Here is a finding that should change how this conversation is usually had. Analysis of Australian Taxation Office data released in June 2026 found that women make voluntary personal super contributions slightly more often than men, and at a slightly higher average amount. They still reach their early sixties with about 26 per cent less super.
The gap is not a discipline problem. It is a structural one, and it is caused by a system that was designed around an uninterrupted full-time working life. Anyone whose working life is not uninterrupted and full-time falls behind, regardless of how carefully they manage their money.
That includes women who take parental leave, which is the largest group by some distance. It also includes people who step back to care for ageing parents, people who take time out for illness or study, people who move between contracting and employment, and anyone who returns to work part-time and stays there for a decade.
This article covers why the cost of a break is larger than it looks, what has recently changed in your favour, and the four tools that actually close the gap, including which one suits which situation.
What the gap actually looks like
Among Australians aged 60 to 64, median superannuation balances sit at roughly $236,000 for men and $175,000 for women. That is a 26 per cent gap, and it has widened rather than narrowed over the past decade, up from around 20.5 per cent in 2016-17.
The shape matters as much as the size. Fund-level data released in August 2026 shows younger women slightly ahead of men in the 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 brackets. The pattern reverses from around age 35 and the gap peaks between 45 and 59, which is precisely when caring responsibilities, part-time work and pay differences compound on each other.
Three drivers do most of the work: lower average earnings, time out of the workforce, and higher rates of part-time work afterwards. The third one is the underestimated one.
Why a break costs more than the contributions you miss
The intuitive calculation is to add up the super guarantee you did not receive during the break. That number is real but it is the smaller part of the loss.
Compounding does the damage. Contributions missed in your thirties have thirty years of growth attached to them. Missing $15,000 of contributions at 34 is not a $15,000 problem at 65, it is a considerably larger one. The break lands in the highest-leverage decade you have.
The break is usually shorter than its effect. Most people do not go from full-time to nothing and back to full-time. They go from full-time to nothing to part-time, and part-time can last years. A two-year break followed by eight years at three days a week is a decade of reduced contributions, not two.
Career progression pauses too. Super is a percentage of pay, so a slower earnings trajectory produces a permanently lower contribution base, not just a temporary one.
None of that is an argument against taking a break. It is an argument for knowing what it costs so you can decide what, if anything, to do about it.
What has recently changed in your favour
Super is now paid on government parental leave
For children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2025, the government pays a superannuation contribution on Commonwealth Parental Leave Pay. Known as the Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution, it is 12 per cent of your Parental Leave Pay plus an interest component.
It does not arrive with your fortnightly payment. The ATO pays it as a lump sum directly to your fund after the end of the financial year in which you received the leave, with the first payments flowing from July 2026. It is taxed at 15 per cent inside the fund and counts towards your concessional contributions cap like any employer contribution.
For a child born from 1 July 2026, Parental Leave Pay runs to 130 days, or 26 weeks, at just over $1,000 per week. Twelve per cent of that is more than $3,100, before the interest component. It does not close the gap on its own, but it is a genuine structural fix to something that was plainly wrong.
One practical thing to do. The ATO matches you to a fund using its records and Services Australia’s. If your name or address differs between the ATO, Services Australia and your super fund, the payment can be delayed or end up in a holding account. This catches people who changed their name and updated it in some places but not all. Check all three now rather than chasing it later.
The low income super tax offset is being expanded
LISTO refunds the 15 per cent contributions tax paid on your super for lower income earners, so that you are not taxed more heavily on your super than on your wages. For 2026-27 it is capped at $500 for income up to $37,000.
From 1 July 2027, the cap rises to $810 and the income threshold rises to $45,000, matching the top of the second tax bracket. That legislation passed in March 2026. It is paid automatically, with no application, provided your fund has your tax file number. Around 60 per cent of the people it reaches are women, and it is directly relevant to anyone returning to work part-time.
Payday super makes tracking easier
Since payday super started on 1 July 2026, employer contributions must reach your fund within seven business days of each payday rather than quarterly. For someone on variable part-time hours, that makes it far easier to see what is actually going in during the year, rather than reconciling it afterwards.
The four tools that close the gap
1. Carry-forward concessional contributions
This is the most powerful of the four and the most underused, and a career break creates almost exactly the profile it was designed for.
If your total super balance was under $500,000 at the previous 30 June, you can use unused concessional cap space from the previous five financial years on top of the current year’s cap, which is $32,500 for 2026-27. Someone who contributed very little during a break has accumulated unused cap in exactly those years, and a balance that is likely to be under the $500,000 threshold precisely because of the break.
