Get Ready: ‘Payday Super’ is Changing How You Pay Staff
A significant change to how all Australian businesses handle superannuation is on the horizon. The government is proceeding with its ‘Payday Super’ plan, set to begin on 1 July 2026.
This new system will change the rhythm of your business finances, and preparing now is the key to a smooth transition. Here’s what you need to know.
What is Changing?
The new rules are designed to ensure employees receive their super more frequently. For employers, this means three major adjustments:
1. Super is Paid with Every Pay Run The biggest change is the end of quarterly super payments. Starting 1 July 2026, you will be required to pay your employees’ superannuation contributions at the same time you pay their wages, whether that’s weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.
2. Stricter, Faster Penalties The deadlines for payment will be much tighter. If a super payment is late, the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) will apply almost immediately. Penalties will include daily compounding interest, making it more costly than ever to fall behind.
3. The ATO’s Free Clearing House is Closing The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH), a free service used by over 270,000 businesses, is being phased out. Current users will need to transition to a new commercial clearing house solution before the 2026 deadline.
The Two Biggest Impacts on Your Business
1. Cash Flow Management The biggest challenge for most businesses will be adjusting to the new cash flow cycle. Instead of preparing for one large super payment each quarter, you will need to have funds available with every single pay run.
Heads Up: Be prepared for a significant cash flow crunch in July 2026. You will need to pay your final quarterly super contribution for the April-June 2026 period (due 28 July) in addition to the new payday super payments for all pay runs that occur in July.
2. Payroll System Updates Your current payroll software and processes must be compatible with these changes. You will need to ensure your system can handle the increased frequency of payments and reporting, and you will need to select and set up a new clearing house if you currently use the ATO’s free service.
Stop Giving Your Client List to Your Biggest Competitor
Online pet pharmacies are not your partners. They are a direct threat to your practice, and many vets are unknowingly handing them their most valuable asset: their client list.
The Real Threat Isn’t Lost Medication Sales
Yes, online pharmacies drastically undercut your prices on medications. This frustrates clients and fuels demand for online-only prescriptions.
But the real danger isn’t the lost margin on drugs. It’s the loss of your profitable, essential repeat consultations, which are the backbone of your practice and the foundation of quality patient care.
The Trojan Horse in Your Clinic
The trap is sophisticated. Online pharmacies align with providers that offer you “helpful” business and marketing apps. By using them, you are handing over your entire client database: names, emails, phone numbers, and complete patient treatment histories. You are giving away your customer relationships to a company whose primary goal is to replace you.
Their Endgame is Your Business
Online pharmacies are already lobbying for laws to allow online prescribing (teleconsults where prescriptions can be given without physically seeing the pet). Once that happens, they will use the data you provided to market directly to your clients with texts, social media ads, and mailers offering their own online vet services.
How to Protect Your Practice Now
Audit Your Tools: If your reporting or marketing software is owned by an online pharmacy or a company with a potential conflict of interest, stop using it immediately.
Choose a Conflict-Free Partner: Your business tools should work for you, and only you.
That’s why Profitdiagnostix was built. Their system is secure and completely independent. They have no affiliation with any company that markets to pet owners. Their only mission is to make your practice more profitable. Don’t let a competitor use your own data against you.
A major shift is underway in the UK’s veterinary industry that serves as a critical warning for what may be on the horizon for Australian practices. Regulators there have launched a formal, market-wide investigation, and the issues being targeted—and the remedies being proposed—could reshape our entire profession.
For Australian practice owners, this is a valuable glimpse into a potential future and a prompt to get ahead of the curve.
What’s Happening in the UK?
After an initial review raised serious concerns, the UK’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), is conducting a full investigation into the veterinary sector. The key areas under scrutiny are issues that resonate strongly within the Australian market:
Pricing Transparency: Regulators found that consumers are often not given enough clear, upfront information about the cost of treatments, making it difficult to make informed decisions. The suggestion is that practices are compelled to publish a standard list of services price list on their website.
Corporate Consolidation: A primary concern is the significant impact of corporate ownership. With a large percentage of UK vet practices now owned by a small number of large companies, the investigation is assessing whether this consolidation has led to reduced competition, limited choice, and higher prices.
Prescription Practices and Fees: The rules around prescribing are under intense scrutiny. Regulators are questioning not only whether clients are made aware they can fill prescriptions elsewhere but are now considering capping the prescription-writing fee that vets can charge. This proposed cap could dramatically impact a clinic’s ability to cover the professional time and liability associated with prescribing medications.
Why Australian Practices Should Be Prepared
The Australian and UK veterinary markets are remarkably similar. We share a high rate of pet ownership, a passion for quality animal care, and an identical trend of rapid corporate consolidation. When a comparable country like the UK undertakes such a significant regulatory review, it often creates a blueprint that others, including Australia, may follow.
This is a clear signal to proactively review your own clinic’s practices. The “way we’ve always done it” may not be sufficient in the years to come. By learning from the UK’s experience now, you can ensure your practice is not only prepared for potential future scrutiny but is also building a stronger, more transparent, and resilient business.
Dog Tales! – Trick or treat?
It’s my favorite spooky night of the year. The tiny humans are walking themselves (finally!) and come right to our door to get the Good Stuff.
But I have to bark about a weird rumor I heard at the dog park.
Buster (the golden-doodle who chases his own tail, so you know, not the sharpest sniffer) was telling everyone that our house was giving out carrot sticks. Can you believe it? He said he “heard it from a guy who knows a guy” that we were a “no-treat zone.”
I just sniffed my human’s treat bowl. It is overflowing with the premium, sizzle-wrapped, drool-worthy BACON bites. Not a carrot in sight. We just deliver the quality that has the tiny humans wagging… I mean, walking… back to our door every single year.
Buster is telling everyone to go to the house down the street. I watched that house. You know what the tiny humans got? Stale, boring biscuits. I am not joking. Stale, boring biscuits. A total trick!
The moral of my tail: Don’t listen to the rumors from the tail-chasers. If you hear something that sounds suspiciously bad (or frankly, unbelievable), don’t just take their bark for it.
APL Accountants, Suite 9 Level 1, 23 Middle Street, Cleveland,Qld,4163,Australia,Liability Limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation
