Senator the Nick Sherry, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, has announced the release of a two-part discussion paper on the implementation of the Government’s superannuation clearing house measure and possible initiatives to reduce the number of lost super accounts.

The clearing house was proposed in the last Federal Budget to assist in managing employers’ obligations to provide superannuation choice to employees. An employer’s superannuation guarantee (SG) obligations would be discharged once the required amount of contributions was paid on time to the clearing house.

This facility will be offered free of charge by the Australian Government to small businesses with fewer than 20 employees and on a fee‑for‑service basis to larger businesses.

The issues discussed in the first part of the paper include the division of responsibilities between employers and the clearing house in relation to Superannuation Guarantee and choice of fund, whether the clearing house facility should be contracted to a single or multiple providers, and the regulatory framework which will apply to the clearing house.

The second part of the discussion paper canvasses possible initiatives to address the problem of lost members, including a proposal to automatically consolidate lost accounts with an active account where one can be identified for the member.

Submissions close on 19 December 2008