Paid Parental Leave Evaluation: Final Report

Australia's first national Paid Parental Leave scheme was introduced on 1 January 2011. Under the scheme, eligible working parents (usually the birth mother) can get 18 weeks of Government-funded Parental Leave Pay, paid at the rate of the national minimum wage, when they take time off from work to care for a newborn or recently adopted child. Fathers and partners may also be eligible for two weeks of Dad and Partner Pay. The evaluation of the Paid Parental Leave scheme was conducted over four phases between 2010 and 2014. It was conducted by a consortium of experts led by the University of Queenslands Institute for Social Science Research. The first phase of the evaluation measured work and family trends including parental leave patterns before the scheme was implemented. The second phase examined the implementation of the PPL scheme and the schemes early impacts on parents and employers. The third phase measured the immediate outcomes of the PPL scheme and the extent to which the scheme is likely to meet its longer term objectives. The fourth phase included delivery of a final, comprehensive evaluation report, including findings on the evaluation of Dad and Partner Pay.