Self-Employed Parental Leave Calculator NZ 2026
Reviewed 7 August 2026. Rates apply from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027.
Paid parental leave works differently for the self-employed, and the difference is worth understanding before you plan around it. An employee's payment is based on their ordinary weekly pay, which is a straightforward figure their employer already knows. A self-employed parent has no such figure, so Inland Revenue lets you average your net income two different ways and use whichever gives the better result. That choice is real money for anyone whose income was uneven, rising, or concentrated in part of the year, which describes most self-employment. There is also a floor that employees do not get: a minimum weekly payment set at ten hours of the adult minimum wage, recognising that a genuine business can have a lean year. This calculator runs both averaging methods, applies the minimum and the maximum, and shows what proportion of your normal income the payment actually replaces, which is usually the number that determines how long you can afford to take.
The two averaging methods
You may use whichever gives the higher weekly figure. The one being used is highlighted.
| Method | Income used | Divided by | Average weekly income |
|---|
Your position
Two methods, and the choice is yours
The rule that matters most here is that you are not stuck with an annual average. Net income over the 12 months before the due date divided by 52 is the obvious method, and for someone with steady income it is fine. But you may instead take a continuous six month block from within those twelve and divide by 26, and if your income was uneven that block can be considerably higher than the annual average. Anyone whose business grew during the year, or who had a quiet patch early on, or whose work is seasonal, is likely to do better on the six month method. It costs nothing to calculate both, and the difference over 26 weeks of payments is frequently thousands of dollars.
The maximum bites sooner than people expect
The weekly cap of $811.05 corresponds to about $42,000 a year of net income. Above that, extra earnings make no difference at all to the payment, which means a self-employed parent on a good income is replacing a much smaller share of what they normally earn than someone on a modest one. That is worth knowing before you plan the length of your leave, because the replacement rate, not the headline payment, is what determines how long the household can manage. The calculator shows that percentage directly for this reason.
The minimum exists because business income is lumpy
The self-employed minimum of $239.50 a week, which is ten hours at the adult minimum wage, has no equivalent for employees. It exists because a real business can have a genuinely lean year, or can reinvest heavily, and a payment based purely on net income would give a working parent almost nothing in those cases. If your net income is low for a reason like that, you still qualify for the floor provided you meet the hours test, which is based on hours worked rather than money earned.
Working while on parental leave
A self-employed parent's business often keeps generating some income during leave, whether from work already delivered, recurring arrangements, or someone else covering. This is a more common situation than for employees and worth modelling honestly, which is why the calculator has a field for it. Be aware that doing work during your parental leave period can affect your entitlement, and the rules distinguish between the business continuing to earn and you personally returning to work. Check the specifics with Inland Revenue before relying on it.
Worked example
A self-employed parent earned $52,000.00 net over the 12 months before the due date, which averages $1,000.00 a week. Their best continuous six months brought in $30,000.00, which averages $1,153.85 a week, so the six month method is the better one and that is the figure used.
That average is above the weekly maximum, so the payment is capped at $811.05 a week. Over 26 weeks that comes to $21,087.30 gross. Against normal earnings of $26,000.00 over the same 26 weeks, the payment replaces 81.11% of their income, leaving a shortfall of $4,912.70 to cover from savings or continuing business income.
How this is calculated
The twelve month method divides your net self-employed income for the year before the due date by 52. The six month method divides your best continuous six months by 26. The higher of the two is your average weekly income. That figure is then capped at the weekly maximum of $811.05 and floored at the self-employed minimum of $239.50, both of which apply from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. The total is the resulting weekly payment multiplied by the weeks you take, up to 26. Normal earnings over the same period are your twelve month average multiplied by those weeks, and the replacement rate is the payment as a percentage of that.
Related NZ calculators
- Parental Leave Calculator for employees rather than the self-employed
- Self-Employed Emergency Fund Calculator for covering the shortfall
- Working for Families Calculator for what else you may be entitled to
- Best Start Payment Calculator for the first years after birth
- Income Volatility Calculator to find your best six month block
- ACC for the Self-Employed