The catch is that a concessional contribution needs taxable income to work against. Making one during the break, when income is low, wastes the benefit. The tool comes into its own on return to work, in a high income year, or in a year with a capital gain, such as selling an investment property or a business.
There is a deadline attached. The window is five years, so the earliest year still available in 2026-27 is 2021-22, and that year’s unused amount expires after 30 June 2027. If you had a break around then, that space is on a clock. You can check your available carry-forward amount in ATO online services through myGov under Super. Our guide to salary sacrifice versus personal deductible contributions covers the two ways of making the contribution.
2. Contributions splitting
This is the sleeper of the four, because it moves far larger sums than the spouse contribution offset does and almost nobody uses it.
A member can apply to transfer up to 85 per cent of a financial year’s concessional contributions to their spouse’s super account. The application is made in the financial year after the contributions were made, and the receiving spouse must be under preservation age, or under 65 and not retired.
The mechanics matter. This is not a tax strategy in itself, since it produces no offset. What it does is move real money from the higher-balance partner to the lower-balance partner, year after year, while the relationship is intact. A couple where one person is out of the workforce can use it to keep both balances growing rather than letting one stall. Over ten years it moves considerably more than the $3,000 a year that attracts the spouse offset.
It is also worth doing for reasons that have nothing to do with the gap. Two moderate balances often work better than one large one for transfer balance cap purposes, and the outcome if the relationship later ends is different when both people have super in their own name. Our comparison of spouse contributions versus contribution splitting sets out how the two differ.
3. Spouse contributions
If your spouse’s income is under $37,000, you can contribute to their super and claim a tax offset of 18 per cent of the first $3,000, up to $540. The offset reduces as their income rises above $37,000 and cuts out entirely at $40,000. The receiving spouse must not have exceeded their non-concessional cap and must have had a total super balance under the general transfer balance cap at the previous 30 June.
Be realistic about the size of it. Those thresholds are not indexed and have not moved in years, so the offset now reaches a much narrower band of incomes than it once did. It is worth claiming if you qualify, and it is not a strategy on its own. Contributions splitting usually does more work for the same couple.
4. The government co-contribution
If you make an after-tax personal contribution and your income is low enough, the government adds 50 cents for every dollar, up to $500. For 2026-27 the full amount is available up to a lower income threshold of $49,293, phasing out at $64,293.
The maximum requires a $1,000 after-tax contribution, so the return is 50 per cent on money you have already paid tax on. Nothing else in the system pays that. It suits someone back at work part-time far better than salary sacrifice does, because at lower incomes the concessional route saves very little tax while the co-contribution pays a flat 50 per cent. Our guide to the government co-contribution covers the eligibility conditions, including the work test.
If you are saving for a first home at the same time, the same after-tax contribution can potentially do two jobs, and our guide to the First Home Super Saver Scheme covers how the two interact.
Which tool suits which situation
The order matters more than the list, and it changes with income.
Currently on leave, partner working. Contributions splitting is usually the main tool, because it does not depend on your income at all. The spouse contribution offset is worth claiming alongside it if your income for the year is under $37,000. Concessional contributions in your own name are generally the wrong move while your income is low.
Back at work part-time on a lower income. The co-contribution first, because a 50 per cent return beats a modest tax deduction. LISTO applies automatically if you qualify. Leave your carry-forward cap space alone and save it for a higher income year, provided you will not run out of time on the oldest year.
Back full-time on a good income after years out. This is where carry-forward earns its reputation. Check your available amount, check whether the oldest year is about to expire, and model how much you can usefully deduct against this year’s income. If you have a capital gain coming, coordinate the two.
Single, no partner, no spouse tools available. Carry-forward and the co-contribution do the work, depending on income, and the timing question becomes more important because there is no second balance to lean on.
These are general patterns and not recommendations. Which applies to you depends on your income for the year, your total super balance at 30 June, your cap position and what else the money is needed for.
Three things to check while you are out
Contributions get the attention. These get missed and cost real money.
Your insurance. Life and total and permanent disability cover held inside super is funded from your balance. With no contributions coming in, premiums erode the account. Worse, cover can be cancelled if an account receives no contributions for an extended period unless you actively elect to keep it, and low balance inactive accounts can be transferred to the ATO. Losing cover during the exact period you have dependants and reduced household income is the wrong outcome. If you are taking a break, contact your fund before it starts and ask what happens to your insurance.
