Leave loading for teachers: how the 17.5% works and what it pays in 2026

What leave loading is and why teachers get it

Leave loading is an extra payment on top of your normal pay for annual leave. It started decades ago to cover the overtime and penalty rates workers lost while on holiday. Most awards set it at 17.5%. Teachers don't take annual leave the way other workers do, because school vacations replace it, so most teaching instruments simply pay 17.5% of four weeks' salary once a year.

Leave loading by state (October 2026)

How much is it? Worked examples

The formula is simple: annual salary ÷ 52.18 weeks × 4 weeks × 17.5%. Then check whether a cap applies. Here are three common cases.

Western Australia: why you won't see a separate payment

WA's award says the salaries of permanent and fixed-term teachers already include the annualisation of summer vacation leave loading over four weeks (cl 27). In other words, the loading is spread across every fortnightly pay. If you move from NSW or VIC to WA and wonder where the December payment went, it is already in your rate. That is worth remembering when you compare state pay scales: WA's figures include something other states pay on top.

Who doesn't get leave loading

• Casual relief teachers. Their daily rate includes a loading in lieu of leave. NSW casual rates include a 5% loading covering sick leave, other leave and leave loading.
• New teachers in NSW without 12 months' continuous service at 30 November. You'll get it the following year.
• Some leaders on capped scales. Where a cap applies, senior staff get the cap, not 17.5% of their higher salary.

Tax on leave loading

Leave loading is taxed as ordinary income at your marginal rate. Because it's paid as a lump in one pay, more PAYG may be withheld that fortnight. Most of that evens out at tax time. At most teacher salaries in 2026-27 your marginal rate is 32% including Medicare, so you keep about 68 cents in each dollar. If you have a HELP debt, a compulsory repayment comes out too.

Leave loading for part-time and job-share teachers

Part-time teachers get the loading pro rata. A 0.6 FTE NSW teacher at Step 7 would get about 60% of $1,790, roughly $1,074. If your fraction changed during the year, payroll usually pro-rates on your hours. See part-time teaching and job share.

Leave loading, school holidays and annual leave

Teachers are paid through school holidays because their salary is an annual figure spread over 26 fortnights. Only part of the holiday time is formally 'annual leave'. In the ACT, for example, 4 weeks over summer (end of Term 4 to Australia Day) is designated annual leave and the other breaks are stand-down periods. NSW handles vacations through a departmental determination, and NT teachers get 6 weeks of recreation leave. The loading is tied to the annual leave component, which is why it is calculated on four weeks, not the full 11 to 12 weeks of holidays.

For a fuller answer on holiday pay, see do teachers get paid in school holidays, and for pay timing, when do teachers get paid.

Leave loading when you leave or change states

If you resign part-way through the year, whether you get a pro-rata loading depends on your instrument and the date. NSW's 30 November service test means a teacher who leaves in October may get nothing for that year. Moving from NSW or VIC to WA can mean a year with no separate loading payment, because WA has already been paying it in salary. Moving the other way can mean waiting up to 12 months to qualify. Ask payroll in writing before you set a resignation date.