront Payment. $708 one-off, non-taxable. Paid soon after claim is approved.
Newborn Supplement. Paid over 13 weeks alongside FTB Part A. Up to $2,126 total for your first child, or $710 for subsequent children.
Combined: up to $2,834 for a first baby, $1,418 for subsequent babies. Reduces on higher family income.

Who typically ends up on Newborn instead of PPL

Self-employed parents who don’t track hours the way the work test requires.
Casual workers whose 13 months before the birth don’t hit 330 hours in 10 of them.
Parents who took a long career break or study period that broke the 12-week-gap rule.
Parents who prefer the smaller supplement plus FTB Part A over the PPL cash-flow shape.

The one requirement

You must be receiving (or eligible for) FTB Part A to claim Newborn Supplement. If your family income is above the FTB Part A cut-off, neither Newborn Supplement nor PPL will apply — that’s a small band of higher-earning families that misses both.

Full explainer with worked examples in the Newborn Supplement guide.

Worked example: Sarah and Tom

Sarah is having their first baby in October 2026. Sarah earns $85,000/year as a marketing manager; Tom earns $110,000 as a software engineer. Both have been continuously employed for 3+ years.

Eligibility

Sarah’s individual income ($85k) is well under the $186,487 cap — passes the income test. She’s worked continuously full-time — passes the work test. Tom’s individual income ($110k) also passes both tests. Sarah is the birthing parent so she’s the primary claimant.

Days + rate

The family pool is 130 days. As the partnered primary claimant, Sarah can take up to 110 days; 20 days are reserved for Tom on a use-it-or-lose-it basis. Sarah plans to take 90 days (~18 weeks); Tom takes 20 days (his 20 reserved + 0 from the shared pool). At National Minimum Wage of$1,005/week (per lib/rates.ts), Sarah’s gross PPL = 90 days ÷ 5 × $1,005≈ $18,085 gross. Tom’s gross PPL = 20 days ÷ 5 × $1,005≈ $4,019 gross.

Super on PPL (from 1 July 2025)

12% super guarantee on the PPL amount = Sarah ~$2,170 added to super, Tom ~$482. Goes to their nominated super funds automatically.

Tax

PPL is taxable income. Sarah’s marginal rate at $85k + PPL ≈ 30%, so net PPL ~$12,207. Tom’s marginal rate at $110k + PPL ≈ 35%, so net PPL ~$2,612. These are illustrative; your actual marginal rate depends on total taxable income.

Family combined net PPL: ~$14,819, plus ~$2,652 to combined super.

Plug Sarah and Tom’s numbers into the calculator above to see the gross figure with current rates and the work + income test traffic lights.

How NestWise compares to the Services Australia calculator

Services Australia’s Payment and Service Finder will tell you whether you qualify for PPL and roughly how much. The NestWise calculator implements the same day-count + rate formula with source-traced figures.

What NestWise surfaces that the official tool doesn’t

Work test + income test traffic lights. Quick green/amber/red on each test so you see at a glance whether eligibility is solid or marginal.
Per-partner split. Plan how the 130 days divide between you, including the reserved use-it-or-lose-it days. The official tool calculates one claimant at a time.
Live recalc. Drag the day count between partners, change the projected birth date, watch the figures move — useful when planning around employer top-ups.
Super on PPL surfaced. From 1 July 2025 the 12% super guarantee is paid on PPL — we show the per-partner super amount alongside the cash figure.

What NestWise doesn’t model in this free calc

Employer top-up payments. Many employers pay PPL on top of (or instead of paying through) the government scheme. The free calc shows the government portion only; check your employer’s PPL policy separately.
Dad and Partner Pay legacy. The old DAPP scheme has been folded into the unified PPL since 2023 — we calculate against the current law, not the legacy scheme.
Multiple births / adoption-of-multiple-children. Standard rules apply; talk to Services Australia for the specifics.

For pre-baby planning scenarios, NestWise is faster. For the formal claim, lodge through myGov → Centrelink → Parental Leave Pay — ideally 3 months before the birth date.

Six common mistakes when planning PPL

Forgetting PPL is taxable. The gross figure is the PRE-tax amount. Net is meaningfully lower — budget on net, not gross.
Missing the 12-week work-test gap rule. You can’t have a gap longer than 12 weeks between two work days in the 13 months before the birth. A long sabbatical or career break can disqualify even if total hours look fine.
Claiming when individual income > $186,487 without checking the family path. You qualify on EITHER test, so being over the individual cap is not the end of it: family income up to $386,525 also passes. That applies whether or not you have a partner — a single parent’s family income is simply their own, so the higher cap is the one that decides it.
Not planning the partner split before applying. Reserved use-it-or-lose-it days are real money. If your partner takes none, those days don’t transfer to you — they’re gone.
Forgetting to nominate a super fund for the PPL super contribution. From 1 July 2025 super is paid on PPL automatically — but only if your super fund is on file with Services Australia.
Assuming PPL is your only option. Newborn Upfront + Newborn Supplement are the alternative — smaller total (~$2,834 for a first child) but no work test required. It’s one or the other, not both. Self-employed, casual, and low-hours parents often qualify only for Newborn.

When to re-estimate your PPL

PPL rates and rules change at 1 July annually, plus the 110-day expansion is phased in across 2024-2026. Re-run the calculator when:

Your due date shifts. Crossing a financial year changes which rate applies + the phase-in stage of the 110-day expansion.
Your income changes near the $186,487 cap. A pay rise that pushes you over the individual cap forces you onto the family path (or off PPL entirely if family income is also over).
You change employer or take a break. The work test counts the 13 months BEFORE birth — an extended gap or new job affects eligibility.
You revisit the partner split. Use-it-or-lose-it reserved days mean the split that lands best for your family isn’t always 50/50.
An employer policy lands. If your employer announces top-up PPL or matches super at a higher rate, your total package changes — though the government calculation here stays the same.

Run the calculator above with your new numbers, then read the full PPL 2026-27 guide and lodge through myGov in the 3 months before the due date.