2011 Australian Baby Bonus News Site.

Please refer to the post above as this may be out of date.

Summary

The Paid Parental Leave scheme will be funded by the Australian Government.

Note: before relying on any information contain within this post or site, please contact The Family Assistance Office on 13 61 50.

• The scheme will provide Parental Leave pay to mothers and adoptive parents who have been working and who have a baby or adopt a child on or after 1 January 2011.
• To be eligible for the scheme, claimants will need to meet the Paid Parental Leave work test, the income test and the residency requirements.
• Parental Leave pay is not a leave entitlement, but it will complement parents’ entitlements to leave such as unpaid parental leave under the National Employment Standards.
• Paid Parental Leave is for a maximum of 18 weeks.
• Parental Leave pay will be at the rate of the National Minimum Wage (currently $543.78 per week before tax). Parental Leave pay will be treated in the same way as other taxable income.
• Parents can nominate when they wish to receive their pay. The Parental Leave pay must be taken in one continuous 18 week period. The start date can be on or after the child’s date of birth,* (but not before) and all the pay must be received within the first 12 months after the date of birth.
• Parental Leave pay can be received before, after, or at the same time as employer-provided paid leave such as recreation or annual leave and employer-provided paternity leave.
• Parents will lodge their claim with the Family Assistance Office and it will assess the parent’s eligibility. Claims can be lodged up to three months prior to the expected date of the birth.
• Once the scheme is fully implemented, Parental Leave pay will be provided by employers to their long-term employees. A long-term employee is a person who has been an employee of the employer for 12 months or more prior to the expected date of birth* of the child.
• The employer role is being phased in over the first six months to help employers transition to the new arrangements. However, employers can choose to provide Parental Leave pay to their employees from the beginning of the scheme. Otherwise, the Family Assistance Office will provide Parental Leave pay.
• Employers will generally be required to provide Parental Leave pay to their long-term employees who have a child born or adopted on or after 1 July 2011.
• The Family Assistance Office will send a notice to an employer if they are required to pay an employee Parental Leave pay. It will also advise the parent of this. In other cases, the Family Assistance Office will make the payment direct to the parent.
• A parent will not be able to work while receiving Paid Parental Leave but may "keep in touch" with the workplace.
• If a person returns to work before they have received all of their 18 weeks of Paid Parental Leave, the person’s partner may be able to receive the unused amount of Paid Parental Leave. Otherwise, Paid Parental Leave will stop when the person returns to work.
• If parents are not eligible to or do not choose to receive Paid Parental Leave, they may be able to receive the Baby Bonus and Family Tax Benefit under the usual rules. An online Paid Parental Leave estimator will be available from September 2010 to help parents choose the option that is best for them.

Who is Eligible?

The basic eligibility requirements


Mothers of babies born on or after 1 January 2011 may be eligible for Paid Parental Leave. The initial primary carer of a child who is adopted on or after this date may also be eligible.

You may be eligible for Paid Parental Leave if you:

• are the mother of a newborn child or the initial primary carer of a recently adopted child under 16 years of age
• have met the Paid Parental Leave work test before the birth or adoption occurs
• have an individual income of $150,000 a year or less, and
• are living in Australia and meet the residence requirements.

You may be eligible even if you are no longer employed. Women in seasonal, casual, contract and self-employed work may be eligible.

A family can only receive one 18 week period of Paid Parental Leave per birth or adoption. Paid Parental Leave must be taken in one continuous 18 week period without any break, even if it is transferred, for example from the mother to her partner.

Once you have returned to work you will be ineligible for Paid Parental Leave, however you can Keep in Touch (see Section 6). You may be able to transfer all or part of the payment to your partner if you cannot receive all of your payment (see Section 14). In the tragic event of a stillbirth or infant death, a person may return to work and receive their Parental Leave pay.

Paid Parental Leave is for the primary carer of a baby during the baby’s first year or the primary carer of an adopted child in the first year after the adoption. Only one person will be regarded as the primary carer at a point in time, even if care of the child is being shared at that time.

A father or partner of a birth mother is generally not eligible for Paid Parental Leave unless the mother is eligible. Information on how Parental Leave pay may be transferred to a partner is in Section 14 of this booklet.
People (including fathers) who become the primary carer of a child aged under one year or the primary carer of a child adopted less than one year ago may be eligible for Paid Parental Leave but special conditions must be met. These conditions can be met even if the mother of the child is not eligible for Paid Parental Leave. The Family Assistance Office can tell you about this.

