For members of the Defined Benefit Division and Accumulation 2, salary and service fraction can be of great importance for insurance and benefit purposes. UniSA allows employees in these divisions to enter a ‘Super maintenance arrangement’ in certain circumstances.
A purchased leave arrangement is effectively taking unpaid leave, and spreading the cost over the life of the agreement. Although this doesn’t impact the service fraction UniSA records for you, it does reduce the service fraction that we report for super purposes. This is because both the member and employer contributions to your super are reduced by the reduction in your fortnightly pay.
Entering a super maintenance agreement before your purchased leave agreement commences allows you to maintain your service fraction by making additional contributions to offset the reduction in your member and employer contributions.
Your Super Consultant can help you understand what a super maintenance contribution would be based on your proposed purchased leave arrangement.
A reduction in your salary can impact your retirement and inbuilt benefits through the Defined Benefit Division, as the salary forms part of the formula for these benefits.
If you are in this situation, you have some options available:
Elections to maintain your salary at a pre-reduction level must be accepted by the Super Consultant prior to the reduction in your salary occurring.
You may need to speak to UniSuper to understand the impact that each option may have on your super benefits.
Please contact the Super Consultant if you would like to know more about how to enter an agreement.