From 1 July 2026, the way businesses handle super payments is changing in a big way.
Two major updates are coming at once, and they’ll affect how thousands of employers meet their Superannuation Guarantee obligations.
First, Payday Super begins. Instead of paying super quarterly, businesses will need to send SG contributions every payday.
Second, the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) will close. This free ATO service has long helped small employers pay all their super in a streamlined way. But with Payday Super on the horizon, it’s being phased out.
Together, these changes mark one of the biggest shifts to the SG system in years. Businesses will need to find an alternative way to meet their SG obligations and stay compliant.
(Spoiler alert: Hnry can help. More on this in a bit.)
Here’s what’s happening, why it matters, and what your options are moving forward.
- What is a Superannuation Clearing House?
- What is the SBSCH?
- Why is the SBSCH closing?
- What is Payday Super?
- What these changes mean for businesses
- Hnry sorts Payday Super for contractors
What is a Superannuation Clearing House?
A Superannuation Clearing House is a service that acts as a go-between for employers and their workers’ superannuation funds.
Instead of paying super into each employee’s individual fund, a business can send a single bulk payment to the clearing house, along with the required contribution information in a SuperStream-compliant format.
The clearing house then allocates the correct Superannuation Guarantee amounts to each employee and forwards the payments to their respective super funds.
This means employers don’t have to manage multiple separate payments — the clearing house handles all this on their behalf. That’s a lot of admin saved!
What is the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House?
The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (what a mouthful!) is the free ATO version of a super clearing house.
Businesses who have:
- 19 or fewer employees, or
- an annual aggregated turnover of $10 million or less,
can use this service for free to pay the SG for their employees and eligible contractors.
All businesses had to do was register the first time they used the SBSCH, and provide the correct information in a SuperStream-compliant format every time they made an SG payment from then on.
The SBSCH was a huge cost-saving tool for small businesses, in comparison with private Super Clearing Houses who can charge per transaction, per person.
Which is why it’s a huge deal that –
The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House is closing down
As of 1 July 2026, the SBSCH will no longer operate. It also no longer accepts new business registrations, as of 1 October 2025, meaning unregistered businesses will need to find another way to meet their SG obligations.
According to the ATO, this is all part of their Payday Super reforms. Payday Super becomes mandatory from 1 July 2026, the same date the SBSCH stops operating
What is Payday Super?
Very basically, Payday Super requires SG to be paid every payday, instead of every quarter.
This is great news for employees and eligible contractors, as their SG payments will potentially hit their super funds sooner than they would have under the previous system, meaning they’ll have longer to benefit from potential investment returns.
But for businesses, it’s a massive jump in costs and admin. Especially with the closure of the SBSCH – small businesses will need to find an alternative way of meeting their SG obligations.
📖 Not up on the Payday Super changes? Good news – we have a whole separate article for that.
What these changes mean for businesses
Like we (literally) just said, businesses currently using the SBSCH will need to find another way of sorting their SG obligations.
The problem is that many Super Clearing Houses charge a per-transaction fee – something around $4.50 per transaction, per person. Once Payday Super goes live, businesses will need to make SG payments more often. That means more transactions, causing their SG admin costs to skyrocket.
We might be biased, but when it comes to SG payments for eligible contractors, we reckon there’s a better alternative.
Hnry can sort SG payments for your contractors
From July 2026, super has to move as fast as your payroll – Hnry’s super guarantee payment facilitation, ContractorSuper, will make sure it does.
Hnry is an award-winning tax app and service that helps contractors and other sole traders sort their financial admin. More than this, we genuinely care about the wellbeing of our sole trader community, which is why we put together our SG payments service. Helping businesses pay super for their contractors, without paying excessive fees, is a win all round. So that’s exactly what we’re doing.
All you need to do is calculate the super amounts as they’re due, and send us the total contribution and remittance file as per usual. From there, we’ll process the payment, making sure all contributions are forwarded on within the required timeframes. Then we’ll send you a report confirming the payments have been made, ready for audit and compliance.
Best of all, we’re around 50% cheaper per transaction than traditional providers. And if any of your contractors already use our service, we’ll sort their SG payments for free. Seriously!
Introducing ContractorSuper by Hnry
Hnry facilitates Payday Super payments to the right super funds for your contractors (including ABN sole traders) on your behalf, accurately and securely.
You calculate super liability for your contractors, complete your STP reporting, and send Hnry a single payment along with a simple schedule of who gets what. From there, we take care of the rest – no multiple payments, no manual splitting, no extra super runs.
We’ll also send you clear, consolidated, audit-ready reporting for every pay cycle – including who was paid, how much, when, and to which fund.
As an added bonus, we’re over 50% cheaper than traditional super processing models. Reduce your overheads while maintaining full compliance.
If this sounds good to you, fantastic! Learn more about ContractorSuper by Hnry.