COVID-19 Early Release Scheme - Issue 8 accessible version

This dashboard contains the latest data on the COVID-19 Superannuation Early Release Scheme, for the period ending 14 June 2020:

Current status of applications:

$15.9bn payments made; 

$7,486 average payment; 

2.3m applications received; 

2.1m applications paid; 

3.3 business days on average to pay an application*, 

95% applications paid within five business days*.

*The payment processing period is measured from the date the super fund receives application from the ATO.

Payment status: 94% applications were paid and 4% applications are in process.

Processing times for payments: 95% applications were paid within five business days.

Distribution of processing times: 19% applications were processed in one business day, 11% in two, 16% in three, 43% in four, 6% in five, 2% in six, 1% in seven, 1% in eight, 0% in nine, 1% in ten or more.

Additional Commentary

APRA has received early release data submissions for the period ended 14 June 2020 from 177 funds. Funds have submitted on a best endeavours basis.

Over the period from the inception of the scheme on 20 April to 14 June, payments made to eligible members have taken an average of 3.3 business days after receipt of the application from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and 95 per cent have been made within five business days.

Over the week to 14 June, superannuation funds made payments to 148,000 members, bringing the total number of payments to approximately 2.1 million since inception. The total value of payments during the week was $1.3 billion, with $15.9 billion paid since inception. The average payment made over the period since inception is $7,486.

Fund-level data

The fund-level data shows that 150 of the 177 funds (85 per cent) that submitted data made early release payments in the period since inception to 14 June 2020. (Note that the fund-level data includes 40 funds for which the data has been published as a group in order to protect the privacy of information for individual members). 

Among all funds that submitted data, 132 (88 per cent) completed more than 90 per cent of payments within the five business days guideline indicated by APRA. Further, with limited exceptions (1.5 per cent), payments to members have been completed within ten or more business days from receipt of applications from the ATO.

The ten funds with the highest number of applications received from the ATO have made 1.42 million payments worth a total of $10.46 billion. The average payment from these funds was $7,372, with over 96 per cent of payments made within five days. 

Details of the industry-level data is provided below:

•    This link provides details on payments and processing timeframes for funds that have made payments to members in the period ending 14 June 2020.

•    This link provides a summary of the data that has been reported to APRA by funds for that period.

Do you have questions about your personal application?

APRA has set out a five day guidance period for payments after receipt of applications from the ATO by funds, but also acknowledges that these timeframes may extend slightly where a registered superannuation entity (RSE) licensee experiences a high volume of applications at any particular time. Delays can also occur in exceptional circumstances – such as where the RSE licensee’s automated checking has identified that additional fraud or other verification steps are required, or where the payment is being made from interests held in defined benefit funds.

If you do not believe you have received the funds you have applied for within a reasonable timeframe it is recommended that you contact your trustee directly to determine if there is a specific reason for the delay.