Payday super laws a long time coming: let's get it done

Super Members Council

The Super Members Council (SMC) welcomes the historic listing today of payday super laws for introduction into Parliament — a gamechanger to tackle unpaid super which now costs Australian workers $5.7 billion a year.

The Council calls on all Parliamentarians to swiftly pass the laws, first promised more than two years ago. Unpaid super costs working Australians a staggering $110 million a week in unpaid retirement savings.

SMC has 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 landmark 2024 report comprehensively highlighted the scale of the unpaid super challenge.

The Council’s latest modelling shows 3.3 million Australians missed out on $5.7 billion in super in 2022–23, losing an average $1,730 each a year. Those losses can make people up to $30,000 poorer at retirement.

Unpaid super disproportionately affects vulnerable groups. Among the hardest hit workers 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 under $25,000 a year have unpaid super entitlements.

Unpaid super also compounds losses over time, leaving less well-off workers with tens of thousands less money to live on in retirement.

Payday super is a simple fix, requiring all employers to pay super at the same time as wages instead of quarterly.

This commonsense reform will boost transparency for workers - who typically assume their super has been paid with wages – and make it much easier and faster to detect and fix underpayments.

The 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 the many businesses doing the right thing.  

With many employers already paying super more often than quarterly, payday super is both practical and long overdue.

We urge the Parliament to pass the laws promptly to meet the 1 July 2026 start date.

“The introduction of payday super legislation has been a long time coming, it’s time to get this done,” said Super Members Council CEO Misha Schubert.

“Payday super is a simple, fair and urgent reform to help ensure every dollar owed to workers makes it into their super account on time and in full. Millions of Australians cannot afford to wait.”

“Payday super is also tipped to deliver an average of an extra $7,700 for working Australians by retirement because being paid your super sooner helps to grow your retirement savings faster.”

State-based unpaid super data available on request.