The qualifying period
Nothing accrues until the qualifying period is done, and the rules differ for the two kinds of service. Warlike service does not shorten it for either.
Permanent members
Service for two years in a row.
Leave without pay of less than 12 consecutive months does not break continuity, but the count pauses until paid service restarts. The scheme’s qualifying period page says separating and re-enlisting breaks it, and the two years start again from re-enlistment.
Reserve members
Four years of effective Reserve service in consecutive financial years, where effective means at least 20 days of paid service in the financial year.
A year short of 20 paid days breaks continuity, and the four years restart from the next financial year of effective service.
Three special cases
- Continuous Full-Time Service. A Reservist who completes more than six months of it, in one financial year or across two consecutive ones, gains an extra year towards the four. The bonus does not apply to service done before a break of a year or more, and it stops once the qualifying period is finished.
- A mix of Permanent and Reserve service. Moving between the two during the qualifying period, a year of Permanent service counts as two towards the Reserve period, and two years of Reserve service count as one towards the Permanent period.
- Lateral recruits from a foreign defence force. They may be eligible from the day they join, depending on the seniority a Chief of Staff awards for their earlier service; the scheme’s general rule is that two years or more of seniority makes a member eligible. Only ADF service counts towards their tier and service credit.
Service credit: how long the subsidy can last
After qualifying, every year of effective service earns a year of credit, for Permanent and Reserve members alike; what differs is when it lands.
Permanent: month by month
A month of credit for each month of effective service. The scheme asks for at least one month of credit, and preferably two, before a certificate can be issued and payments start.
Reserve: a year at a time
A year of credit for each financial year of effective service, and at least one year of credit is needed before a certificate. The credit lands on the day the 20th paid day is done, once DVA is told on a Change of Circumstances form, not on 30 June, and the subsidy is never paid ahead of that day.
To work out a credit, the scheme starts from total years of ADF service and adds any warlike service bonus. It then subtracts the qualifying period, any time already subsidised under DHOAS or the older DHOS and DSH schemes, breaks after the qualifying period that paused the count, and years not recognised under the rejoining rules. The three schemes together allow at most 20 years, or 25 with warlike service.
| Step | Years and months |
|---|---|
| Effective service to date | 10 y 2 m |
| Add: more than three but not more than six months of warlike service | + 3 y |
| Take away: the qualifying period | − 2 y |
| Take away: two years already subsidised under DHOS | − 2 y |
| Service credit for DHOAS | 9 y 2 m |
A credit can only be drawn on while there is a DHOAS loan to pay it into and the conditions are being met. The scheme’s example: someone with ten years of credit who closes the loan after two years of subsidy cannot draw on the other eight without a new certificate, a new loan and another 12 months of living in the home.
Warlike service
Warlike service adds to the service credit, so the subsidy can be paid for longer. It does not shorten the qualifying period and does not move anyone up a tier sooner.
| Period of warlike service | Extra service credit |
|---|---|
| Not more than 3 months | 2 years |
| More than 3, not more than 6 months | 3 years |
| More than 6, not more than 9 months | 4 years |
| Over 9 months | 5 years |
Out-of-country leave taken during warlike service does not count towards the bonus. Warlike service done before a break in service of any length is still recognised for the bonus. Service records must show it: the scheme says that if not all service is detailed, the subsidy level and period can be reduced.
Moving up a tier
Tiers follow service milestones: 2, 4 and 8 years of effective service for serving Permanent members, and 4, 8 and 12 for serving Reservists. Unlike the service credit, the milestones count total effective service, without taking the qualifying period away. The 2026–27 limit for each tier is in the guide to what DHOAS is.
- Permanent members are moved up by DVA from Defence’s service reports, with no form needed.
- Reservists are reviewed at the end of the financial year. One who finishes the 20 paid days earlier and has reached a milestone can tell DVA on a Change of Circumstances form, which may let DVA move them up from then. The scheme warns Reservists not to assume Defence will tell DHOAS about a milestone.
- Mixed service is counted year for year once a member has reached tier 2; before then the different qualifying periods have to be allowed for.
Breaks in service and rejoining
A break, meaning a time when someone stops being employed by the ADF and later comes back, affects both eligibility and entitlement, and how much depends on its length.
- During the qualifying period, a break of a year or more, or a full discharge, breaks continuity and the qualifying period starts again.
- After the qualifying period, a break pauses the credit for as long as it lasts.
- Leave without pay does not make a Permanent member “separated” for the scheme: they keep receiving the subsidy at their tier and can get further certificates, though they earn no credit while on leave, except that leave without pay of 21 days or less counts as effective service.
On rejoining, the Act was amended in June 2020 to give more time. A member who returns after a break of five years or less keeps their earlier service for both eligibility and entitlement; after more than five years it no longer counts, and the qualifying period has to be served again. The Act’s own note says that after a break of more than 5 years, “the member’s service before rejoining the Defence Force no longer counts as effective service”.
The scheme warns members already receiving the subsidy on an assessment made before the 2020 change that applying for a new certificate could bring the rejoining rules into play and reduce or cancel their entitlement, and it advises talking to DHOAS before changing the loan. The scheme’s qualifying period page and its rejoining page say different things about a break inside the qualifying period, so ask DHOAS how they apply to you.
A member who was required for duty but could not serve because of exceptional circumstances can apply for that time to be recognised as effective service, under section 17 of the 2018 Regulations. The scheme says personal choices, such as putting civilian work or training first, are not exceptional circumstances. What separating does to all of this is in the guide to leaving the ADF, and applying once eligible is in the subsidy certificate guide.