The government’s refusal to pay super on its parental leave scheme has forced more than 467,000 mothers in NSW to sacrifice their superannuation savings in the past decade, new research has revealed.

Analysis conducted by Industry Super Australia (ISA) has found that NSW mums have missed out on over $522 million in super contributions while receiving Commonwealth parental leave pay. Women make up 99.5 per cent of applicants to the scheme in NSW.

ISA has estimated that a mother of two would be left $14,000 worse off in retirement due to not receiving super payments.

“It’s hard enough trying to juggle work and raising a family – it’s not fair that thousands of women are also missing out on thousands from their super as well,” said Industry Super Australia advocacy director Georgia Brumby.

Over 54,000 women in NSW missed out on contributions totalling almost $70 million in the 2019-20 financial year alone.

Up to 1.45 million mothers across the country, including 280,000 in Queensland, have missed out on super payments under the government’s scheme over the past 10 years.

“The Prime Minister should take the opportunity to fix this glaring inequity and make a positive step towards ending the gender super gap – otherwise we will continue to see too many women at risk of retiring into poverty,” said Ms Brumby.

According to ISA, a woman who leaves the paid workforce for five years in their late 20s and early 30s may be left nearly $100,000 worse off in retirement.

Women nearing retirement in NSW typically have a super balance that is $60,000 less than men, with a gender super gap of 30 per cent at retirement.