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Member Newsletter: Autumn 2024

LeavePlus Loop

Your quarterly newsletter to keep LeavePlus members up to date with the latest developments and news from your construction industry portable long service leave Scheme.

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Member Newsletter: Autumn 2024

LeavePlus Loop

Your quarterly newsletter to keep LeavePlus members up to date with the latest developments and news from your construction industry long service leave Scheme.

Homepage
Contact Us
LeavePlus Loop Newsletter

Made For Members

LeavePlus is proud to support members of the construction industry to take their well-earned break using their portable long service leave. You work in a demanding industry, so you're not just going to want a break, you're going to need one. Portable long service leave means you can take your leave with you and make use of that benefit when you need it most. This benefits you, your employer, and the industry as a whole with a workforce that's ready to go again after taking time out to recharge.

Benefits

Checked your service lately?

Your employer reports your service every three months in their quarterly LeavePlus Return.
Your January-March 2024 service is due to be reported by your employer on 14 April 2024.

Have you checked that your October-December 2023 service is up to date?
Now is a great time to log in and check that all your service has been recorded correctly.

Log in to LeavePlus

Checked your service lately?

Your employer reports your service every three months in their quarterly LeavePlus Return.
Your January-March 2024 service is due to be reported by your employer on 14 April 2024.

Have you checked that your all your service for Financial Year 2022-23 has been reported by your employer?
Now is a great time to log in and go through your FY22-23 Statement of Service in the LeavePlus Member Portal.

Log in to LeavePlus

Your Questions Answered

Here are the most common questions that LeavePlus members are asking right now:

Processing times for LSL claims

You asked:

How long does it take to process my long service leave benefit application?

We answered:

Claims processing time-frames during non-peak periods are typically 1-4 days for automated claims, and around 10-11 business days for claims which require manual processing. Peak periods such as the upcoming End of Financial Year often have longer than average processing times due to the volume of claims received. We are recommending that members submit their application to claim a long service leave benefit before Wednesday 15 May 2024 for the best chance of receiving your benefit payment in the 2023-2024 Financial Year.

EOFY 2024 Claims

Recovering missing service

You asked:

It looks like one of my previous employers has not recorded my service correctly. How can I recover this missing service?

We answered:

You can identify if service is missing from your LeavePlus service record by reviewing your employment history and annual Statements of Service in the LeavePlus member portal. We recommend that you log in to the LeavePlus member portal each quarter to make sure that your employer is recording your service on their quarterly returns. If you find that a period of service from a previous employer is missing from your service record, you can submit a Missing Service Query in the LeavePlus member portal.

Learn More

Providing private information safely

You asked:

How can I provide documents to LeavePlus while making sure my private and sensitive information is protected?

We answered:

Protecting the personal and private information of our members is our highest priority – that’s why we have created the YourFiles secure file exchange function in the LeavePlus Member Portal. YourFiles is your way to upload and download documents and information from within our encrypted system, keeping your personal and private data safe and secure. To use YourFiles, simply log in to the LeavePlus Member Portal with your member number and password, and go to the YourFiles menu.

Learn More

Business Transformation Project

LeavePlus has embarked upon a transformational project to modernise our services, technology, and ways of working to improve the way we deliver value to our members.

Over the course of the transformation project, we will be collaborating with employer and worker members in the industry to improve how we deliver our services and the experience when interacting with us. The project will be delivered across a series of stages, with the completion of each stage delivering incremental value to our members whilst simultaneously contributing to the completion of the overall transformation.

Foundational Focus

The first project stage takes aim at the foundational improvements such as policy implementation and setting up systems and technology platforms.

Elemental Elevation

The second stage has a more targeted focus on elevating the elements that impact members early in their journey such as joining the scheme in addition to profile and account management.

We are excited to bring you further updates as the transformation progresses through each delivery stage. The project has an anticipated duration of around two to three years to completion. 

July-December 2023
Half-year Highlights

With 1 July 2023 marking the start of the financial year, it’s good practice to review our results up to 31 December 2023 to make sure we’re tracking well towards our organisational goals at the half-way point of Financial Year 2023-2024. Below are some of our highlights from the 6-month period to the end of December for our Member Services and Legal & Compliance departments.

 

Member Services

Around 70,000 of our almost 280,000 worker members are eligible to claim a long service leave benefit from LeavePlus. Between July and December, we typically see two distinct peak periods of activity from our members. These peaks coincide with the start of the new financial year and the run up to the Christmas break and summer holidays, with a high volume of member interactions and applications to claim a long service benefit. Throughout these peak periods, our service to our members continues to be driven by our core value ‘Here For Members’, striving to put members at the centre of everything we do.

