Paying workers Commonwealth paid parental leave will get easier for small firms under an agreement reached by the federal government and key crossbenchers.

In a bid to secure support for its expanded paid parental leave scheme, the federal government has committed $10 million towards helping small businesses ease administrative headaches. 

The bolstered paid parental leave scheme will gradually boost the entitlement from 20 weeks to 26, as well as increase the number of days that multiple parents can claim. 

The bill is due to return to parliament this week. 

While crossbench senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie supported the parental leave changes in principle, they wanted to use the opportunity to lighten the administrative load of the scheme on small businesses.

They were pushing for Services Australia to take on the burden of paying the government payments directly, which already happens almost 40 per cent of the time.

While the government hasn’t agreed to such a model, the new funding commitment will be used to iron out kinks in the existing system, including “potential technological enhancements with payroll software providers”.

A Senate inquiry launched by senators Pocock and Lambie found most small business owners did not have dedicated human resources nor finance staff, and administering the payment could take several hours. 

“The burden of administering this important government payment is felt disproportionately by small business people, many of whom are women,” Senator Pocock said in a statement. 

“I can’t see any downside for small businesses being free to choose whether or not to administer a scheme the government can administer itself, and already does in over a third of cases currently,” he added.

Once legislated, the 20 weeks of paid leave families can access at the moment will be gradually bumped up by two weeks each year from July 2024, until the 26-week rate is reached in 2026.

While the 26 weeks will be able to be shared by both parents, the changes will result in each parent receiving four weeks of reserved leave as part of the scheme.

Both parents could also use the four weeks of reserved leave at the same time, with it being on a use it or lose it basis.

It is estimated 180,000 families will access the scheme each year.

This post was originally published on Michael West.