What Construction Businesses Need To Know About LeavePlus

If you own a business in the construction industry, this one’s a must-read. To meet compliance standards you need to be registered with LeavePlus (formerly CoInvest). Here’s what you need to know and do.

Before you get stuck in, head to the LeavePlus site to check if it covers you (cleaners, cabinet makers and gardeners are a few of many job titles/business categories that fall under it)/

What is LeavePlus?

It’s the portable long service leave scheme for Victorian workers in the construction industry. It ensures that eligible workers continue to accrue long service leave even when they change employers within the industry.

Who Needs to Register?

If you’re a construction business operating in Victoria — including builders, tradies, and subcontractors — and you have employees or apprentices performing eligible construction work, you are required to register with LeavePlus. This applies to:

• Pty Ltd businesses with employees
• Subcontractors using apprentices
• Labour hire businesses supplying construction workers.

 Your Obligations as an Employer

1. Register your business with LeavePlus
2. Register your eligible workers
3. Submit quarterly returns
4. Pay the levy (currently 2.7% of ordinary pay)

Failing to register with LeavePlus can result in…

• Backdated levy payments
• Penalties and interest
• Risk of employee disputes over long service leave entitlements

It’s also just the right thing to do for your team — they deserve to have their long service leave protected. At the core of maintaining a strong workforce is to be an employer who is compliant and who cares about their team and entitlements. 

How to Register for LeavePlus

1. Go to www.leaveplus.com.au
2. Click Register Now under the Employer section
3. Set up your account and add your workers
4. Reach out to our team if you need help with registration or returns.

If you own a business in a state other than Victoria, here’s your comparable long service leave scheme:

• NSW: Long Service www.longservice.nsw.gov.au
• QLD: Q Leave qleave.qld.gov.au
• WA: MyLeave myleave.wa.gov.au
• SA: Portable Long Service Leave Industryportableleave.sa.gov.au
• TAS: TasBuild tasbuild.com.au
• NT: NT Build ntbuild.com.au
• ACT: LeavePlus ACT (previously ACT Leave) actleave.act.gov.au

While you’re here, we thought it’d be helpful to summarise other key industry schemes that you need to be across as a Victorian business in the construction industry. 

Incolink

• Redundancy, income protection and well-being fund for commercial construction workers
• Primarily applies to unionised or EB agreement-covered sites
• Employers make regular contributions per employee (e.g. redundancy, IPT, wellbeing)
• Benefits go to workers if they’re laid off or injured
• Note: Not required on private residential jobs unless covered by an EB agreement

Tip: Incolink often comes up when tendering for larger commercial jobs or working with union-managed sites.

Cbus Superannuation

• An industry super fund for building, construction and allied industries
• Not mandatory — but many EB agreements require super contributions to go to Cbus
• Many workers expect it as their default fund, especially on union-aligned sites

Building and Construction Industry Training Fund (CITF) (WA & other states)

• Some states (e.g. WA, QLD, TAS) have training levies payable on construction projects
• If your clients work across state borders, this is worth checking

EBAs & Site-Specific Agreements

• If your clients work on large commercial or government sites, they may be subject to:

1. Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (EBAs)
2. Site-specific pay rates and conditions
3. Requirements to contribute to Incolink, Cbus, and other site-specific funds.

Construction is an area of specialisation at Future. If you need a hand with LeavePlus registration, advice on the other key industry schemes, VCFO services or any of the other suite we offer, drop us a line.