 

11,979 LSL benefits paid

Our busiest periods of the year saw a record number of members apply to claim a long service leave benefit.                                                

 

 

35,645 calls taken

The July-December 2023 period saw a high volume of phone calls handled by our member response team, with an average of over 6,000 per month.

 

9,502 inbound enquiries

In addition to phone calls, we also receive a significant number of inbound emails and ‘contact us’ enquiries from the LeavePlus member portal.

 

Legal & Compliance

The Legal & Compliance department plays a key role in ensuring that all LeavePlus members comply with the Act and the rules of the Scheme. The department ensures that employers comply with their obligations to register with the scheme, submit return information, and pay long service leave charges to fund the long service leave benefits for their workers. 

Between July and December, 45 employers had court dates assigned, 18 of which had their cases heard, with the remaining 27 employers ultimately complying before their assigned court date. In addition to legal proceedings, the department also had great success with recovering contributions, registering employer members, and resolving service investigation cases in the second half of 2023.

$2.2M contributions recovered

Internal recoveries from the Arrears team have been bolstered by enhanced contact and recovery strategies, resulting in increased conversion for non-compliant employers.                                           

1,227 employers registered

The Registrations team launched several new campaigns aimed at employers who have recently entered the industry in order to increase their awareness of their scheme obligations and drive compliance.

2,121 cases resolved

The Service Investigations team resolved a record number of cases where members were missing service from non-compliant employers in their LeavePlus service record.                                             

Our New Member Centre

Work commences in April 2024 to completely renovate the ground floor of our office building at 478 Albert Street East Melbourne and create our new member centre. The first stage of construction, which should take around 6 weeks, is to extend the ground floor facade of the building to meet the profile of the floors above, providing a uniform footprint and facade for the whole building. Where previously the ground floor and level 1 tenancies were recessed and exposed to Albert Street, the redeveloped ground floor will incorporate the whole of the previously exposed space, creating a large and open atrium area.

Stage two of the renovations is intended to begin in June 2024. Over 12 weeks, the ground floor will be transformed into a welcoming and collaborative space, complete with member lounge and large open meeting areas, and even conference and function room spaces big enough to accommodate education sessions and seminars for our employer and worker members.

Futurespace have been entrusted with design development and have been working with LeavePlus to achieve the objectives of creating compelling experiences in spaces that foster collaboration and community, and ultimately bring people together.

Features of the scheme

The journey from initially the joining the LeavePlus scheme to claiming a long service leave benefit can take different forms depending on your career path. There are four main member journey types through which you can build up your service with LeavePlus. Let’s take a look at each member journey type to see how the same person’s LeavePlus service can be reported in different ways throughout their career. 

Apprentice

LeavePlus member journey:

Becoming qualified in a trade via an apprenticeship is often the primary way of entering the industry and joining LeavePlus.

How service is reported:

Employers are required to report the number of days worked by apprentices to LeavePlus every three months via quarterly returns. Reportable days are inclusive of days worked as well as school days. Employers are not required to pay long service leave charges in respect of apprentice service. This means that up to four years of apprentice service that goes towards your long service leave is funded by LeavePlus.

Learn More

Worker

LeavePlus member journey:

Some tradies begin their construction careers as workers, while many also transition to become a worker after completing an apprenticeship.

How service is reported:

A worker member is someone who performs work covered under the rules of the scheme for an employer and is paid as an employee of that business. Employers are required to report days and wages information in quarterly returns to LeavePlus. Employers are also required to pay long service leave charges to LeavePlus in respect of all covered workers to help fund the long service leave scheme.

Learn More

Working Subcontractor

LeavePlus member journey:

After completing an apprenticeship or working for an employer as a worker, many tradies go out on their own as a working subcontractor, operating in a partnership or as a sole trader.

How service is reported:

Working subcontractors (WSCs) who operate under a partnership or sole trader ABN are classed as self-employed. WSCs can elect to pay long service leave charges on their own behalf as a self-employed person to continue building up their service. If a WSC chooses not to pay long service leave charges on their own behalf, no service will be recorded on their LeavePlus member profile. Where no service is reported for four or more years, any previously recorded service may become inactive.

Learn More

Worker Director

LeavePlus member journey:

Similar to the previous example, many tradies prefer to become business owners. When the business is set up as a company, a director of the company who performs work covered by the scheme is a Worker Director member with LeavePlus, the same as any other workers employed by the company.

