The government has announced that from 1 July 2026, employers will be required to pay their employees’ super at the same time as their salary and wages (ie payday super). The three-year lead time is to give businesses, super funds, payroll providers and other parts of the superannuation system sufficient time to prepare for the change.

According to ATO estimates, in 2019-2020, around $3.4 billion worth of super went unpaid. While the onus to chase up unpaid super currently lies with the employee, this is made all the more difficult by the employer only having to show the amount of super they are liable to pay, not the actual amount paid. Currently, employers are only required to pay super for eligible employees on a quarterly basis, meaning that many employees realise far too late that they have no been paid the correct amount of super.

The government hopes that the simple payday super change will make it easier for employees to keep track of their super payments, making it harder for disreputable employers to exploit this loophole.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers MP has noted that more frequent super payments will make employers’ payroll management smoother with fewer liabilities building up on their books, while also benefitting employees. It is projected that a 25-year-old median income earner currently receiving their super quarterly and wages fortnightly could be around $6,000 or 1.5% better off at retirement just with this small change.

It should be noted that legislation related to these measures has not yet been released, let alone passed Parliament. Therefore, these measures are not yet law, but given the broad political support in wake of the announcements, it is likely that these proposals will be introduced as soon as various consultation concludes.