Managing employer service returns in the community services industry
Learn about your obligations for submitting service returns as an employer in the community services industry portable long service leave scheme.
Employer service returns
You must provide Long Service Corporation (LSC) with information about your workers’ service each quarter as a registered employer.
All eligible service that is recorded counts towards workers’ overall long service leave benefit. You do this by submitting a service return.
A service return is a list of all active workers employed by you or your company during the return period. It includes each worker's:
- total gross ordinary wages for that period
- start and finish date (if applicable).
Do not include any work performed on Commonwealth places in your returns.
Commonwealth places fall under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Government. Work conducted on Commonwealth places cannot be credited under the NSW Community Services Industry Long Service Leave Scheme.
Return periods and due dates
Completing your employer service return by the due date is a legislative requirement.
The first 3 service returns, covering July to September 2025, October to December 2025, and January to March 2026, are overdue.
After this first service return period, employers are required to submit service returns and make levy contributions on a quarterly basis.
The following dates are a guide for return periods and due dates for 2026:
| Return period | Return due date |
|---|---|
(This initial service return covers 3 quarters. Employers are required to submit an individual return for each quarter.) | 31 May 2026 |
| 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026 | 14 July 2026 |
| 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026 | 14 October 2026 |
| 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2026 | 14 January 2027 |
How to complete your service return
Log in to the Employer Portal to complete your return.
For guidance on completing a return, refer to the Employer Portal guide. It explains the key tasks required to submit service returns and make levy contributions.
While completing your return, you will need information on your workers' gross ordinary wages.
You can prepare your service return using the Worker service record keeping template, or your own internal system. You must include information for any workers who are on your payroll but have not earned wages during the period and select the appropriate reason for their $0 gross ordinary wages in the portal.
Gross ordinary wages
Gross ordinary wages, also known as ordinary remuneration or ordinary wages, is the gross amount of salary or wages, plus included allowances from various awards related to the community services industry.
Gross ordinary wage is used by LSC for levy and worker claim calculations.
Gross ordinary wages is a requirement when completing a service return.
Wages must be a gross figure, before tax or salary sacrifices have been deducted.
- Award rate of pay
- Over award payments
- Shiftwork, weekend work and public holiday penalty rates on normal rostered shifts forming ordinary hours of duty (other than overtime)
- Casual loading
- On call allowance
- Sleepover allowance
- Broken shift allowance
- First aid, medication administration allowance
- Nauseous work allowance
- Bilingual qualification, occasional interpreting allowance
- All-purpose allowance
- Annual leave (where taken as leave)
- Sick leave
- Personal/Carer’s leave
- Bereavement leave
- Family and domestic violence leave
- Community service leave
- Ceremonial leave
- Public holidays
- Paid maternity/paternity leave/parental leave (when paid directly by the employer)
- Workers compensation payments (when made by the employer in the first instance and the employer is then reimbursed by the insurance company)
- Jury service
- Study leave
- Long service leave (when not taken as a lump sum payment).
- Overtime (for all workers), leave loading, lump sum payments for accrued annual leave or sick leave, payments in lieu of notice
- Christmas bonuses and ex-gratia payments, one-off bonuses
- Travel allowance, meal allowance, protective clothing allowance, payment for materials and equipment
- Workers compensation payments where they are paid directly by the insurance company to the worker, and redundancy payments
- Australian Government Paid Parental Leave Scheme
- Superannuation
- Long service leave paid on termination
- Goods and Services Tax (GST) for self-employed contractors.
No eligible workers during the reporting period
If you had no eligible workers during a reporting period, you must still submit a quarterly service return.
All registered employers must lodge a service return and indicate zero if no eligible workers were active during the reporting period. You also must still meet service return obligations (there is no levy payable if there are zero wages in your service return).
If you registered part-way through a reporting period
If you registered part-way through a reporting period, you are required to lodge a service return covering the period from the start of having eligible workers to the end of the quarter.
For example, if your start your business and employ workers from 1 November 2025, then this would be your start date with the scheme. Workers on your payroll from 1 November would be included in your return for the second quarter, with service recorded from 1 November onwards.
Keep accurate service records
You must keep service records for all eligible workers starting from 1 July 2025 to meet your compliance obligations. These records must be kept for 7 years after the worker stops working for you.
Keeping good records will make it much easier when you lodge your quarterly service returns.
For more information, see Keeping worker service records.
Contact LSC
If you have questions or need more information, please contact us.