This article applies to organisations operating in the community sector.

Community Services Sector (Portable Long Service Leave) Act 2024 (NSW)

On 1 July 2025, the Community Services Sector (Portable Long Service Leave) Act 2024 (NSW) (the Act) commenced, except Part 2, Divisions 2 and 3, which will commence at a later date.

What’s new?

The key new change in the Act is the establishment of a scheme for the portability of long service leave for workers in the community services sector (the Scheme).

Further Information

The Scheme

The Scheme allows workers who move between employers within the community service sector to accrue long service leave. In this regard, workers can accrue and access long service leave based on their years of service to the sector, rather than to a single employer.

Community service work is defined in section 4 of the Act as:

• work to provide a community service; or
• work for an employer, if the predominant purpose of the employer is to provide a community service.

Community services captured by the Scheme are listed in Schedule 1 of the Act, such as:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community services;
• Community welfare services;
• Disability supports and services; and
• Out-of-home care services, etc.

From 1 July 2025, employers in the community service sector will be required, most relevantly, to:

• apply for registration as an employer with the NSW Long Service Corporation (the Corporation) within 1 month:
  • after becoming an employer, if they became an employer on or after 1 July 2025; or
  • after 1 July 2025 if they already were an employer immediately before that date;
• submit a return to the Corporation within 14 days after the end of a return period, being:
  • a 3-month period, ending at the end of 31 March, 30 June, 30 September or 31 December in a year, during which a worker does community service work; or
  • a period between 1 July 2025 and 31 March 2026;
• maintain written records for each employee, including details of their employment and pay, and keep such records for 7 years after their employment ends;
• pay the long service leave levy when submitting a return to the Corporation for the return period; and
• grant long service leave to any registered worker who becomes entitled to it under the Act within 6 months of the worker’s entitlement (unless approved otherwise by the Corporation or agreed by the employer and worker).

Contravention of any of the above will result in a penalty ranging between 20-50 penalty units, which currently equates to $2,200 – $5,500 in New South Wales.

Organisations should also note that under section 95 of the Act, if a corporation contravenes a provision of the Act or the Community Services Sector (Portable Long Service Leave) Regulation 2025 (NSW), each person who is a director of the corporation or who is concerned in the management of the corporation is taken to have contravened the same provision if the person knowingly authorised or permitted the contravention.

What you should do

Organisations should review the new legislation, create new policies and procedures, and train relevant staff accordingly.