Three Changes That Landed on Your Business

1 July is always a big day for employer obligations, but this year three separate changes have landed on the same date. If you employ staff, all three are relevant, and one of them has already closed a door behind you. Here's what's actually changed and what to do about it.

The three changes, at a glance

- Payday Super has started; super now has to reach your employees' funds within 7 business days of each payday, not quarterly.

- The ATO's Small Business Superannuation Clearing House is now permanently closed, if you haven't moved to an alternative, you have no way to pay super through it as of today.

- Minimum award and National Minimum Wage rates have increased 4.75%, effective from your first full pay period on or after 1 July.

1. Payday Super has started

From today, employers must pay superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions at the same time as wages, rather than quarterly. In practice, this means contributions need to be received by your employees' super funds within 7 business days of each payday, a significant tightening from the old system, where you had up to 28 days after each quarter to pay.

- The SG rate itself hasn't changed, it stays at 12% of ordinary time earnings.

- This is a cash flow change as much as a compliance one. Super now needs to be funded every pay cycle rather than built up and paid in a lump sum each quarter, worth factoring into your short-term cash flow planning if you haven't already adjusted for it.

- Missing the 7-day window exposes you to the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC), which includes the shortfall, interest, and an administration fee, and unlike the old quarterly system, the compliance window is much shorter, so errors surface faster.

2. The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House is closed

If you were still using the SBSCH, act now - there's no grace period

The ATO's free clearing house permanently closed at 11:59pm on 30 June 2026. As of today, you cannot log in, submit a payment, or access your historical records through it, the service is switched off entirely.

If you haven't already set up an alternative, this needs to be your first priority. Options include the super payment functionality built into most modern payroll software, a commercial clearing house, or a payment portal offered by a large super fund.

The April–June 2026 quarter's SG payment (normally due 28 July 2026) cannot be processed through the SBSCH, it needs to go through whatever replacement you set up, and from 1 July it's really being folded into the new Payday Super cycle rather than paid as a separate quarterly lump sum.

If you hadn't downloaded your SBSCH transaction history and employee details before the closure, that data is no longer accessible. It's worth checking with your accountant about what records you'll need to reconstruct for compliance and audit purposes.

 

3. Minimum wage and award rates are up 4.75%

The Fair Work Commission's 2026 Annual Wage Review lifted the National Minimum Wage and modern award minimum rates by 4.75%, effective from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026. The lowest award classifications (C13 and C14) received an additional structural increase on top of this, as part of a multi-year phase-out the Commission flagged in last year's review.

Rate	2025-26	2026-27 (from 1 July)
National Minimum Wage (weekly)	$948.00	$1,004.90
National Minimum Wage (hourly)	$24.95	$26.44
Modern award minimum rates	—	+4.75% across the board
High income threshold	$183,100	$190,100
Unfair dismissal compensation cap	$91,550	$95,050

- If you pay any staff at or near award minimums, payroll needs updating before their first full pay period on or after 1 July, the exact date this bites depends on your pay cycle.

- If you use annualised salary arrangements or set-off clauses to cover award entitlements, this is a good moment to re-check that those salaries still comfortably cover the new minimums, a margin that worked in June may be tighter now.

 - A higher wage base flows through to a higher SG contribution base too, so factor the compounding effect, wages plus super plus payroll tax where applicable, into your budgeting rather than just the headline wage increase.

- If you guarantee annual earnings above the high income threshold for any employees to keep them outside award coverage, check that guarantee still clears the new $190,100 threshold.

Where to start

If you haven't touched your payroll settings since 30 June, that's the first job - new pay rates, a working super payment method, and confirmation that your first payday under the new 7-day rule is set up correctly. If you'd like a hand working through what these changes mean for your business specifically, get in touch with the Funded Futures team.

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