New financial year – new changes for super

New financial year means new rules, new thresholds and new employer and fund obligations from 1 July.  These changes benefit members, impact super funds and change the frequency of super contributions.  Read on to find out more:

Paid Parental Leave changes from 1 July 2026 – additional weeks and payment of super

Women in Super has advocated for super to be paid on government Paid Parental Leave for many years.  This change will increase the retirement balances of those taking this leave (the vast majority of who are women) and is an important equity measure that aims to improve the adequacy of women’s retirement balances.

In addition, government funded Paid Parental leave will increase from 24 to 26 weeks.

Payday Super – a once in a generation change to super systems

From 1 July 2026 employers must pay super contributions at the same time they pay salary and wages rather than on a quarterly basis for as has been the case since 1992 for superannuation guarantee payments.  This means that payments must be made to super funds in line with the employee’s pay cycle – e.g. weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

Women in Super supports these changes as they will benefit members in two specific ways:

More time invested – the magic of compound interest

• Super contributions paid earlier (e.g. fortnightly rather than quarterly) have more time to earn investment returns
• Federal Treasury modelling shows more frequent payments can increase balances by thousands of dollars at retirement.  The total amount of super paid is the same but investing earlier means the magic of compound interest has more time to work
• Super funds are now required to allocate (or return) contributions within 3 business days (previously 20 business days)

Earlier detection of unpaid super

• More frequent payments of super will mean the ATO and employees can detect more quickly unpaid super
• Earlier detection will allow earlier compliance action – meaning the risk of unpaid super snowballing is reduced.
• The ATO’s data-matching of payroll and super fund reporting should enable the rapid identification of unpaid or underpaid super and support timely compliance action.
• Many employees will rely on the ATO to undertake this action, as they are uncomfortable or unable to raise this issue with their employer. 
• The Super Members Council estimates that a typical woman that is impacted by unpaid super misses out on approximately $26,500 at retirement.

 Other changes of note

 Annual changes to Contributions Caps, Transfer Balance cap

 Source : ato.gov.au

Treasury Laws Amendment (The Survivors Law) Act 2026

Effective: 21 May 2026 (day after Royal Assent)

The Act prevents perpetrators of child sexual abuse from using superannuation or bankruptcy laws to avoid paying court-ordered compensation to victims and survivors.

• Access to offender’s superannuation
  • Victims and survivors with an unpaid compensation order relating to specified child sexual abuse offences can seek access to certain amounts held in the offender's superannuation.
  • Eligible applicants can obtain information from the ATO about an offender's additional personal and salary-sacrifice super contributions before applying to the court.
  • A court may order the release of those amounts to satisfy unpaid compensation orders.
• Bankruptcy no longer extinguishes compensation debts
  • Compensation debts owed by perpetrators to victims and survivors will survive bankruptcy, ensuring offenders cannot avoid payment through bankruptcy proceedings.
• Historical compensation orders included
  • Existing compensation orders made before commencement may be eligible, provided they remain legally enforceable and relate to child sexual abuse offences.

Women in Super supports the intent of this legislation. Given women and girls are disproportionately affected by sexual violence and child sexual abuse, it is likely that many of the survivors applying under this legislation will be women and girls.