Highlights

  • An investigation reports one in four workers is underpaid super, worth about $6 billion a year, with only 15% recovered.
  • The ATO says 92% of contributions by dollar value are paid voluntarily, without any ATO intervention.
  • Payday Super began on 1 July 2026 and requires contributions to reach the fund within seven business days of payday.
  • The Super Members Council wants unpaid super added to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, which does not currently cover it.

You might assume that if an employer owes you super, the ATO will eventually collect it. An investigation published on 22 October suggests the picture is bleaker: only about 15% of what goes unpaid is ever recovered, and one in four workers is affected. The ATO tells a different story, with 92% of contributions paid voluntarily. With Payday Super now in force and ATO officials before Senate Estimates, you will want to know which numbers matter.

Two views of the same problem

The investigation reported that about one in four workers is underpaid, worth about $6 billion a year, and that only about 15% of unpaid super is recovered, a figure it said is backed by a 2022 Australian National Audit Office report.

Two Brisbane oral health therapists won ATO findings in their favour in April but had received nothing after about 18 months of chasing unpaid super.

The ATO says tax secrecy and privacy laws limit what it can tell employees about action against an employer, which can leave workers unsure whether anything is happening. It also points to Single Touch Payroll data and fund reporting as detection tools.

Payday Super: the new rules

Payday Super started on 1 July 2026 and is enacted law. It replaces quarterly SG deadlines with payment tied to each payday. Under ATO Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2026/1, SG must reach the employee's fund within seven business days of payday, which counts as day 0. For a new employee who has not given choice of fund details, the limit is 20 business days.

The shift has been rapid. ASFA research found about 64 million super payments in July and 54 million in August, against a 2025–26 monthly average near 25 million.

Under the old quarterly system a worker could wait months to see a missing contribution. With payment tied to each payday, a shortfall can show within weeks.

How the ATO will treat employers in year one

PCG 2026/1 is guidance, not law, and covers 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. It sorts employers into three zones. Low-risk employers tried to pay on time and fixed shortfalls promptly. Medium-risk employers fixed unpaid amounts within 28 days after the end of a quarter. High-risk employers still have amounts unpaid after that window, and the ATO calls them its top priority.

Separately, draft Practice Statement PS LA 2026/D4, released on 15 October, sets out how the Commissioner will make his own SG assessments where employers do not self-report. Comments close on 13 November.

A hypothetical missed fortnight

Priya earns $2,000 each fortnight in earnings that attract SG, so at 12% her employer owes $240 per payday. If she is paid on Thursday 5 November 2026, the seven-business-day deadline falls on Monday 16 November 2026, assuming no public holidays in her state.

If the employer missed 10 consecutive fortnights, the shortfall would be $2,400 before any charges. Fixing it within the 28-day window keeps the employer in the medium-risk zone; leaving it unpaid means high risk.

At system level, 15% of $6 billion is about $900 million recovered, leaving roughly $5.1 billion. The ATO's 92% and the 15% measure different things, one the share paid without intervention and the other the share of unpaid amounts later recovered, so both can be true.

Calls for a safety net

The Super Members Council welcomed Payday Super but wants unpaid super added to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee. That Government scheme covers certain unpaid entitlements, such as wages and leave, when an employer becomes insolvent. Adding super would be a policy change, and no legislation has been introduced.

Workers who think their super is short can compare fund statements with payslips, which must show super, and report unpaid super to the ATO, though progress updates may be limited.