Leave Accrual Calculator
Estimate Australian annual or personal leave accrued, used and remaining from ordinary hours, service, roster days and non-accruing unpaid leave.
Exclude overtime; use your average ordinary hours for a stable roster.
Used only to convert the hour balance into equivalent rostered days.
Usually 4 for annual leave, 5 for an eligible shiftworker, or 2 for NES personal/carer's leave.
Use the period covered by the leave taken figure below.
Used only for an indicative base-rate value; it is not a payroll payout calculation.
Your results
Calculation breakdown
- Annual entitlement hours
- 38 × 4 weeks = 152
- Eligible service period
- 26 estimated service weeks − 0 non-accruing weeks = 26 weeks
- Leave accrued before use
- 152 × 50% of a year = 76 hours
- Estimated leave balance
- 76 accrued hours − 0 used/cashed out = 76 hours
Assumptions
- This is a straight-line estimate for a stable weekly pattern. If ordinary hours changed, calculate each period separately and add the balances.
- Under the NES, annual leave normally accrues progressively from the first day of work. Full-time and part-time employees generally receive 4 weeks based on ordinary hours; an eligible shiftworker may receive 5 weeks.
- NES paid personal/carer's leave is 1/26 of ordinary hours in a year (equivalent to 2 ordinary working weeks). It is a combined entitlement and is generally not paid out when employment ends.
- The unpaid-leave field should include only periods when leave did not accrue. Some absences still count, including paid leave, community service leave and long service leave.
- Equivalent days divide weekly ordinary hours by the entered ordinary workdays. They are not a universal 7.6-hour-day conversion.
- The dollar result is hours multiplied by the current base hourly rate. It excludes annual leave loading, penalties, payroll rounding and tax, and is not a final-pay quote.
How this calculator works
Paid annual leave and personal or carer's leave normally accumulate progressively for full-time and part-time employees covered by the National Employment Standards. This calculator first converts the entered entitlement into annual hours by multiplying ordinary weekly hours by entitlement weeks. It then applies the elapsed service period, removes entered weeks of unpaid leave that did not accrue an entitlement, and subtracts leave already used or cashed out. Use 4 entitlement weeks for the usual NES annual-leave minimum, 5 only if the shiftworker rules apply to you, or 2 for the NES personal/carer's leave equivalent of 1/26 of annual ordinary hours. The estimated balance is shown in hours, working weeks and equivalent rostered days based on the workdays you enter. If your ordinary hours changed, calculate each stable-roster period separately. Payroll balances can also differ because of exact start dates, pay-cycle accrual, rounding, transferred balances and the treatment of particular absences. The optional dollar amount is only the resulting hours multiplied by the current base hourly rate; it excludes leave loading, penalties, withholding and award-specific rules and should not be treated as a final-pay calculation.
Estimate leave accrued and the remaining balance
Enter ordinary weekly hours, rostered workdays, the leave entitlement in weeks per year and the elapsed service period. The calculator converts the entitlement to annual hours, removes any entered non-accruing unpaid leave, then subtracts leave already used or cashed out.
The balance can be negative when leave taken in advance exceeds estimated accrual. Equivalent days use the roster entered rather than assuming every employee works a five-day week, while the weeks result divides the balance by ordinary weekly hours.
- Annual entitlement hours = weekly ordinary hours × entitlement weeks
- Gross accrual = annual entitlement hours × eligible service weeks ÷ 52
- Estimated balance = gross accrual − leave used or cashed out
Check the entitlement type and payroll record
The National Employment Standards generally provide four weeks of annual leave for full-time and part-time employees, with five weeks for some shiftworkers. Paid personal and carer's leave is a combined entitlement equal to 1/26 of annual ordinary hours, which is two ordinary working weeks for a stable roster.
Exact payslip balances can differ because of changing hours, pay-cycle timing, rounding, transferred balances, awards, agreements and how particular absences are treated. The optional dollar figure uses only the current base hourly rate and is not a termination-pay or payroll quote.
Official sources and assumptions
Check the official or authoritative references used to review this calculator's rates, formulas and assumptions.
Frequently asked questions
How much annual leave do full-time employees accrue?
Full-time and part-time employees covered by Australia's National Employment Standards are generally entitled to four weeks of paid annual leave per year, based on their ordinary hours and accruing progressively. Eligible shiftworkers may receive five weeks.
What should I enter for personal or carer's leave?
The NES paid personal/carer's leave entitlement is 1/26 of ordinary hours in a year. With stable weekly hours, that is equivalent to two ordinary working weeks per year, so enter 2. Personal and carer's leave share the same balance.
Does leave accrue during unpaid leave?
Usually annual and personal/carer's leave do not accrue during unpaid leave, although an award or agreement can provide otherwise. Paid leave, community service leave and long service leave generally continue to count. Enter only non-accruing unpaid weeks.
Do casual employees accrue annual leave?
No. Casual employees don't accrue paid annual or personal leave because they instead receive a casual loading in lieu of those entitlements. This calculator is intended for permanent full-time and part-time employees.
Does unused leave get paid out when I leave a job?
Unused annual leave must generally be paid when employment ends, including applicable leave loading or other amounts the employee would have received while taking the leave. Unused paid personal or carer's leave is generally not paid out.
Content responsibility
Maintained by CalcAussie and last updated 15 October 2026. Checks applied: calculation method, worked examples, Australian terminology, material assumptions, official references where an external rule applies, and user-facing limitations.
Calculator results remain estimates based on the figures entered. Check material decisions against current official information and report a suspected error so it can be reproduced and corrected.
Actual entitlements can depend on your award, enterprise agreement, contract, employment status and individual circumstances.