Normal retirement benefits
If you retire at 60 or later, you have the choice of taking your benefit as:
- an indexed fortnightly pension
- a lump sum payment
- a combination of both.
Pension
The pension benefit is a percentage of your annual salary of office (superable salary) at the time you retire. If you work part time, your superable salary is the equivalent full-time (or attributed) salary. If you have completed 30 years of service or more, the pension is equal to 72.75% of your superable salary. The approximate percentages for periods of service less than 30 years are outlined in Table 1 of PSS Fact Sheet 3: Benefits on normal retirement.
The pension rates above are reduced to offset a 15% tax payable on your employer's contribution. Refer to the contributions tax section for further information.
Lump sum payment
You may elect to commute all or part of your pension to a lump sum. If you elect to receive all of your retirement benefit as a lump sum instead of a pension, the lump sum payable is your superable salary at the time of your retirement, multiplied by the relevant factor in Table 2 of PSS Fact Sheet 3: Benefits on normal retirement. If you elect to receive part of your benefit as a lump sum and the rest as a pension, the lump sum is calculated proportionately.
An election to take a lump sum must be made no later than six months after you retire. Commuting a pension to a lump sum takes effect from your retirement date, and any pension that may be paid to you between your retirement date and the day the lump sum is paid to you is deducted from the lump sum. If you do not elect to take a lump sum within six months of your last day of service, your benefit will be paid as a pension only.
Benefits payable on the death of a retired PSS member
On the death of a retired PSS member, a spouse pension is payable only to an eligible person (which includes a de facto partner and may include a same sex partner) and only where the scheme member elected to receive a pension. The partial commutation of a member's pension reduces a spouse's pension entitlement on a proportional basis. A spouse or de facto partner's pension is not payable where the member exchanged the whole of their pension entitlement for a lump sum.
Please refer to PSS Fact Sheet 3: Benefits on normal retirement for more information.