How is service reported:

Worker Directors are treated as employees of their company under the usual employment tests of integration and control. Quarterly days and wages information must be reported and long service leave charges paid to LeavePlus by the employer company in respect of all workers who perform work covered by the scheme - this includes Worker Directors. Worker Directors are unable to claim a long service leave benefit from LeavePlus if their company has not paid long service leave charges for their work.

Learn More

Whether your career follows a relatively linear path or takes a more non-traditional route, the best way of keeping track of your long service leave is to regularly log in to the LeavePlus member portal and review the service that has been reported on your member record. 

This helps to ensure that no service is missing or misreported for you, and that everything appears as it should when you’re ready to take your well-earned break.

Best of autumn in Victoria

We’ve come up with a list of six of our favourite destinations to make the most of the changing of the season in Victoria. At this time of year so many communities in our state explode into palettes of vibrant yellows, oranges and reds, providing the perfect backdrop to take a well-earned autumn break.

Bright

Bright

The jewel of Victoria's High Country, Bright really does live up to its name at this time of year, transforming its green canopy into a vibrant sea of red, orange, and golden leaves. Capitalising on the explosion of colour, Bright holds a 10-day Autumn Festival each year in celebration of the wonderful auburn colours and autumnal produce of the valleys of Victoria’s Alpine High Country. Catch the 2024 edition from 26 April, with the highlight being the Gala Weekend - rounding off the festival with a market, music in the streets and a grand parade on Saturday 4 May.

Yarra Valley

Yarra Valley

If the world-famous wine region wasn't compelling enough already, autumn transforms the landscape of the Yarra Valley into a whole new level of beauty as row upon row of grapevines turn various shades of copper, gold and amber. For the more adventurous types, take to the skies in a hot-air balloon and enjoy a unique aerial view of the golden hues that sweep through the valley at this time of year. The bright and crisp atmosphere of autumn in the Yarra Valley is the perfect partner for wine tasting - with no shortage of wineries and kitsch lodgings, a day trip can be easily upgraded to a cosy valley weekend.

Heathcote

Heathcote

Around 35 minutes outside of Bendigo, you'll discover the autumnal majesty of the Valley of Liquid Ambers. In the autumn months this area really lives up to its name, blooming in charred orange, brilliant crimson, and sparkling amber hues. Heathcote is the shiraz capital of Victoria, making the region a prime location to pair wine tasting with golden vistas from the turning leaves of autumn. The unique characteristics of the local goldfields landscape also provide further bursts of colour, with the Pink Cliffs Reserve offering up mini gorges and cliffs of fine pink clay.

Walhalla

Walhalla

Steeped in early 1900s charm, Walhalla is awash with burnt colours in the autumn, thanks to the horticultural initiative of gold-rush immigrants. Deciduous trees were brought over with the aim of creating a sense of autumnal familiarity in the Australian bush, with the valley shining in red and golden hues at this time of year. The Lipstick Maple trees that surround Windsor House provide a vivid crimson backdrop to a postcard-worthy frame in one of Gippsland's autumnal hotspots.

Buchan

Buchan

Another golden gem from Gippsland, Buchan is one of Victoria's first settled towns and boasts trees that date back almost to the town's very formation. The limestone cliff face of The Bluff is flanked by strokes of red and orange. Originally named Bukan-Mungie, meaning 'the place of rocks with holes in them', Buchan is also famous for its caves and rock formations. Take in the golden colour of the autumn trees in the heart of Krauatungalung country before descending into Victoria's largest formation of caves carved by an underground river 400 million years ago.

Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke

The Dandenong Ranges National Park boasts a number of locations where you can bear witness to the glorious changing of the leaves. The most spectacular in autumn are Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden, Alfred Nicholas Gardens (pictured), George Tindale Memorial Garden and RJ Hamer Arboretum. Located on Melbourne's doorstep, the Dandenong Ranges are accessible as a day trip for the majority of Victoria's population centres. Once in Sherbrooke, the Alfred Nicholas Gardens and George Tindale Memorial Garden are a mere 15 minutes walk from one another.

CoINVEST Limited as Trustee for the Construction Industry Long Service Leave Fund (trading as LeavePlus) ABN: 35 078 004 985.

  • 478 Albert St, East Melbourne
  • 1300 264 683
  • info@leaveplus.com​.au

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LeavePlus acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land where we work and live, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present.