# Parental leave payments Official source: https://www.employment.govt.nz/pay-and-hours/pay-and-wages/leave-and-holiday-pay/parental-leave-payments Scanned: 2026-06-07T03:31:31.402Z Use this as a current official guidance reference, not as a substitute for legal advice. ## Page Text Home Pay and hours Pay and wages Holidays and leave pay Parental leave payments Holidays and leave pay Pay and wages Minimum wage Holidays and leave pay Calculating holiday and leave pay Public holiday pay Annual holiday pay Cashing-up annual holidays Pay-as-you-go annual holiday payments Pay for sick, bereavement and family violence leave Parental leave payments Types of pay Allowances Deductions and premiums Pay periods and paydays Payslips Final pay Setting pay, pay reviews and pay rises Everyone Parental leave payments Employees and self-employed people may be able to get parental leave payments while they are not working so they can care for a new child. Find out if you’re eligible for payments and how much you could get. Qualifying for parental leave payments You do not have to be a citizen or a permanent resident of New Zealand to qualify for parental leave payments. However, there does need to be sufficient connection to New Zealand. For employees, this could mean you work for a New Zealand employer and your employment relationship is controlled by New Zealand employment law. For self-employed people, this generally means you pay income tax in New Zealand. The parental leave payment is a weekly government-funded payment for eligible employees and self-employed people who are taking care of a new baby or a child under 6 years old. Parents whose baby has died before or after birth may also be eligible for parental leave payments. If you’re eligible, you’ll get parental leave pay for a continuous period of 26 weeks (6 months) while you’re not working. If you go back to work before the 26 weeks are up, your parental leave payments will stop. Make sure you apply in time to get parental leave payments. Find out more under ‘Applying for parental leave payments’. Parental leave payments are separate to parental leave Parental leave and parental leave payments are separate entitlements with different requirements and processes. Parental leave payments are funded by the government and paid by Inland Revenue. Parental leave is time off work to look after a new baby or child and is managed by your employer. If you do not meet the requirements to take time off on parental leave – for example, if you’ve resigned or are self-employed — you might still be able to get parental leave payments from Inland Revenue as long as you: meet the work requirements, and stop working for the period you receive the payments. Parental Leave and Payment Eligibility table [PDF, 419 KB] Parental leave Your employer’s obligations When you apply for parental leave your employer must give you information about parental leave payments within 21 days. Employers can use this notice: Notice for employees about tax payer funded leave entitlements [PDF, 226 KB] Principal contractors do not have responsibilities to their sub-contractors around parental leave or parental leave payments. Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 Obligation of employer to notify employee of payment entitlements – New Zealand Legislation (external link) You’ll get government-funded parental leave payments regardless of what your employment agreement or workplace policy says as long as you meet the work requirements. Offering extra parental leave pay Parental leave payments are paid by the government. Some employers provide extra parental leave payments, for example: top-up payments while you’re getting parental leave payments from Inland Revenue payments after your Inland Revenue parental leave payments finish a one-off payment when you return to work or after a specified period of time. Check your employment agreement or workplace policy to find out if you get extra parental leave pay. Who can get parental leave payments Employees and self-employed people who are the primary carer of a child under 6 years old qualify for parental leave payments if they meet the work requirements. Who is the primary carer? The primary carer can be: the person who’s pregnant or has given birth (this includes someone who is a surrogate or whose baby has died or was adopted) the spouse or partner of the person who gave birth if they have taken primary responsibility for the child’s care and the birth mother: transferred her payments to them, or died, or is excluded from the child’s care. another person who has taken permanent primary responsibility for a child under 6 years old, for example, through an arrangement like adoption, whāngai, or a Permanent Care agreement with Oranga Tamariki. Primary carer leave Work requirements for employees You qualify for parental leave payments if you: are the primary carer of a child under 6 years old , and have worked as an employee for an average of at least 10 hours each week over any 26 of the 52 weeks just before: your baby’s due date (if you or your partner are giving birth to the baby), or the first date you or your partner become primary carer (if you or your partner have not given birth to the baby, for example, you’re adopting a child). If you’ve worked for more than 1 employer, you can add together the hours you’ve worked in each job to see if you qualify for parental leave payments. You do not have to be working when you apply for parental leave payments. Your eligibility is based on how much you’ve worked over the 52-week period. As long as you’ve worked enough hours over at least 26 of the 52 weeks, you’ll qualify for payments. If you’re considering resigning from your job, think about whether you have done enough hours to meet the work requirements. Parental leave payments are only available while you’re not working. However, you can stay up to date with what’s happening at work by doing ‘Keeping-in-touch days’ (KIT days). There are restrictions on when you can use your KIT days and how many you can do before they stop your parental leave payments. Find out more: What happens while on parental leave and your return If you would have normally been at work (for an hour or more) but were absent, you can still count this time towards work requirements if you were: on paid leave or holidays on leave without pay (other than parental leave) with your employer’s agreement entitled to an ACC payment during that time on volunteers’ leave pregnant and on primary carer leave before the baby’s due date (this does not include any primary carer leave taken in the last 6 months for a different child) absent for any other reason considered by a Labour Inspector to not disrupt your normal pattern of employment. Other types of leave Work requirements for self-employed people You qualify for parental leave payments if you: are the primary carer of a child under 6 years old, and have worked in self-employment for an average of at least 10 hours a week over any 26 of the 52 weeks