For children born or adopted from 1 July 2026, Government Paid Parental Leave Pay is 26 weeks (130 days) at $948.10 per week ($189.62 per day), gross — which is the National Minimum Wage rate. Twenty days are reserved for the other parent if you're partnered (use-it-or-lose-it). And from FY2025-26 onwards, the scheme also pays 12% superannuation into your fund, paid by the ATO after the financial year ends. Total maximum scheme value for FY2026-27: $24,651 in gross pay + super.
That's the headline. The detail — including the income test, the work test, and how the partner-reserved days actually work in practice — is below. Every figure here is the one our calculator uses, locked in lib/rates.ts and verified against Services Australia — More Parental Leave Pay days from 1 July 2026.
Who can claim PPL
You qualify for PPL if all of the following are true:
- You're the birth parent, adoptive parent, foster carer or legal guardian of a child born or adopted (or placed for permanent foster care) on or after 1 July 2026.
- You meet the Work Test — at least 330 hours of paid work over 10 of the 13 months before the child's birth or adoption, with no gap of more than 12 weeks and a minimum span of 295 days.
- You meet the Income Test — either your individual ATI for the relevant year was at or below the individual cap OR your family's combined ATI was at or below the family cap. (See income test below — the FY2026-27 caps will be confirmed by DSS shortly before 1 July 2026; the FY2025-26 figures are $180,007 individual / $373,094 family.)
- You're an Australian resident with a residency status Services Australia recognises.
- The child meets immunisation requirements (same as Family Tax Benefit).
The pay — exact figures for FY2026-27
| What you get | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total days | 130 (26 weeks at a 5-day/week pattern) |
| Rate per day | $189.62 |
| Rate per week | $948.10 |
| Total gross | $24,650.60 across the 26 weeks |
| Superannuation | 12% of your PPL ($2,958.07 total) paid by the ATO after the financial year ends |
| Partner-reserved days | 20 (use-it-or-lose-it for the second parent if you're partnered) |
| Concurrent days | Up to 20 days both parents can be on PPL at the same time |
The weekly rate is the National Minimum Wage — set by the Fair Work Commission each year (Annual Wage Review, with rate changes taking effect 1 July). If the NMW changes for 2026-27, the PPL rate moves with it. We update the figure here within weeks of Fair Work publishing.
Run the NestWise PPL Planner → Enter your due date and the planner shows your exact entitlement, the partner split, the super amount, and your after-tax estimate — using current and forward-looking rates.
How the partner split actually works
For partnered claimants, the 130 days split into two pools:
- 110 days the primary claimant can use (or share back if they want their partner to take more).
- 20 days reserved for the second claimant (the partner). If the partner doesn't claim them, those 20 days are lost — the primary claimant can't take them.
You and your partner can also each be on PPL at the same time for up to 20 days ("concurrent days") — useful for the first weeks home with a newborn when both parents are around. Those concurrent days come out of your respective allowances.
Single claimants get the full 130 days — there are no partner-reserved days to lose.
The Work Test in detail
To qualify, the claimant must have:
- Worked at least 330 hours of paid work (about one day a week on average).
- In 10 of the 13 months before the child's birth or adoption.
- With no gap of more than 12 weeks between any two consecutive worked days.
- And a minimum span of 295 days from the first worked day to the last.
Paid leave (annual leave, long service leave, employer paid parental leave) counts as work for this test. Unpaid leave doesn't. Many parents accidentally fall outside the test by taking extended unpaid leave before the baby's birth.
The Income Test
PPL uses one of two income tests — you qualify under whichever benefits you:
- Individual income test: your own ATI for the relevant reference year was at or below the individual cap.
- Family income test: combined family ATI was at or below the family cap.
For FY2025-26, the caps are $180,007 individual / $373,094 family. The 1 July 2026 indexation of these caps had not yet been published by DSS at the time of writing — DSS typically publishes shortly before 1 July, based on CPI in the 12 months to the previous December. NestWise updates these within weeks of publication.
The "relevant reference year" is the financial year ending before the earlier of (a) your claim date or (b) the child's birth date.
The five gotchas that catch families out
1. PPL pays from BIRTH, not from when you stop working. If you start maternity leave 4 weeks before your due date, those 4 weeks are unpaid by the scheme unless covered by employer parental leave or accrued leave. See our separate guide on the pre-birth gap.
2. Partner-reserved days are USE-IT-OR-LOSE-IT. If your partner doesn't claim their 20 days, those days don't return to the primary claimant. This is the single most common cause of families leaving money on the table.
3. Super is paid YEARLY, not fortnightly. The 12% super contribution lands in your fund after the financial year ends (so for FY2026-27, the super arrives July 2027). Don't expect it to show up alongside the fortnightly pay.
4. The Work Test counts paid leave (including employer PPL). This matters if you've been on employer parental leave from a previous baby — that period counts as "work" toward the 330 hours.
5. PPL is taxable income. PPL counts as ordinary taxable income — it'll be taxed at your marginal rate and shows up on your Notice of Assessment. NestWise's PPL Planner shows your after-tax estimate alongside the gross figure.
What's NOT included in PPL
- Employer paid parental leave is separate from Government PPL. Employer leave is whatever your employer offers (often 0–18 weeks at full pay), paid by them. It runs in addition to Government PPL, not instead.
- Newborn Supplement and Newborn Upfront Payment are separate one-off payments under Family Tax Benefit, not PPL.
- Dad and Partner Pay was abolished and folded into the unified PPL scheme; it doesn't exist as a separate payment from 1 July 2023.
How NestWise calculates your PPL
NestWise's PPL Planner implements the rules step by step:
- Eligibility check — work test (330 hours × 10/13 months × 295-day span × 12-week max gap) and income test (whichever passes — individual or family).
- Total days — 130 for FY2026-27 births, with the partner split applied.
- Daily rate — $189.62 (NMW-derived; updates if Fair Work changes the NMW).
- Gross totals — primary share, partner-reserved share, family total.
- Super — 12% of PPL gross.
- After-tax estimate — using the current FY tax brackets and Medicare levy.
The whole engine sits behind 198 regression tests that run on every code change. The full source list is on the sources page.
What to read next
- The pre-birth gap explained: why leave before baby is unpaid by the scheme — the single biggest financial-planning trap for first-time parents.
- Family Tax Benefit Part A — how much will I get? — FTB-A starts the day your baby arrives and runs alongside PPL.
- The FTB-CCS debt trap — PPL counts as taxable income, which flows into your FTB and CCS estimates. Worth knowing.