Registering and tracking your service in the community services industry
Learn about how to register for the community services industry portable long service scheme, how you earn service credits and how to track and maintain your service.
Complete your registration for the scheme
If you are eligible, you will receive an invitation to register with the community services industry portable long service leave scheme (the scheme) when your employer includes you in their service return.
To complete your registration, you will need to have a MyServiceNSW account linked to your preferred (personal) email address. You do not need to use the same email address that your employer used to send your invitation.
Follow the steps below to complete your worker registration:
- Log in to the Worker Portal using the same login details as your MyService NSW account.
- Complete a proof of identity check.
- Accept the employer invitation in the portal.
If the invitation does not appear after logging in, you can find your employer on the portal.
Your worker profile belongs to you and stays with you throughout your career. It can be linked to all your current and future employers while you participate in the scheme.
When your registration is complete, you will receive an Long Service Corporation Worker Reference ID.
Keep this number. You must use it for future work with all your employers.
Check your employer is registered
If you have not received an invitation to register, check your employer is registered through the Employer Lookup Tool.
Employers who engage workers performing eligible community service work must register with the scheme.
If your employer is not listed in the Employer Lookup Tool, speak with them first. You can also contact Long Service Corporation (LSC) for assistance.
Working for more than one employer
All eligible service counts, even if you work for more than one employer or change employers. LSC keeps track of all your service and adds it together.
You will receive a separate invitation from each employer. You must confirm each enrolment. This links your service with each employer in the system.
Each employer submits a quarterly service return for the days you work for them.
You will see:
- one combined balance in the Worker Portal
- a service history showing the returns from each employer.
Tracking your service and entitlements
To make sure your service is tracked correctly, you must:
- Confirm your service with each employer – this makes sure the service they submit is recorded correctly on your worker record.
- Keep your details up to date so you do not miss important information or entitlements.
You can use the Worker Portal to confirm your registration and view your service history.
How you earn service credits
You earn one service day credit for each calendar day that you are on the employer's payroll, including days on which:
- you engaged in work during a return period, or
- your employer reported you as being on approved leave without pay during a return period, such as government-paid parental leave or insurer-paid workers compensation.
Your service credits are added together to calculate your total long service leave.
Your employer will record service
Your employer will lodge a service return with us every quarter. The return includes:
- when you started or finished employment with your employer
- gross ordinary wages paid to you for community service work performed during that period.
If your service has not been recorded correctly
If you have reviewed your service record in the Worker Portal and there is service missing, talk to your employer to resolve it.
If there is a still an issue, you can contact us to request we review it and we will work with your employer.
Foundation worker bonus
Foundation workers are:
- registered workers who were employed in the first 6 months of the scheme’s commencement (1 July to 31 December 2025), or
- self-employed contractors who opt into the scheme as workers and were doing paid community service work in the first 6 months of the scheme's commencement (1 July to 31 December 2025).
Foundation workers will receive 365 days of bonus service credits. They may claim their paid leave a year earlier, after 6 years of service to the industry.
The bonus appears as a service credit to help you reach eligibility for portable long service leave faster. It is not a payment.
You will see it recorded in your service credit balance on the Worker Portal.
How you receive the bonus
In most cases, you do not need to apply.
The bonus will be applied automatically if:
- you were working in eligible employment between 1 July and 31 December 2025
- your employer has correctly listed your service record in the Employer Portal.
The bonus is applied after your employer submits their first 2 quarterly returns for the 2025-26 financial year.
Workers who qualify for the bonus should check their annual statement for 2025-26 to confirm the bonus has been applied.
Taking a break from the community services sector
You do not have to stay in the community services sector to maintain your service record. You can have a break from the industry for up to 4 years without affecting your entitlements.
Workers can submit a request to LSC to extend this time by adding non-service days to a worker’s record, preventing the cancellation of a worker's registration.
Non-service days will only be added if suitable evidence is provided. Non-service days are not service credits and do not count towards your total recorded service.
Non-service days include:
- interstate work
- work on a Commonwealth place
- worker of a government and/or council under an arrangement that did not provide for making payments of long service benefits
- worker receiving a Commonwealth Carers allowance
- worker with personal illness/injury
- worker who has been unable to work due to a serious illness or injury of a family/household member
- worker who has been unable to work due to death of a family/household member
- worker who was unable to work due to pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions
- worker who has been unable to work due to being a victim of domestic or family violence.
Service credits for breaks in employment
As a registered community service worker, you can apply for service credits for breaks in your employment (maximum of 3 months service credits) when you were:
- unable to work due to an illness or injury, whether the illness or injury was work-related or not
- undertook a community service training course recognised by LSC
- undertaking voluntary community service work in the event of a Declared Emergency in NSW
- performing work, other than community service work, in accordance with workers compensation as a result of an injury.
Service credits if your employer is insolvent
As a registered community service worker, you can apply for service credits if you are missing service due to your employer becoming insolvent.
Service credits are allocated based on evidence you supply for the missing period during an employer’s insolvency or administration.