Important Update – From 1 July 2025
The SLOD Program is being updated to provide increased reimbursement for paid leave and out-of-pocket travel and accommodation costs.
If you're having donation surgery on or after 1 July 2025, you may be able to get more support*:
- Up to 18 weeks of paid leave, reimbursed at the national minimum wage (proof required)
- A $500 one-off payment to help with out-of-pocket costs
- Up to $4,000 for travel and accommodation costs (proof required for all expenses if claiming more than $500)
- A support person travel and accommodation costs (included in the $4,000 total)
- Overseas donors travel and accommodation costs (up to $4,000 total)
*Please refer to draft Program Guidelines for further details on eligibility
What else you should know:
- If your donation surgery is after 1 July 2025, you can claim leave and out-of-pocket costs for work-up appointments before 1 July 2025.
- If you undergo work-up testing but do not progress to donation, you can claim leave and out-of-pocket costs for work-up appointments on 1 July 2025 onwards under the new criteria. Work-up appointments before 1 July 2025 follow the current criteria.
Eligibility
To be eligible, you must have donated a kidney or partial liver, or done work-up testing, and be:
- an Australian resident (as defined by the Health Insurance Act 1973) with a valid Medicare card
- 18 years or older
- donating in Australia
- if seeking reimbursement for leave – either
- self-employed with an active ABN
- employed by a registered Australian business with an active ABN and an employer willing to participate.
Read more about what you can claim for and how to claim.
Donating overseas
If donating in another country, you are not eligible for this program, unless you are donating under the Australia and New Zealand Paired Kidney Exchange Program and meet the other eligibility criteria.
You can check whether the country you’re donating in has a similar program – for example, New Zealand has the Live Organ Donor Assistance Scheme.
Talking to your employer
If you are claiming for reimbursement, your employer must agree to participate and pay you for your time off work. You cannot claim reimbursement for leave if your employer does not agree.
Talk your employer before you start your work-up testing and surgery, and before putting in a claim to make sure they agree to participate.
Key points
Key points to discuss with your employer are as follows:
- There may be some out-of-pocket administrative costs – such as tax and superannuation – but these are likely to be minimal.
- Your employer must have paid you for your leave, and we will reimburse them when you return to work.
- We will reimburse up to 342 hours of leave at the National Minimal Wage, unless you are paid less than the National Minimum Wage.
- If you don’t have enough leave, your employer can pay you an ex-gratia (voluntary goodwill) payment.
- Your employer will need to sign the application form and provide evidence that they paid for your time off, such as payslips.
What employers need to do
Employers should:
- read the program guidelines to understand what participating means
- complete Part B of the application form
- provide evidence that they paid for your time off, such as payslips.
If your employer needs more information, they can contact us.
If you have more than one employer
If you have more than one employer, you must submit one Part B of the application form for each employer.
The maximum reimbursement of 342 hours applies across all employers.
If your employer does not agree
You can contact us for support in discussing the program with your employer if they do not wish to participate.
If your employer does not wish to participate, you may still be able to claim for out-of-pocket expenses of up to $1,000.
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