Relocation expenses
For the purpose of this section:
Eligible employee
An eligible employee is defined as an ongoing employee who is required to relocate their residence owing to:
- promotion to an advertised vacancy
- transfer following an official instruction
- transfer to an advertised vacancy after having served for at least 5 years immediately prior to that transfer in the 1 school or location or at least 4 years in a school designated as remote,
- redeployment as an excess employee
Dependant
A dependant defined as a person maintained by and permanently domiciled with an eligible employee, including a spouse, a child under 16 years of age, a full-time student child and a parent.
Where the time or distance to be travelled requires a relocation of residence, an eligible employee may be reimbursed the necessary and reasonable expenses incurred for travel, meals, accommodation and the cost of removing household furniture and personal belongings by the most direct route in respect of the employee and their dependants. The cost of removing household furniture and personal belongings includes the cost of comprehensive insurance cover for those items whilst in transit, up to a maximum cover of $55,000.
Where an eligible employee uses their private motor vehicle for transport to the new location the employee will be reimbursed at the appropriate rate set by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), as adjusted from time to time.
Where more than 1 employee is eligible to be reimbursed removal expenses in respect of the same relocation, only 1 of the employees will be eligible to be reimbursed removal expenses. Reimbursement of travel and removal expenses is not available in the case of:
- a transfer arising from the request, fault, or misconduct of the employee, or
- relocation from place to place within Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong or within the Melbourne metropolitan area
An employee is required to obtain approval for payment of relocation expenses prior to making any arrangements to relocate by completing an application for payment of relocation expenses form (available on the Resources tab).
Re-establishment allowance
An eligible employee, who is promoted, transferred following an official instruction or redeployed and who is eligible for reimbursement of removal expenses, is entitled to receive a re-establishment allowance of $1083 where the employee has dependants or $541 where the employee has no dependants.
Where more than 1 employee is eligible to be paid a re-establishment allowance in respect of the same relocation, the maximum allowance paid for that relocation will be $1083.
Reimbursement of stamp duty
An eligible employee who is promoted, transferred following an official instruction or redeployed and who is eligible to be paid a re-establishment allowance may be reimbursed the reasonable cost of stamp duty paid on purchase of a residence, or land for the purpose of building a residence, for their own permanent occupation at the new location. To be eligible for the reimbursement of stamp duty the employee is required to demonstrate that they have:
- sold a residence at their old location
- entered into occupation of a residence at the new location within 15 months of the effective date of the promotion, transfer or redeployment, and
- provided satisfactory evidence of expenditure
Reimbursement of stamp duty is not available where the employee occupies a Government residence at the new location.
Reviewed 22 November 2022
