Cancellations and suspensions of registrations in the building and construction industry long service payments scheme
Learn about protecting your worker registration in the portable long service scheme from cancellation or suspension, and what to do if your employer stops trading.
About cancellations and suspensions
Your registration in the building and construction industry portable long service payments scheme (the scheme) could be cancelled or suspended if you do not fulfill the requirements of the scheme.
You can take certain steps to protect your registration from being cancelled or to restore your registration after cancellation or suspension.
Four consecutive years of no service
If you have not recorded any service credits for 4 consecutive years, your registration may be cancelled or suspended.
Your registration will be cancelled, and you will lose your entitlements if you have:
- less than 5 years recorded service, and
- no service recorded for the last 4 years.
Protect your record from cancellation
Registered workers who are not able to record service in the scheme for special reasons may apply for service preservation days.
LSC is required to cancel the registration of workers who fail to record service for a period of 4 consecutive financial years. By applying for non-service days, you may be able to extend the time that you are allowed to be out of the industry and therefore avoid cancellation of your registration.
You do not need to apply for non-service days if you have over 5 years of service recorded.
Apply for non-service days
Currently you can apply for non-service days if you are:
- working in building and construction on a Commonwealth place
- pregnant
- receiving carer’s payment
- suffering from personal illness or injury
- unable to work due to death or serious illness of a family or household member.
The Commonwealth Government has jurisdiction over Commonwealth places. This means you cannot be credited under the NSW Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Act 1986.
You can apply to protect your registration from cancellation if you are working on a Commonwealth place.
A worker who has taken time off work because of pregnancy can apply to LSC to protect their registration from cancellation. It is important to keep your registration current because if you do not have recorded service for 4 consecutive years your registration can be:
- suspended, or
- cancelled.
If you are taking time away from work to care for someone, apply to LSC to protect your registration from cancellation. This only applies to time off work where the worker is receiving a Commonwealth carer's payment.
There is no limit on the non-service days that may be applied for as long as the caring circumstance continues.
It is important to keep your registration current because if you do not have recorded service for 4 consecutive years your registration can be:
- suspended, or
- cancelled.
You will not be covered by the scheme if you are a worker or an apprentice in a:
- government agency
- state owned corporation, or
- local council.
Contract work for governments or councils is covered by the scheme.
If you are a registered worker performing building and construction work and cannot accrue long service benefits for the period can apply to LSC to protect their registration from cancellation if you are employed by a:
- NSW government agency
- state owned corporation, or
- local council.
You can apply to LSC to protect your registration if you have taken time off due to suffering from personal illness or injury.
It is important to keep your registration current because if you do not have recorded service for 4 consecutive years your registration can be:
- suspended, or
- cancelled.
You can apply to LSC to protect your registration from cancellation if you have taken time off due to someone in your household:
- suffered serious injury or illness, or
- has died.
For example, if you have not worked in the industry for 3 years and then are unable to work because you are receiving a carer’s pension, non-service days can protect your registration and recorded service. If you were able to return to work in the industry after 3 years on a carer’s pension (a 6-year break from the industry) your registration and service would still be there.
It's important to note that you do not receive service credits for these periods. Non-service days do not increase your service balance but can prevent your registration from being cancelled if you know you will be returning to the industry.
Log in to the portal or contact us on 13 14 41 to find out how to have non-service days added to your record.
Cancellation of registration
Legislation requires that registered workers have their registration cancelled if they do not:
- work in the building and construction industry, or
- get service credits for 4 or more consecutive years.
After the set appeal period, the worker’s registration will:
- be terminated
- no longer be able to accumulate service on their record.
Suspension of registration
If you have 5 years or more recorded service, your registration may be suspended. This means if you resume eligible work in building and construction you can:
- retain your recorded service, and
- claim a long service payment or continue to record service.
It is important to note that you cannot record service if your registration is suspended.
You can still make a claim for long service payment on accumulated service if your registration is suspended, but we will no longer send any notifications to you.
You can also check:
- whether you’re eligible for non-service days due to certain personal circumstance
- if you have special service credits for certain work and training situations, or
- if you can claim a long service payment.
Call us on 13 14 41 to check if your record is up to date.
How to appeal
We will notify you if we cancel or suspend your registration.
Workers have 42 days from notification to appeal your cancellation to the independent Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Committee (Industry Committee).
Read more about appealing a decision made by Long Service Corporation (LSC).
What you should do if your employer stops trading
Take the following steps to protect your long service entitlement if your employer ceases trading or goes into liquidation before long service records are lodged.
Ask for an end notice to be lodged
Ask your employer to notify LSC of the end of your employment via the Employer Portal, stating your last day of employment. Contact us if you need assistance.
Check your details online
You can check your long service record or update your contact details at any time, by logging into the Worker Portal.
Check your annual statement for missing service
Check your annual statement to make sure all your NSW building and construction work has been recorded. Notify us of any missing service or if you have been unable to work via the Worker Portal.
Check with us before accepting a long service entitlement from a liquidator
You should check with us if you are offered a long service entitlement as part of a termination payment by a liquidator. Sometimes payments offered by liquidators are less than your full entitlement.
Leaving the scheme
Your registration in the scheme is cancelled when it is clear that you will not be recording further service and are unlikely to reach a point of eligibility to make a claim for a long service payment.
Cancellation of registration will occur when:
- you retire and make a claim for a long service payment from LSC
- you are unable to work due to illness or injury and make a claim for a long service payment from LSC on this basis
- you make a claim for a long service payment because you are no longer working in the building and construction industry
- the estate of a deceased worker makes a claim for a long service payment from LSC
- you do not record any service in the scheme for 4 consecutive years and do not have at least 5 years of service recorded in the scheme. In this case, you will have 42 days from notification to appeal the cancellation.