FOR EMPLOYERS IN THE VICTORIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
Significant Developments and Record Results
Welcome to our first edition of LeavePlus News in 2024, bringing you all the updates and highlights from LeavePlus for the January to March quarter.
This year promises to be one of the most significant in the history of our organisation. Along with major redevelopments to our office building at 478 Albert Street in East Melbourne, we are also undertaking a transformation project to future-proof how the business operates, providing us with new ways of working, a much-improved member experience, and ultimately compliance with our scheme for the benefit of all building and construction workers in Victoria.
In February we finalised our six-monthly results for the period July- December 2023, and we are excited to share the highlights with you. In the half-year to 31 December 2023, we distributed a record $119M in long service leave benefits across 11,979 claim applications from our members. We also recovered $2.2M in outstanding contributions from non-compliant employers and increased our funds under management for the long service leave Fund to $2.05B. You can read more about our strong half-yearly performance results in our LeavePlus Updates section below.
The January-March 2024 quarter also saw a new Director join the Board of LeavePlus. Lou Malgeri was appointed in February 2024, replacing Raoul Wainwright as the representative for metal trade workers. Lou has extensive experience in the construction industry, having commenced his apprenticeship in 1980, and has held the position of Victorian Assistant State Secretary at the AMWU since 2018. He represents the Victorian branch of the AMWU on several national and state governing bodies, being the National Conference, the National Council, State Conference, State Council and State Administration Committee. We welcome Lou to the Board of Directors and thank Raoul for his dedication to LeavePlus.
With several significant projects kicking into gear, 2024 is already shaping up to be a period of substantial growth and change. The upcoming stages of development will form a defining chapter of the LeavePlus story, and we are excited to bring you updates throughout the year as we continue our transformational journey.
Craig Bell
Chief Executive Officer – LeavePlus
LeavePlus Updates
Let’s take a look at some of the key messages and current talking points from LeavePlus.
Workers Days and Wages due 14 April
The January to March 2024 Workers Days and Wages (WDW) return is now available for employers to complete on the LeavePlus Portal.
The due date for submission is 14 April 2024.
As the industry regulator and administrator of the Construction Industry Long Service Leave Scheme, LeavePlus applies strict legal and financial consequences for non-compliance relating to worker registration and return submission.
All employers should familiarise themselves with the requirements as an employer under the Act and the consequences of non-compliance at our Employer Obligations webpage.
If you require assistance or are unable to submit your WDW return before the due date, please call our member services team on 03 9664 7677 or 1300 264 683.
July-December 2023
Half-Yearly 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, Legal & Compliance, and Finance & Investment 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.
Finance & Investment
Funding ratio (assets to liabilities) as at 31 December 2023
%
6-month return to the Fund for Jul- Dec 2023
%
Funds under management as at 31 December 2023
$
B
Asset Classes
Portfolio structure comprises 80% growth assets and 20% defensive assets
Equities 4.96%
The best performing asset of the Jul-Dec 2023 period was Equities, with a return of 4.96%
$119M
Paid to members in long service leave benefit claims in the Jul-Dec 2023 period
$136M
Contributed to the Fund in Jul-Dec 2023 by employers and working sub-contractor members
The Board of Directors agreed on a new investment in the Palisade Diversified Infrastructure Fund (PDIF), a pooled investment fund with a focus on Australian unlisted core infrastructure. Core infrastructure assets are the most essential services to society (e.g. airports, utilities, hospitals).
As at December 2023, 36% of PDIF was made up of renewable energy assets (primarily wind and solar farms). Investing in PDIF presented the opportunity for LeavePlus to further diversify its portfolio by gaining exposure to core, income generating, mid-market infrastructure assets, with notable holdings in;
Sunshine Coast
Airport
Stockyard Hill
Wind Farm
Gold Coast Hospital
Car Parks
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.
Our New Member Centre
Our New Member Centre
Work will commence 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.
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
Want to see more from us?
Follow our LinkedIn page and YouTube channel for more videos and industry news.
LeavePlus acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land where we work and live, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present.