If you are not eligible for Parental Leave pay or choose not to receive it, you may be eligible for the Baby Bonus and Family Tax Benefit (Part A and B) under the usual rules. Information about the Paid Parental Leave estimator is in Section 5 of this booklet.

2. The Paid Parental Leave work test

You meet the Paid Parental Leave work test if you:

• worked continuously for at least 10 of the 13 months prior to the birth or adoption of your child, and
• worked for at least 330 hours in that 10 month period (around one day a week).

You may be regarded as working continuously even if you:

• work part-time or casually
• have multiple employers, or
• have recently changed jobs.

As long as you did not have more than an eight week break between working days, you will be regarded as having worked continuously. A working day is a day on which you worked for at least one hour.

If you work for a family business (including a farm) you can include your hours of work, even if the business is not generating any income.

This work test means that for the first time many women in seasonal, casual, contract and self-employed work have access to Paid Parental Leave.
Only work undertaken prior to the birth or adoption can be counted. The work test will be assessed over the 13 month period ending on the actual date of birth. If the actual date of birth occurs after the expected date of birth, the work test can also be assessed over the 13 month period ending on the expected date of birth.

You can include periods of work if it is done for financial reward or gain, whether in Australia or overseas. Periods of paid leave taken before the birth or adoption can be included as work. Periods of unpaid leave or voluntary work cannot be included as work.

The following activities will count as work:

• employment at an Australian Disability Enterprise
• operating a business while receiving assistance under the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme
• work undertaken for Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) for continuing participants only
• farm labour or operating a business while receiving an Exceptional Circumstances Relief Payment
• jury service, and
• defence reservist work.

Activities undertaken for Work for the Dole (including Community Development Employment Projects for new participants); Green Corps; Drought Force; the National Green Jobs Corps and other income support programs which include a work component will not count as work.

3. The income test and residency requirements

Income test
You will be eligible for Paid Parental Leave if your income does not exceed the income limit. You are eligible if your adjusted taxable income (ATI) is $150,000 or less in the financial year prior to the date of birth or adoption, or the date of claim, whichever is the earlier.

Your adjusted taxable income includes:

• the sum of your:
  • taxable income
  • adjusted fringe benefits
  • tax-free pensions or benefits
  • target foreign income
  • reportable superannuation contributions
  • total net investment losses
• minus your
  • deductible child maintenance expenditure.

Residency requirements

The residency requirements for Paid Parental Leave are aligned with other family assistance. You must be living in Australia and be:

• an Australian citizen, or
• the holder of a permanent visa, or
• a New Zealand citizen who arrived in Australia on a New Zealand passport, or
• the holder of a specified temporary visa.

Paid Parental Leave can be claimed during a temporary absence from Australia. However, if you have been temporarily absent from Australia for more than three years, or you cease to be a resident, you will be ineligible for Paid Parental Leave.


Paid Parental Leave will provide the equivalent of the National Minimum Wage, $543.78 a week, for 18 weeks while Baby Bonus is $5,185 paid over 26 weeks.

Families receiving Parental Leave pay will not receive the Baby Bonus. For multiple births, the Baby Bonus may be paid for a second child or for additional children.

Parental Leave pay will be taxable income and will affect entitlement to Family Tax Benefit.

You will be able to get Family Tax Benefit Part A at the same time as you get Parental Leave pay. The amount you will be paid will depend on the income of both you and your partner. Your Parental Leave pay will count as income you have received.

You will not be able to get Family Tax Benefit Part B at the same time as you get Parental Leave pay. You may get Family Tax Benefit Part B at other times of the year when you are not getting Parental Leave pay. The amount you will be paid will depend on your income and your Parental Leave pay will count as income you have received.

Parental Leave pay will not be treated as income for Parenting Payments (partnered or single), or other income support payments, such as the Disability Support Pension and Newstart Allowance.

For more information, download the following document from the Family Assistance Office:

http://www.familyassist.gov.au/news-...ve-scheme.html

Note: www.babybonus.com.au is not affiliated with The Family Assistance Office nor is it endorsed by them.