Australians are raring to go for payday super as more businesses adjust to frequent payments

Super Members Council

Today marks one month until the start of payday super – a reform that has very strong backing from the Australian public, new research has found.

An Ideally survey of more than 1,000 Australians for the Super Members Council found near universal support for payday super, with only 2% of people opposed.

“Australians right across the country overwhelmingly back payday super, because they want more visibility and confidence that their super is being paid properly – on time, every time, in full,” says the Council’s CEO Misha Schubert.

The Australian Taxation Office has said it will adopt a graduated approach to enforcement as businesses transition to the new system in the first 12 months, focusing its resources on areas of highest risk.

From July 1, 2026, payday super laws will require all employers to pay super at the same time as wages - instead of once every three months. Contributions need to reach the employee’s super fund within 7 business days of payday

The reform will be a gamechanger to tackle unpaid super, and 62% of survey respondents say payday super must start on July 1 as planned.

Recent analysis by the Council revealed the scale of the scourge of unpaid super, finding Aussie workers were underpaid a shocking total of $24.4 billion over the five years to 2023.

More than 70% of people surveyed agreed it will help them keep track of whether their employers are paying their super correctly, and more than half said they will now check their super more regularly.

The Council has long championed payday super laws as a key reform to help stamp out unpaid super, coupled with more proactive recovery of unpaid super by the ATO.

The Council’s modelling shows a worker being underpaid $1,730 in super in 2022-23, and a typical affected worker could be more than $30,000 worse off at retirement due to the loss of compounding investment returns.

Unpaid super disproportionately hurts vulnerable groups. Among the hardest hit workers from unpaid super are women, who already retire with a quarter less super than men.

Younger workers, and low-income earners are also at risk: one in two workers who earn less than $25,000 a year have unpaid super entitlements.

The new laws will also make it much easier for employers to stay on top of their cashflow and worker entitlements, and level the playing field for all the businesses already doing the right thing by their staff.

With digital payroll and single touch payroll reporting systems now available to all employers, around 40% of businesses already pay super more frequently than quarterly.

ATO data shows that since payday super was announced, around 19,000 more employers are paying super more frequently than quarterly - a 2.4 percentage point increase in the share of employers doing so.

Ahead of July 1, the Council is urging employers to take immediate, practical steps to get their systems ready.

“Payday super will be a big change for some employers that will make a very big difference for the workers they employ,” Ms Schubert said.

“For employers making this transition, we appreciate the scale of the task and that’s why we support the ATO’s graduated approach on enforcement in the first 12 months.”

“Unpaid super is a silent pay cut that costs Australian workers nearly $6 billion each year. This is money Australians have earned but never been paid – and it’s leaving millions much poorer at retirement.”