Senate reforms don’t do enough for unpaid super
Industry Super Australia (ISA) has welcomed the passage of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Measures No. 4) Bill 2018 through the Senate, with a warning that the amendments don’t go far enough to help the third of workers short-changed their super entitlements.
The group said that while the bill was progress, “the best way” to stop unpaid super was to require employers to pay super contributions at the time they are disclosed on payslips. Currently, employers would only have to deposit money into super accounts four times a year.
“While progress to stop the unpaid super epidemic is always welcome, anything less than stopping it at the source is just a band-aid approach,” ISA deputy chief executive, Matt Linden, said.
Recent research by ISA found that unpaid super was increasing, with 2.98 million workers losing out on $5.9 billion in super entitlements in 2015-16, up by 220,000 people and $300 million on two years earlier.
Labourers, machinery operators and drivers were amongst the jobs to lose out the most, with over 45 per cent of workers in these fields collectively missing out on over $820 million in super. Workers under the age of 30 were also a third more likely to miss out on their full super entitlements than older workers, as were part-time and casual workers earning under $30,000 compared to those on full-time or higher salaries.
Once ratified by the House of Representatives, the amendments would extend Single Touch Payroll to small businesses in the hope of boosting superannuation payment transparency.
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