Payday Super for casual and shift workforces.
From 1 July 2026 superannuation follows each payday instead of the quarter, on a new earnings base. For a salaried office that is a process change. For a workforce paid weekly or daily on hours that change every week, it is a different job. This page says what changed, what to check with the ATO, and how a daily payroll already does it.
Last reviewed 3 September 2026 · source: Australian Taxation Office
What changed on 1 July 2026
The ATO describes Payday Super in three parts. Superannuation guarantee contributions are due at the same time as wages, with a set number of business days after each payday for the money to reach the fund. The first contribution for a new employee gets a longer window. And the amount is worked out on “qualifying earnings”, a new term that replaces ordinary time earnings as the base. The rate itself is unchanged at 12%, where it has sat since 1 July 2025. Read the detail at the source: ATO: about Payday Super ↗ and ATO: payment deadlines ↗. Dated entries: Payday Super and the 12% rate on what changed and when.
Why it is heaviest for casual workforces
- Short cycles. A weekly-paid casual workforce has 52 contribution events a year instead of four. A daily-paid one has a contribution event every working day.
- Variable hours. Casual hours change every week, and so does every super amount. There is no standing figure to reconcile against.
- Many funds. A pool of casuals means a pool of funds, each needing correct member details before the first contribution can land inside the window.
- Penalties and loadings. Which parts of a casual’s pay count towards the earnings base is a question for the ATO’s definition, and it is easy to get wrong when a shift spans ordinary hours, overtime and a public holiday.
What to check with the ATO
- Which payday each contribution attaches to, and the business-day deadline that follows it.
- The longer window for a new employee’s first contribution, and what starts the clock.
- The qualifying-earnings base, and how casual loading, penalties and overtime are treated under it.
- Fund and member details collected at onboarding, before the first shift is paid.
- How late or short contributions are treated, and what the ATO says about the consequences.
- How Single Touch Payroll reporting lines up with each contribution.
The authority for all of it is the ATO’s super for employers ↗ section. Nothing on this page tells you what your obligation is; it tells you where the regulator does.
How MyGig already does it
Workers are paid Modern Award rates plus casual loading and penalties, the day after every shift, with 12% superannuation
Because MyGig runs payroll daily for the workers it employs, superannuation is calculated on each day’s pay and paid alongside it, which is the shape Payday Super now asks of every employer. MyGig is a registered Digital Service Provider (DSP) with the ATO, lodging Single Touch Payroll directly from its own payroll system. The arithmetic of a daily cycle against the old quarterly one is in payday super, daily; the three places casual super goes wrong are in superannuation compliance for casual payrolls; what the change means for a business using casuals is in Payday Super is here. Workers can keep their existing fund or join MyGig’s default fund partner, Hostplus.
Questions
What is Payday Super?
From 1 July 2026, employers pay superannuation guarantee contributions at the same time as wages rather than by a quarterly deadline. The ATO sets a number of business days after each payday for the contribution to reach the employee’s fund, with a longer window for the first contribution for a new employee, and a new “qualifying earnings” base for working out the amount. The ATO’s Payday Super pages are the authority.
Why does it matter more for casual workforces?
Because casual pay cycles are short and variable. A workforce paid weekly, or daily, generates a super obligation every time it is paid, on hours that change every week, often into many different funds. What was a quarterly reconciliation becomes something that has to be right on every pay run.
Did the super guarantee rate change too?
The rate reached 12% on 1 July 2025, the final step in the legislated schedule. What changes on 1 July 2026 is the timing and the earnings base, not the percentage. Check the ATO for the current rate and definition.
How does MyGig handle super for the workers it employs?
Workers are paid Modern Award rates plus casual loading and penalties, the day after every shift, with 12% superannuation Because MyGig runs payroll daily, superannuation is calculated and paid alongside the daily pay run rather than reconciled later. MyGig is a registered Digital Service Provider (DSP) with the ATO, lodging Single Touch Payroll directly from its own payroll system.
General information, not tax or payroll advice. Written by Enguerrand Vidor, Founder & CEO, MyGig; ATO links reviewed 3 September 2026. Check your own position with the ATO before acting.
Super paid with the pay, every day.
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