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With payday super set to begin on 1 July 2026, Australian Payments Plus (AP+) recently brought together the ATO and Employment Hero on a webinar for a practical discussion on what the changes mean for employers, funds, and digital service providers (DSPs). The message across the panel was clear: start early, clean up your data, and understand how your systems and partners can support you.

A major ecosystem shift

From 1 July 2026, employers will need to pay super at the same time as wages – a significant departure from the quarterly cycle many businesses follow today. Contributions will need to reach members’ super funds within seven business days[1] from payday and for super funds (unless an exception applies[2]). The time to either allocate or return funds is also being shortened from 20 to just three business days.[3] This sits within the  seven-day window – meaning even where there are payment issues and contributions are returned to the employer, the employer will need to resolve the issue and still ensure the contribution lands in the employee’s superfund within seven days, from the original payday.

At the webinar, Shane Moore, Project Director for Payday Super Implementation at the ATO, emphasised that the new regime leaves less room for delays or manual fixes.

“There’s only seven business days for contributions to reach the super fund under payday super – everything needs to move faster, and employers need to be ready for that shift,” Moore said.

The increased frequency of payments also means contribution volumes will increase from around 200 million transactions currently, to 500 million payments a year under payday super,  which – coupled with shorter timeframes – will amplify any existing issues with data quality, mismatched references, or processing delays.

Errors that today can be absorbed and resolved across a quarterly window will now surface immediately, and funds will only have three business days (down from 20) to allocate or return contributions. As Moore explained: “If employers are receiving errors now, they should be considering how to fix those errors. Under payday super, funds won’t have time to work with employers to resolve missing or incomplete data.”

Clean data will be key

This places much bigger emphasis on accurate data, upfront validation, and early detection of issues. Processing accuracy is equally important, particularly as the shift to real-time payments brings the NPP’s verification tools – such as Confirmation of Payee – into play, giving employers and payroll platforms an extra layer of assurance before payments go out. And for most employers, those checks happen in – and are automated by – their payroll platform.

Employment Hero works with approximately 350,000 small businesses covering 2,5 million employees, and has been sharing three key steps with employers

• make sure your data and systems are ready, and get it right at the time of employee onboarding,
• plan your cashflow – with Employment Hero modelling showing that the average small business, such as a café, may potentially need to free up to $124,000 worth of cash flow in order to switch from quarterly to fortnightly superannuation payments, and
• review your payroll system, and make sure you’re working with systems that are bringing in automation and real-time payments, that will help you see errors in advance.

That’s why Rob Dunn, Employment Hero’s General Manager for Payments, Benefits, Pensions & Perks, stressed the need to engage early: “Start now and talk to your payroll platform. It’s absolutely critical.”

“Even employers with well-established systems will need time to adjust cash-flow models, confirm employee and fund details, and understand how their platform will support the new payment cycle.”

Understanding systems and partners

While the focus of the legislation is on employers, there is a key role for super funds and clearing houses to play as well.

“Helping employers comply with payday super is a key focus for everyone in the superannuation payment chain, so it’s important for everyone – from employers to funds – to look at how you can strip back processes and become as efficient as possible,” said ATO’s Moore.

Evaluating payments and processes end-to-end will be key for super funds and clearing houses.

“In particular when it comes to matching processes, there is an opportunity for super funds and clearing houses to look at where they bring efficiencies into the system, especially as the window to allocate or return funds reduces from 20 days to three business days,” said Moore.

The greater opportunity

While the transition to payday super will require effort, the panel highlighted that it also created an opportunity to modernise how superannuation payments move across the system.

The NPP – Australia’s real-time payments infrastructure – is well-suited to the demands of more frequent super payments. Faster movement of funds, better upfront validation, richer payment information and improved payment accuracy can all help reduce delays and minimise errors that become more visible under compressed timeframes.

ATO’s Shane Moore said: “Faster payments via the NPP are a key enabler that can help employers meet the new timeframes. Even when there are errors or rejected payments, there will still be time.”

Key benefits include:

• Real-time payments 24/7, including on weekends and public holidays, reducing the risk of contributions arriving outside the required window, and giving funds more time to allocate contributions.
• Stronger verification tools, including services like Confirmation of Payee, that help confirm that key account details match before money leaves the employers account. This reduces misdirected payments and minimises repair work for funds.
• Instant updates on payment outcomes, providing certainty as to whether or not a payment has been successfully processed
• Richer payment messages, with enhanced data improving reconciliation for both funds and employers, and helping reduce manual intervention.

AP+, which operates the NPP, is also looking at further enhancing the NPP payment message specifically for payday super, allowing it to carry all key data points in the payment message. In the future, this would enable more streamlined reconciliation with the payment, rather than the payment and data traveling separately. Coupled with a PayTo payment agreement, that could in the longer term see employer contributions being paid directly to funds together with the data.

Start now

Throughout the webinar, one message came through consistently: the earlier organisations start preparing, the smoother the transition will be. With tighter timeframes and more frequent payments, small issues that once went unnoticed can quickly become bottlenecks.

Shane Moore: “There’s nothing stopping employers from transitioning sooner to a more frequent payment cycle to help them get ready and iron out issues now.”

Employment Hero, is also proactively working with employers to help them prepare for payday super. This includes fully embedded and automated clearing activity for superannuation through a solution called HeroClear, working with partners like Zepto to deliver real-time NPP payments and OZEDI for SuperStream messaging. For employers, this means a one-stop-shop that covers the superannuation payment chain end-to-end.

Webinar recording

To watch a replay of the full webinar, go to: Webinar recording: Preparing for payday super with real-time payments - Australian Payments Plus

Resources

• AP+ resources: Payday super is coming - are you ready? - Australian Payments Plus
• ATO resources: www.ato.gov.au/paydaysuper
• Employment Hero resources: Payday Super - Employers Complete Guide

Disclaimer

This post is provided for general information purposes only. It is not intended to be, and should not be relied on as, a substitute for reading the relevant legislation or other official materials. While we have used our best endeavours to ensure the information is accurate and up to date at the time of publication, we make no representations or warranties as to its accuracy, completeness or suitability.

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[1] section 18C of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992.

[2] There are some exceptions e.g. when onboarding a new employee, where longer windows will be available: Payment deadlines for Payday Super | Australian Taxation Office.

[3] 7.07G of Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994.