Membership and contribution options
As a Senior Executive Service (SES) member you have a number of membership and contribution options. You can:
- continue your contributory membership.
- cease your contributory membership and defer your benefit with SASS for payment at a later date. If you cease your contributory membership you will still be required to pay, as a minimum, your employer's cost of SG contributions.
- cease your contributory membership and rollover your lump sum to a complying superannuation fund, approved deposit fund (ADF) or retirement savings account (RSA) of your choice. If you cease your contributory membership you will still be required to pay, as a minimum, your employer's cost of SG contributions.
If you defer your benefit with SASS you will not be eligible to rejoin the scheme as a contributory member at a later date. A deferred benefit is payable from the SASS early retirement age (55), provided you have ceased the employment that gave rise to the deferred benefit, or upon earlier death or total and permanent disability.
Pension rights are generally not retained if you defer your benefit with SASS or roll over your benefit.
You can elect at any time to cease your contributory membership of SASS and defer your benefit or roll over your benefit while you remain an SES officer. Additionally, if you cease your contributory membership and elect to defer your benefit with SASS, you can at any time roll over your deferred benefit to a complying superannuation fund, ADF or RSA.
If you elect to defer your benefit with SASS or roll over your benefit within 12 months of your SES appointment, the salary used to calculate your benefit will be the salary paid prior to your appointment as an SES officer. However, if you have been an SES officer for more than 12 months, your deferred benefit or the amount you can roll over will be calculated on your nominated superable salary.
Calculation of superable salary
You are required to meet, from your package, your employer's liability for the superannuation benefits that you accrue during your SES service. This liability is known as the employer oncost and is deducted from your before-tax income. It is additional to your personal (employee) contributions.
The employer oncost liability is a percentage of your superable salary. Therefore, the actual dollar amount of your oncost liability will depend on your superable salary figure.
For information on how to calculate your oncost liability, please refer to STC Fact Sheet 8: Calculation of superable salary and oncost liability and membership options for members of the chief and senior executive service (SES). Alternatively, your payroll office will be able to assist you in calculating your employer oncost liability. The Fact Sheet also provides information on:
- membership and contribution options
- the formula for calculating superable salary and oncost liability
- the option to salary sacrifice personal contributions
- new superannuation tax rules from 1 July 2007.
There is also further information about your scheme membership in the SES Guidelines, which are located on the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet's website.
Deferred members
If you are a public sector executive who deferred their benefit without ceasing employment, you are not entitled to an immediate lump sum benefit at any time. However, you can elect to have the actuarially calculated transfer value of your deferred benefit rolled over to another superannuation scheme at any time while you remain an executive officer.
From age 55, an application for a deferred benefit can be made after you have ceased employment with the public sector employer that gave rise to the deferred benefit.