Attention, Operational and Payroll leaders: your super processes are about to undergo a significant shift! Why? Starting 1 July 2026, the Australian Government’s “Payday Super” legislation moves superannuation from a quarterly task to a payday obligation.
Businesses will now be required to pay and report super at the same time as wages, regardless of whether you run payroll weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. The previous 28-day quarterly grace period is officially being eliminated. Instead, contributions must reach an employee’s super fund within just 7 business days of payday.
Beyond the payment roster, there are other critical changes to note. The new Qualifying Earnings (QE) calculation base is replacing the current Ordinary Time Earnings OTE split, with mandatory reporting starting 1 July 2027. You also need to mark your calendar for 30 June 2026, when the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) will close.
With so many moving parts, there’s a lot to keep up with across cash flow, compliance, and operations. Keep reading to learn what’s at stake for your operations and how your business can best prepare for Payday Super.
The end of the 90-day safety net
It’s worth noting the old quarterly super payments roster wasn’t just a cash flow buffer – it was a time buffer. This 90-day window provided a safety net that allowed for retroactive corrections, giving payroll teams weeks (or months) to chase down missing timesheets, fix errors, and manually recalculate award rates before the money actually had to move.
That safety net is gone. Under Payday Super, the luxury of fixing errors in hindsight has been replaced by a 7-day deadline. If your process currently relies on payroll teams spending time chasing store managers for approvals or manually reconciling data, there’s no longer a runway to meet the new obligations. The new reality will require that data be validated as soon as the shift ends.
Why manual processes are now a liability
For shift-based businesses and payroll teams, this isn’t just a minor administrative tweak – it is a fundamental operational change. If you are currently relying on manual tools like Excel spreadsheets or paper timesheets, or unintegrated systems, you are exposing your business to significant risk.
These manual methods were manageable when you had a quarterly buffer, but they will be too slow for the new 7-day turnaround. With tighter deadlines and minimal margin for errors, the friction of manually exporting data, calculating overtime in a spreadsheet, or re-entering it into payroll creates a “sync gap” where errors thrive. With the volume of super transactions jumping from 4 to 52 payments a year for weekly payers, manual workflows will become unsustainable. Not only are these processes inefficient, but they also put your team at risk of compliance violations that could trigger ATO penalties.
Blind spot: last-minute shifts
Even with the best planning, operations are unpredictable. A major headache under Payday Super will be last-minute shift changes or overtime that occur right on the edge of a pay run.
Let’s say staff members stay late on Thursday, and you process payroll on Friday. Manual systems often fail to capture that data in time. This forces Payroll teams to either delay the run or issue messy back-payments – both of which now carry a higher risk of triggering ATO penalties. You need a workflow that can handle exceptions without stalling the entire process.
How to tackle bottlenecks and deadline panic
Validate data at the source, avoid fixing things later
Payday Super means that the ATO and employees will have instant visibility into payment discrepancies. To meet the new deadline, note that you must eliminate the time spent chasing store managers for timesheet approvals. Deputy’s Time Clock App ensures digital clock-ins are photo-verified and accurate to the minute. You remove the need for manual reconciliation and ensure that the gross pay (and the super contribution) is correct the moment the shift ends.
Automate complex calculations
Manual interpretation of awards is no longer going to cut it. Under ATO assessment of the Super Guarantee Charge (SGC), compliance responsibility and risk rest strictly with employers. Deputy’s Award Interpretation automates complex calculations, instantly applying correct rates for overtime and penalty rates. This will allow you to pay with greater confidence and ease, as it eliminates the need to verify details and amounts before a deadline.
Eliminate the “sync gap”
The biggest operational risk of Payday Super is the friction and potential data loss that occurs when you move data between a workforce management system to a third-party payroll system. The ultimate safeguard against mismatched data is to have your timesheets and payroll live in the same ecosystem. Deputy Payroll enables you to track hours, interpret awards, and process payroll in one seamless motion. You eliminate the “sync gap” by removing the data transfer part while also ensuring you meet the 7-day deadline without any issues.
Accelerate and scale your admin speed
If your business runs multiple locations, chasing all the managers down for approvals will cause significant delays and unnecessary admin burden. You’ll need to move faster. Features like Timesheet bulk approving can remove the bottleneck of manual reviews, allowing you to finalise staff shifts in batches and focus only on the exceptions.
Get ahead of the change
The shift to Payday Super brings the end of the 90-day “safety net,” turning manual processes and retroactive corrections into significant compliance liabilities. To withstand the new 7-day deadline and avoid the risks of the “sync gap,” or last-minute shift errors, businesses must pivot to a system that validates data at the source and automates complex calculations instantly. Don’t wait until the deadline to overhaul your process.
Need a starting point to prepare for Payday Super? Download our checklist.
Or simply want more information on Payday Super? Learn more in our hub here.
Disclaimer: While Deputy's platform is designed to simplify shift work and payroll through automation, this document is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. It is ultimately each customer's sole responsibility to pay their employees correctly and in compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements. Please review our Product Specific Terms for more information.
