Parental Leave Pay calculator
Your figure on the official 2026-27 rate, the 12% superannuation most people don’t know they get — and whether starting your leave after 1 July would pay you more.
Your Parental Leave Pay
$26,122
before tax, over 130 days
Plus $3,135 of superannuation, paid by the ATO after the end of the financial year. You don’t claim it — but most people don’t know it exists.
Why there’s no single total
The daily rate follows the financial year your days fall in, not your baby’s birthday. That’s why Services Australia publishes a daily rate and a day count but never a total.
- 2026-27$200.94/day$23,309
- 2027-28$200.94/day$2,813
Some of your days fall in a financial year whose rate isn’t set yet — it’s announced with the minimum wage in early June. We’ve used the current rate, so treat this as a floor: it tracks the national minimum wage and has never been cut.
Could you gain by starting later?
Your leave crosses 1 July 2027, and the rate for that year hasn’t been set — it’s announced with the national minimum wage in early June. So we can’t tell you what deferring is worth yet, and we’d rather say that than show you a zero that only means we don’t know.
For scale, the last rise was 5.97% on 1 July 2026 — $189.62 to $200.94 a day. That’s history, not a forecast. Check back in June.
You can claim this three months before the birth.
It’s the single biggest claim an expectant parent has, and the window opens 92 days before your due date. We plot it, and 210 other things, against your dates.
See everything your family can claimQuestions people actually ask
- How much is Parental Leave Pay in 2026?
- $1,004.70 a week before tax, paid as a 5-day week — $200.94 a day. The full entitlement for a 2026-27 birth is 130 days, which comes to $26,122.20 if every day is taken within the same financial year.
- Why does Services Australia not publish a total?
- Because the daily rate follows the financial year the days are taken in, not the child's date of birth. Days can be used any time within two years of the birth, so a claim that straddles 1 July is paid partly at one rate and partly at another. Any single stored total is wrong for those families.
- Can I get more by starting my leave later?
- Sometimes, yes. If your days straddle 1 July, shifting them to after the new rate starts can be worth hundreds of dollars for changing nothing but a date. The calculator on this page works out your figure — or tells you when next year's rate hasn't been announced yet, which happens with the national minimum wage in early June.
- Do I get superannuation on Parental Leave Pay?
- Yes, for children born or adopted from 1 July 2025. The ATO pays 12% of your Parental Leave Pay into your super after the end of the financial year in which you received it. There's no separate claim, and most people don't know it exists.
- When can I claim Parental Leave Pay?
- Up to three months — 92 days — before your due date, which makes it the single biggest claim available to an expectant parent. The first person to claim for the child must do so within 52 weeks of the birth, and all days must be used within two years.
Rate as at 2026-08-14, from Services Australia. Figures are before tax and assume you meet the work test and the income test. General information only, not financial advice. We’re not affiliated with Services Australia, Centrelink or any government agency, and we can’t lodge a claim for you. Spotted something wrong?