just before: your baby’s due date (if you or your partner are giving birth to the baby), or the first date you or your partner become primary carer (if you or your partner have not given birth to the baby, for example, you’re adopting a child). You do not have to be working when you apply for parental leave payments. Your eligibility is based on how much you’ve worked over the 52-week period. As long as you’ve worked enough hours over at least 26 of the 52 weeks, you’ll qualify for payments. Parental leave payments are only available while you’re not working. However, as a self-employed person, you’ll still get your payments if you do occasional administrative duties, for example, signing off wages, or monthly account reconciliations and GST returns, as long as you’re not working regularly. Income you receive during a parental leave payment period will not affect your entitlement if: it was earned before the parental leave payment period started, or it’s from work done by other people in the business. You’re considered self-employed if you’ve been doing 1 or more of the following as a self-employed person: providing goods or services under a contract for services carrying on a business, including in partnership with another person working for a trust in a business carried on by the trust. You can be doing more than 1 type of self-employed work to meet the work requirements, for example, gardening and beekeeping. Employee or contractor? You can count time away from work towards the work requirements if you were: entitled to an ACC payment during that time on parental leave before the baby’s due date (this does not include any parental leave taken in the last 6 months for a different child) unable to work for any other reason considered by a Labour Inspector to not disrupt your normal pattern of self-employment. Accident Compensation Act 2001 – ACC New Zealand (external link) Parental leave payments for eligible employees Your weekly parental leave payment as an eligible employee is the greater of your: ordinary weekly pay average weekly income up to a maximum of $788.66 gross a week (‘gross ’means before tax or any deductions). Inland Revenue work out your parental leave payments based on information they get from your employer. They will calculate your ordinary weekly pay (OWP) and average weekly income (AWI) to work out the weekly payment. If you’ve been employed by more than 1 employer, your OWP or AWI is based on your combined income. Employees: how we work out your paid parental leave entitlement – Inland Revenue (external link) Ordinary weekly pay (OWP) is the amount you’re paid for an ordinary working week. For information about how OWP is calculated, visit Annual Holiday pay Average weekly income (AWI) is the weekly average of what you’ve earnt over the 52-week period just before: your baby’s due date or date of birth (if you or your partner are giving birth to the baby), or the first date you or your partner become primary carer (if you or your partner have not given birth to the baby, for example, you’re adopting a child). To calculate AWI, Inland Revenue will: add up your gross weekly earnings for the 26 weeks in the 52-week period where you earned the most income divide this by 26. The weeks do not have to be together. For example, some of the weeks where you’ve earned the most might be in April and May, some in July, and some in October. There just needs to be a total of 26 weeks’ income over the 52-week period. Parental leave payments for eligible self-employed people Your weekly parental leave payment as an eligible self-employed person is the greater of: your average weekly income the minimum parental leave payment for a self-employed person up to a maximum of $788.66 gross a week (‘gross’ means before tax or any deductions). The minimum parental leave payment for a self-employed person is currently $235.00 a week. This is equal to 10 hours of the minimum adult wage each week. This minimum payment is adjusted every year on 1 July to reflect the current minimum wage rate. If you’re self-employed, you’ll receive this amount if you make a loss or earn less than the minimum wage while working for at least 10 hours a week. Minimum wage rates and types You can choose to calculate your average weekly income (AWI) over a 6-month or 12-month period. The period ends just before: your baby’s due date or date of birth (if you or your partner are giving birth to the baby), or the first date you or your partner became primary carer (if you or your partner have not given birth to the baby, for example, you’re adopting a child). Over a 12-month period, AWI is total net income from self-employment over the 12 months divided by 52. Over a 6-month period, AWI is total net income from self-employment over the 6 months divided by 26. Net income is total (gross) income, less expenses, but before tax. Self-employed people: how to work out your paid parental leave entitlement – Inland Revenue (external link) You do not have to include any weeks you did not work during the 6 or 12-month period in your AWI calculation if you were: getting weekly ACC compensation on parental leave before the baby’s due date, or unable to work for any other reason that is considered by a Labour Inspector to not disrupt your normal pattern of self-employment. Example Priya is self-employed and expecting a baby. Priya was on ACC and did not work for 3 weeks during the 6-month period before her baby’s due date. When she calculates her AWI, she divides her total net income by 23 instead of 26 because she does not need to include the 3 weeks when she was on ACC. If you’re self-employed and an employee If you’ve been self-employed and an employee, you cannot combine these hours to meet the work requirements for parental leave payments. You must meet the work requirements either as an employee or self-employed person. For example, if you’ve worked for an average of 5 hours a week as an employee and 5 hours a week as a self-employed person, you will not qualify for parental leave payments. If you’ve worked for an average of 10 hours a week as an employee and 10 hours a week as a self-employed person, you will qualify for parental leave payments as both a self-employed person and an employee. You can combine both incomes to work out how much your weekly payment will be. Your payment will be capped at the maximum amount. Parental leave payments start date and end date Payments start date Once your payment period starts, you must stop working. This is usually the date you go on parental leave. For information about when you can start parental leave, visit: Primary carer leave If you keep working after your payment period starts, you’ll lose your entitlement to payments. This means you may need to stop work before you get your first payment. Start date if you’re the birth mother Your parental leave payments start on whichever is earliest: the date you go on parental leave, for example, if you’re starting your parental leave before the baby is due the date your