Duplicate accounts. A break is often when someone changes employers, and a new account gets opened without the old one being closed. Two sets of fees and two sets of insurance premiums on a balance that is not growing is an expensive combination. Our guide to consolidating super funds covers the process and what to check before you merge, since consolidating can cancel insurance you wanted to keep.
Your investment option. A career break does not shorten your investment timeframe. Someone who is 36 and out of the workforce for three years still has thirty years until retirement. Moving to a conservative option because income has stopped is a common instinct and usually the wrong one for money you cannot touch for decades.
Where Professional Advice Adds Value
The tools above are all publicly available and none of them are secret. What advice adds is sequencing and timing, which is where most of the value sits and where most of the value is lost.
Carry-forward is the clearest example. The same contribution can be worth several times more in one year than in another, depending on your income, whether you have a capital gain, and whether the oldest year of unused cap is about to expire. Using it in the wrong year is not a disaster, but it is a wasted opportunity that does not come back.
The second area is the couple-level view. Contributions splitting, spouse contributions and the co-contribution all depend on two people’s positions rather than one, and the right combination is rarely obvious from either side alone. Couples who look at super as two separate accounts almost always leave something on the table.
The third is the plan itself. A career break changes when you can afford to retire and what the number needs to be. Working that out early gives you years to adjust in small ways, which is far less painful than discovering it at 58. Our retirement advice page covers that side of it.
At Money Path, our superannuation advice in Adelaide covers catch-up contribution strategy, cap timing and the couple-level planning that goes with it. If you have had time out of work and want a clear view of where you stand and which tool to use first, get in touch with the team.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much less super do women retire with in Australia?
Among Australians aged 60 to 64, median balances are roughly $236,000 for men and $175,000 for women, a gap of about 26 per cent based on analysis of ATO data released in June 2026. The gap has widened over the past decade rather than narrowed, and it opens from around age 35, peaking between 45 and 59.
Do I get super while I am on parental leave?
For children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2025, the government pays a superannuation contribution on Commonwealth Parental Leave Pay, at 12 per cent plus an interest component. The ATO pays it as a lump sum to your fund after the end of the financial year, with the first payments flowing from July 2026. Employer-funded parental leave is separate, and whether super is paid on it depends on your employer’s policy.
Can I catch up on super contributions I missed?
To an extent, yes. If your total super balance was under $500,000 at the previous 30 June, you can use unused concessional contributions cap from the previous five financial years on top of the current year’s cap of $32,500. Because the window is five years, unused cap from 2021-22 is the earliest year available in 2026-27 and expires after 30 June 2027. You can check your available amount in ATO online services through myGov.
What is contributions splitting and how is it different from spouse contributions?
Contributions splitting lets a member transfer up to 85 per cent of a year’s concessional contributions to their spouse’s super account, applied for in the following financial year. It produces no tax offset but moves substantial amounts. Spouse contributions are after-tax contributions you make to your spouse’s account, which can attract a tax offset of up to $540 where their income is under $37,000. They serve different purposes and can be used together.
Is salary sacrifice worth it if I am working part-time?
Often not, at lower incomes. The benefit of salary sacrifice comes from the gap between your marginal tax rate and the 15 per cent contributions tax, and that gap is small at the bottom of the income scale. The government co-contribution generally does more for the same person, paying 50 cents for every dollar of after-tax contribution up to $500, where income is under the relevant threshold.
What happens to my insurance inside super if I stop working?
Premiums continue to be deducted from your balance, and cover can be cancelled if the account receives no contributions for an extended period unless you actively elect to keep it. Low balance inactive accounts can also be transferred to the ATO. Contact your fund before a break starts and ask specifically what will happen to your cover and what you need to do to retain it.
Should I change my super investment option during a career break?
A break does not change your investment timeframe. If retirement is still decades away, the money is still invested for decades regardless of whether contributions are going in. Moving to a more conservative option because income has stopped is a common reaction, and for someone in their thirties or forties it usually reduces long-term returns without reducing any risk that matters over that horizon.
This article contains general information only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Superannuation rules, thresholds and contribution caps change, and the figures quoted are for the 2026-27 financial year unless stated otherwise. The strategies described have eligibility conditions that are not all set out here. You should consider whether the information is appropriate for you and seek personal advice before acting. Money Path Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 001306822) of Australia National Investment Group, AFSL 522028.
