Annual leave balance calculator

Your Payslip Number Is Already Out of Date the Day You Read It

Pull up your latest payslip and the leave balance printed on it was accurate the moment it was generated. Every week that's passed since then, more leave has accrued, and if you've taken any days off in between, some has gone the other way. The number on the page is a snapshot, not a live figure — and treating it as current is how people end up surprised at how much (or how little) leave they actually have when they go to book something.

This matters more than it sounds. Plan a holiday around a payslip balance from two months ago and you might be underselling your own entitlement by a full week or more, depending on your accrual rate.

Working Out Today's Real Balance

Take your last confirmed balance, add what's accrued since then, subtract anything taken since then. That's it — three numbers, one subtraction. The accrual side needs your weekly rate, which depends on your ordinary hours and entitlement type (4 weeks standard, 5 for shiftworkers under the right award).

Example: payslip shows 96.4 hours six weeks ago. Accrual rate is 2.923 hours/week for a standard 38-hour role. Accrued since: 6 × 2.923 = 17.538 hours. No leave taken in that window. Current balance: 96.4 + 17.538 = 113.94 hours.

Why "Taken" Has to Be Tracked Separately From Accrued

People often net these two figures together in their head and get it wrong. If you took 3 days (22.8 hours at 7.6 hours/day) somewhere in that six-week window, the calculation becomes 96.4 + 17.538 − 22.8 = 91.14 hours. Skip the subtraction and you're overestimating your actual balance by almost a full leave day.

Turning the Balance Into a Dollar Figure

Leave balance in hours only tells half the story if you're thinking about resignation, redundancy, or simply wanting to know what your leave is "worth." Multiply the hour balance by your ordinary hourly rate (not including penalty rates or allowances, generally) to get an estimated payout value. A balance of 91.14 hours at $34.50/hour comes to $3,144.33.

On termination, accrued and untaken annual leave must legally be paid out — it doesn't expire or get forfeited just because employment ends. That payout calculation usually uses the rate the employee would have been paid had they taken the leave, which can include certain loadings depending on the award.

One Thing That Throws People's Manual Calculations Off

If your ordinary hours changed partway through the period you're calculating (a shift from full-time to part-time, say), a single flat accrual rate across the whole window will be wrong. You'd need to split the calculation into two periods, one at the old rate and one at the new, and add both accrued amounts separately.

A Realistic Check-In Scenario

Someone's last payslip, eight weeks ago, showed 64 hours. They've taken one day off since (7.6 hours) and their accrual rate is 2.308 hours/week (a 30-hour part-time role on the standard 4-week entitlement). Accrued: 8 × 2.308 = 18.46 hours. Balance: 64 + 18.46 − 7.6 = 74.86 hours.

That's just under 10 working days at their current hours — useful to know before requesting two weeks off and assuming the payslip figure alone covers it. For the legal minimum entitlements this is all built on, Fair Work Ombudsman is the authoritative source, since specific awards can vary the detail.

FAQs

How do I work out my current annual leave balance between payslips?

Take your last confirmed balance, add the leave accrued since then (accrual rate multiplied by weeks elapsed), then subtract any leave taken in that same window.

Does annual leave expire if I don't use it?

No. Under the National Employment Standards, accrued annual leave does not expire and carries over indefinitely until it's used or paid out.

What happens to unused annual leave when I resign or are made redundant?

Accrued and untaken annual leave must be paid out on termination, regardless of the reason for leaving, calculated against the employee's ordinary pay rate and any applicable loadings.

Why does my payslip leave balance look different from what I expect?

Payslip balances are a snapshot from the pay period they were generated in. Leave accrued or taken since that payslip won't be reflected until the next one is issued.

How do I calculate the dollar value of my annual leave balance?

Multiply your current hours balance by your ordinary hourly pay rate. Some awards also apply a leave loading on top of the base rate, so check your specific award for that detail.

Does annual leave balance change if my work hours change?

Yes. Existing accrued hours stay as they are, but your accrual rate going forward recalculates based on the new ordinary hours, so any balance estimate spanning a hours change needs to be split into two separate periods.

Check the gap between your last payslip and today before relying on either number alone. Six or eight weeks of accrual, or a few days taken in between, is enough to shift a balance meaningfully in either direction — and that's exactly the gap most people forget to account for.