Parental Leave Pay, and Dad and Partner Pay: Patterns of use
This research report explores how the Australian Government’s Parental Leave Pay (PLP) and Dad and Partner Pay (DAPP) were used by families up to December 2022. As well as providing an overview of recipient numbers, it provides insights on which families were using PLP and DAPP and how they were using it, highlighting which families are most likely to be using these payments straight after the birth.
For example, young mothers and mothers with lower levels of educational attainment, are most likely to be using PLP early, suggesting a lack of access to employer-funded leave, and affirming the value of PLP in supporting these mothers’ connection to employment.
This research report is the first output from the project ‘Statistical profile of use of Paid Parental Leave and Dad and Partner Pay’, using the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA), previously named MADIP (Multi Agency Data Integration Project). The project explores the use of PLP and DAPP making use of linked data in PLIDA. The primary data source is administrative data from the Department of Social Services (DSS) resource ‘Data Over Multiple Individual Occurrences’ (DOMINO), with DOMINO tables stored in PLIDA.
These data have been linked to data from the ABS Census of Population and Housing (Census) and other administrative data. The analysis of linked Census data shows that at a point in time (on Census night) about one in five mothers of a child under one year of age were using PLP, with there being distinct patterns in use in the months following the birth.
For DAPP recipients, this number, as a percentage of new fathers, is much lower, at about one per cent. The report also includes analysis of how PLP and DAPP are used, about timing of use, and how PLP and DAPP are sequenced in couples where both are taken.
Finally, some analysis shows the extent of other kinds of financial support received by families in this period after the birth of a child, focusing on DSS-administered government income support payments, benefits and allowances.
Download the full report, here.
Key findings
- About one in five mothers used PLP in the year after a birth, with the percentage a little higher in 2021 (21%) compared to 2016 (19%). For fathers, about one per cent used DAPP. These statistics and this research relates to use of PLP from 2011 and DAPP from 2013, up to 2022. The findings provide a useful baseline against which to measure changes following the policy changes introduced in July 2023.
- For PLP recipients, mothers that were under-represented included single mothers, mothers with larger families, younger mothers, mothers with lower levels of educational attainment, and overseas-born and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander mothers. These characteristics are also typically associated with lower employment rates, so the lower representation among the PLP users likely reflects this.
- Fathers with a certificate or diploma qualification are over-represented in the population of new fathers using DAPP, likely indicating these fathers have limited access to employer-funded parental leave. DAPP could only be taken when on unpaid leave from work.
- There are distinct patterns of use of PLP in the time after the birth, with young mothers, single mothers and mothers previously on low incomes most likely to start PLP very soon after the birth. It is likely this reflects these groups being less likely to have access to employer-funded parental leave. This demonstrates that PLP is providing an important financial support and means of connection to employment for some equity groups.
- As for PLP, there is a pattern to the timing of fathers’ use of DAPP, being most likely immediately after the birth. The shorter duration of DAPP sees much less of a spread in the timing of use, with it more concentrated in the initial 2 months post birth compared to mothers.
- Using longer than 18 weeks on PLP as an indicator of making use of Flexible PLP, 7-8% of PLP recipients are using some form of flexibility, but more detailed examination of this is needed to understand how it is being used. There is more flexibility available to parents under the July 2023 changes.
- Almost all PLP recipients were female, with it shared between two parents or carers in only about one percent of couple families. Since the introduction of DAPP, of couple families in which one parent used PLP, in 38% of cases the other parent used DAPP. These findings are important baseline statistics to compare to post July 2023 changes, in which PLP is now to be shared within couples, rather than DAPP being a separate payment.
- Of the fathers who were partnered DAPP recipients, 25% had a partner who did not use PLP. Under the post-July 2023 arrangements, fathers can only share in the PLP if the mother meets the work test for PLP, so this group of fathers may no longer have access to the financial support offered by the government’s scheme.
- It is estimated that 72% of mothers using PLP at the time of the 2021 Census were not accessing Family Tax Benefit Part A at the same time. This suggested that for many mothers, PLP is their only form of (temporary) financial support from the government, used in the immediate time after a birth. The employment data, by child age, shows a gradual return to work of mothers across the first year after the child’s birth.
