Executive Summary

• Portable long service leave will be introduced in the South Australian community services sector on 1 October 2025.
• Employees will now be eligible to retain and access their long service leave even if they change employers within the community services industry.
• Employers will no longer be required to provision their own long service leave entitlements but will now instead pay a levy to the portable long service leave industry board every quarter.
• Employers will still have to be fund and maintain any entitlements accrued by employees under the current Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA) by eligible employees before the Scheme’s implementation.

Introducing portable long service leave

Following promises made during the 2022 State Election, in September 2024 the South Australian Government passed new laws to introduce portable long service leave entitlements for workers in the South Australian community services sector.

Originally a long-standing workplace entitlement for workers exclusively within the construction industry, this change means that for employees within the community services sector who are eligible to accrue long service leave entitlements, they will now be eligible to retain and access their long service leave even if they change employers within the community services industry.

This Scheme is intended to be funded by a levy chargeable to each employer which is calculated as a percentage of the gross remuneration paid by the employer to each of its eligible workers. The levy rate for the Scheme is starting at 2.2% on commencement, with a maximum rate capped at 3%.

Under this Scheme, the community services sector refers to the sector which provide any of the following services:

The Scheme covers employees within the community services sector who are either completing duties or assisting or supporting in the completion of duties which are in the scope of either the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010, or the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Award 2016, and who are not an apprentice, or work less than three days a month.

With portable long service leave entitlements for community service sector workers already available in Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia is following in fashion, commencing this change with full effect on 1 October 2025.

What does this mean for employers?

For employers operating in the community services sector, as of 1 October 2025 they will be required to:

• complete an online Employer Registration form to register within 28 days of commencement of the Scheme;
• register their workers through an Employer Portal between 1 October 2025 and 31 December 2025;
• pay a levy in quarterly returns, within 21 days after the end of each return period; and
• lodge their quarterly return forms online.

Penalties apply for non-compliance with the Scheme. If employers fail to apply for registration as a registered employer or fail to provide information or notice of changes to any information, they may face potential penalties of up to $10,000.

Following the Scheme’s commencement, additional penalties can occur from other acts of non-compliance including late payments, and failures to comply with directions from the Industry Board.

Levy concerns

With concerns initially raised by the Productivity Commission regarding the potential cost of this change on employers, the South Australian Government has opted to implement a quarterly levy system to fund the scheme, in lieu of employers provisioning for their own portable long service leave.

Any entitlements accrued by employees under the current Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA) will still have to be funded and maintained until redeemed. However, following the Scheme’s commencement on 1 October 2025 any entitlement accrued by an eligible employee will now be provisioned by Scheme through the quarterly levy system.

The rate of accrual for long service leave entitlements between these two systems will not change. Under the Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA) a worker who had 10 years or more service would be entitled to 13 weeks leave in respect of the first 10 years of service, and an additional 1.3 weeks for each subsequent year of service, and this provision will continue in identical form under the new Scheme.

Additional considerations

Employers in the community service sector should review their systems and ensure that their leave entitlements and employee remuneration structures are compliant with their legislative obligations.

For employers who currently engage their employees under federal based enterprise agreements which include long service leave provisions, under section 29 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), these enterprise agreements will prevail to the extent of any inconsistency. This means such employees must be no worse off under the portable long service leave scheme and may mean that employers in these circumstances will need to fund any difference between the entitlement under the Scheme and their Enterprise Agreement, on top of the levy they pay to the Scheme.

If you require advice or more information in relation to portable long service leave, please contact HWL Ebsworth Lawyers.

This article was written by Chris Morey, Special Counsel, Christopher Kapetanos, Law Graduate, and reviewed by Clare Raimondo, Partner.