Construction Industry Long Service Leave and Benefits

• Act

• Regulations
• Determinations

Further information

• Definition of construction work

The object of the Act is to provide for the entitlements to long service leave and long service benefits for constructions workers through a scheme that:

• recognises the particular circumstances of the construction industry and construction workers in the Territory;
• allows, through intergovernmental agreements -
  • credits accrued under the scheme to be recognised by a similar scheme of a State; and
  • credits that were accrued under such a similar scheme to be recognised by the scheme; and
• is funded primarily by a levy on construction work carried out in the Territory.

In November 2009 the Act was amended to introduce a variable threshold levy amount (effective from 1 July 2009) by the passing of the Construction Industry Long Service Leave and Benefits Amendment Act 2009 by the Northern Territory legislative Assembly. The amendment introduced a two tier levy regime for construction projects with construction costs in excess of $1billion.  This means the 'standard' prescribed levy rate which applies to all eligible construction projects under the scheme, is applied to the first $1billion and a project’s specific levy rate, determined by the responsible Minister, is applied to the project costs that exceed the $1billion threshold.

The consolidated version of the Construction Industry Long Service Leave and Benefits Act (incorporating all amendments) is available for downloading or viewing on the NT Government legislation database. Official copies of the Act can be purchased from the Government Printing Office.

Regulations
The Act requires a number of matters to be prescribed in Regulations.  The following Regulations have been made by the Administrator covering matters such as:

• imposition of levy;
• amount of levy; and
• payment of levy by instalments.
   
• Construction Industry Long Service Leave and Benefits Regulations
  Consolidated version of Regulations as in force from 3 August 2012.
   
• Construction Industry Long Service Leave and Benefits Amendment Regulations 2012
  Regulations made on 31 July 2012 (Gazetted 3 August 2012) amending the levy amount and streamlining the transitional provisions affecting the imposition of a reduction in the levy rate from 0.4% to 0.3%, effective from 1 April 2012.
   
• Construction Industry Long Service Leave and Benefits Legislation Amendment Regulations 2011
  Regulations made on 7 June 2011 (Gazetted 15 June 2011) amending the previously imposed temporary reduction in the levy amount by retaining the levy rate at the 0.4% on an ongoing basis after 30 June 2011.
  
  Under the transitional provisions contained in these Regulations the original levy rate of 0.5% still applies to any construction work that commenced on or after 1 July 2005 and before 1 July 2009, regardless of completion date.
   
• Construction Industry Long Service Leave and Benefits Amendment Regulations 2009
  Regulations made on 24 June 2009 (Gazetted 26 June 2009) amending the levy amount and introducing transitional provisions affecting the imposition of a two year temporary reduction in the levy rate from 0.5% to 0.4% from 1 July 2009 until 30 June 2011.

Determinations
The Act requires a number of matters to be determined by the governing NT Build Board. A total of fourteen (14) Determinations were made by the Board on 1 July 2005 (Gazetted 1 July 2005) and cover matters such as:

• construction worker and employer registers;
• application for registration;
• qualifying service;
• employee and contractor rates of pay;
• reporting and recordkeeping obligations;
• transfer of credits;
• recognition of previous service; and
• recognition of qualifying service.

The Construction Industry Long Service Leave and Benefits Determinations are available for downloading or viewing on the NT Government legislation database. Official copies of the Determinations can be purchased from the Government Printing Office.

Further information
Definition of construction work
For the purpose of the Act, construction work covers civil works, land draining and reclamation, earthworks, site restoration and landscaping. It also includes altering, repairing, restoring, maintaining, dismantling, demolishing or removing buildings, structures or fittings and fixtures therein.

Construction work is defined in section 6 of the Construction Contracts (security of Payments) Act, available for downloading or viewing on the NT Government legislation database.

For more information on the definition of construction work please refer to the definition published under the about NT Build menu and the Fact Sheets published under the publications menu on this web site or phone NT Build on 1300 795 855.

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