Self-Employed FAQ

If you can’t find the answer to a question in any of our other webpages, check out some of our most Frequently Asked Questions.

Visit the How to Register page under the Self-employed menu, to register yourself, your business, and any workers or apprentices you employ to perform covered work.

Yes. You must supply information on days worked for your apprentices and all workers. Apprentices are covered from the day they start in the construction industry, provided the work performed is covered by the Scheme.

Employers do not need to pay contributions for apprentices where an apprentice is doing a traditional apprenticeship (Set 1 Apprenticeship) but employers are still required to record the days that apprentices work with LeavePlus. Visit our apprentices webpage for more information.

As a self-employed subcontractor, you’ll be operating using either a Sole Trader or Partnership ABN. If you have changed the way your business is structured by changing to a Company or Trust ABN, please call LeavePlus to discuss your situation and provide us with your relevant business information.

See the How To Register and Change of entity pages in our employer section for details of the information you must provide to process your change of entity in our system.

Visit the charges page in the self-employed menu to read about the different options of how make voluntary contributions towards your long service leave.

Visit the online services webpage to learn more about how to sign up for online access and how you can easily manage all your long service leave needs online.

If you would like a refund of your voluntary contributions before you have accrued the required seven years of continuous service, you will be entitled only to a refund of the contributions you have put in. You will not be entitled to any accrued interest component.

All requests for refunds must be made to LeavePlus in writing – email info@leaveplus.com.au confirming your full name, date of birth, address, and LeavePlus member number and that you wish to have your voluntary contributions refunded to you.

When registering as a self-employed subcontractor for the first time, we will allow you to pay long service leave charges for the two most recent contribution periods (2 x 3-month quarters).

If you had already registered as a contributing subcontractor but chose not to pay long service leave charges, you can only choose to pay the most recently available quarterly contribution period.

Service cannot be backdated for any periods in which you had been a self-employed subcontractor; contributions for subcontractors are voluntary and therefore if you choose not to make payments then LeavePlus has no obligation to reverse your choice. However, you may be able to apply for an approved break of service.

An approved break of service will not credit you with any further service but instead link up two separate service blocks that are separated by a gap of four or more years, so that your record runs as one whole block of continuous service.

See the Break In Service webpage for information on what to provide and the conditions of applying for an approved break in service.

If you have service missing from your LeavePlus record where you were performing covered work as an employee, visit our missing service page in the ‘workers’ section.

View the Online Services webpage to learn more about how to sign up for online access, or visit the Claiming Long Service Leave webpage in the ‘workers’ menu to learn more about claiming your long service leave.

Subcontractors often have more than one component to their entitlement by accruing service in two different ways. In addition to being self-employed, many have also accrued service as a worker. Our claiming long service leave webpage in the Workers section explains the worker component of your claim payment in much more detail.

Any service you have accrued as a self-employed working subcontractor will be paid out according to the value of the long service leave charges you have paid over the years plus any applicable interest accrued on that proportionate value, subject to how many weeks of entitlement you are actually claiming in your application. For more information on this component visit the entitlement page in the ‘self-employed’ section.

Active service is defined as any service which has been accrued within the last four years. If you are a self-employed working subcontractor, the only way you can accrue service is by paying long service leave charges to the Fund.

As a self-employed subcontractor, you can choose to stop paying charges towards your own portable long service leave at any time. However, if you fail to pay more than two consecutive quarterly charges, LeavePlus will cease to generate contribution periods for you going forward.

When a period of inactivity up to four years is triggered, your most recent service block will be deemed inactive, and you will not be able to build any further service on top of what you had already accrued in that block. You cannot backdate any service for any times in which you had been a self-employed subcontractor, though you can choose to pay the most recent quarterly contribution period.

However, you may be able to apply for an approved break in service – this will not credit you with any further service but instead link up two separate service blocks that are separated by a gap of four or more years, so that your record runs as one whole block of continuous service.

Visit our break in service page in the ‘workers’ menu for information on what to provide and the conditions of applying for an approved break in service.