Paid Parental Leave isn't only for Monday to Friday. You can use your days on any day you're caring for your baby and not working: weekends, public holidays, and days you're on annual leave. Days you don't use straight away are held for you until the day before your child turns 2.
That matters most for parents who go back to work early with days left over. Those days aren't lost on the day you return. You can use them on your weekends.
The rules below are from the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 and Services Australia. Figures are for a child born from 1 July 2026.
The rule, in one line
You can be paid Parental Leave Pay for a day if, on that day, you're caring for your child and you do no more than one hour of paid work (section 31AA). Any day counts, from the day your child is born until the day before their second birthday (section 11D). Nothing in the rule says weekdays.
Each day is worth $200.94 before tax, whatever day of the week it falls on.
Four ways people use it
1. Back at work, using the rest on weekends. You take 12 weeks off, then go back full-time with days left. You keep working Monday to Friday and use the remaining days on Saturdays and Sundays, when you're home with your baby. Services Australia gives an example just like this.
2. Part-time, topping up the days off. You go back 3 days a week and use Parental Leave Pay on the other 2 weekdays. Your income ends up close to a full week's.
3. Annual leave and Parental Leave Pay on the same day. On a day of annual leave, long service leave or employer paid parental leave, your employer pays the leave and you can also be paid Parental Leave Pay. Paid leave isn't counted as working. The Fair Work Ombudsman says the same.
4. Your partner's days, any day. If you have a partner, 20 of the 130 days are kept for them. They can use those on weekends or on their own annual leave too, as long as they're caring for your baby that day.
What it doesn't do
- It doesn't add days. Your family has 130 days in total (110 for one parent when you have a partner). Using a Saturday uses one of them, the same as a Monday.
- It doesn't cover days you work. More than an hour of paid work that day, and it can't be a Paid Parental Leave day.
- It doesn't reach back before the birth. The first possible day is the day your child is born.
- It doesn't last forever. Days not used by the day before your child's second birthday are lost.
Who pays which days
If your employer pays your Parental Leave Pay, they pay only your first continuous run of days. Days you take later, such as weekends after you're back at work, are paid by Services Australia directly. You don't need to do anything different. You just tell Services Australia which days you want.
How to set your days
When you claim, you name at least one day. The rest stay in your balance until you choose them.
To add or change days later, sign in to myGov, select Menu, then My Family, then Parental Leave Pay circumstances. Services Australia also sends a letter before the deadline if you still have days left.
Worth knowing
- It's taxable income. Parental Leave Pay counts in your taxable income for the financial year it's paid in. That affects Family Tax Benefit and Child Care Subsidy, so moving days into a different financial year moves the income too.
- Annual leave during unpaid parental leave doesn't make your leave longer. If you take 4 weeks of annual leave during a year of unpaid parental leave, it runs inside that year, not after it (Fair Work Ombudsman).
- Super is paid on it. See our super on Paid Parental Leave guide.
Our Paid Parental Leave calculator shows how many days your family has and what they're worth.