Swinburne U owes some staff $3.66m in underpaid superannuation and interest on the amounts involved, the university announced yesterday. Some 3749 staff, from a total of 12 249, “were impacted by an underpayment to their super fund.”

The average error is $570 with more half effected staffers owed under $100. The problem was caused by an error in the payroll system. The university has written to all staff, nor just those owed money, outlining the problem and assuring them it is fixed.

As super payment mistakes go the record is still held by the University of Wollongong, which discovered last year it had got superannuation payments wrong for 30 per cent of staff over eight years. The problem involved both under and over payments with a make-good cost of $10m (CMM April 6 2017).