| Terminology | Definition |
|---|---|
| Act | SASS's governing statute, the State Authorities Superannuation Act 1987. |
| Additional Benefit | The Additional Benefit is payable to a member who has Additional Benefit cover on exiting the scheme due to total and permanent invalidity or death prior to the early retirement age. |
| Additional Benefit levy | The amount deducted from a contributor's account for Additional Benefit cover. The levy is payable by the insured member up to the retirement age. |
| Additional Employer Contribution (AEC) | An accumulation style benefit which is contributed to monthly by employers. Only members whose employment after 30 June 2013 was subject to NSW Public Sector Wages Policy are eligible for AECs. As a contributory member the accumulated value of AECs plus investment earnings form the Additional Employer Contribution account, the balance of which is payable as lump sum benefit at exit. If a benefit is deferred, the AEC account is rolled into the basic benefit account and will, from that time on, form part of the deferred basic benefit account. |
| Annual Benefit Statement | The Annual Benefit Statement shows members their accrued benefit entitlements in SASS, and is generally issued around October each year. |
| Attributed salary |
Attributed salary means: - for a full-time employee, their salary - for a part-time employee, the equivalent full-time salary for the employee's position. |
| Basic benefit | The productivity-type superannuation benefits accrued by SASS members in addition to their contributory scheme benefits. The basic benefit is calculated at 3% of final average salary or final salary, depending on the mode of exit, for each year of service from 1 April 1988. It is fully employer financed. |
| Contributor | An employee who contributes to SASS. |
| Contributor-financed benefit | The part of a benefit financed by employee contributions and investment earnings. |
| Contribution rate | The rate varies between 1% and 9% of the employee's superable salary, depending on the employee's nominated contribution rate. |
| Defined benefit | The benefit based on a member's final or final average salary upon exit from employment. The formula for calculating a defined benefit may (as in the case of SASS) also take into account the member's length of membership and level of contributions made. |
| Deferring a benefit |
A member who exits the scheme prior to early retirement age may choose to defer the SASS benefit and is generally required to defer the basic benefit. Deferring a benefit allows the member to receive a lump-sum benefit payable at or after 55 years of age (if permanently retired from the workforce), on total and permanent invalidity, or on death (payable to a surviving spouse or partner). |
| Early retirement age | The age at which retirement benefits are payable (generally 58 years). Some employees have their retirement age at 55. Members should refer to their Annual Benefit Statement to determine their early retirement age. |
| Employer-financed benefit | The part of a benefit that is financed by employer contributions (unless specified otherwise this does not include the Additional Employer Contribution benefit). |
| Entry date | The date that the employee's election to contribute to SASS took effect. |
| Exit date | The date that the employee ceases employment with an employer. |
| Final salary | The amount of annual superable salary payable to an employee on their exit date. |
| Final average salary | The average of the annual superable salaries paid to an employee on their exit date and on 31 December for the preceding two years. |
| LWOP | Leave without pay. |
| Member number | Each member has a unique superannuation number that does not change for their period of continuous membership with SASS or SANCS. |
| Mercer | Mercer, the contracted scheme administrator for SASS. |
| Retrenchment |
Where a member's service with an employer is compulsorily terminated, or the member accepts an offer of retrenchment on the grounds that: - the employer no longer requires the member's services and, on termination of that service, does not propose to fill the member's position - the work that the member was engaged to perform is completed - the amount of work that the employer requires to be performed has diminished and it is necessary for the employer to reduce the total number of employees. |
| Salary | For SASS purposes, the annual base amount paid to an employee, including or excluding amounts or certain allowances as specified in the Act. |
| Salary sacrifice | The contribution deducted from an employee's salary before income tax is deducted. This type of contribution is categorised as a concessional contribution. |
| Salary ratio | The ratio of the part-time salary to the full-time salary (that is, part-time salary divided by full-time salary). The salary ratio for full-time employees is 1 and the salary ratio for part-time employees is less than 1. |
| SANCS | The State Authorities Non-contributory Superannuation Scheme, which includes the basic benefit and where applicable, any Additional Employer Contributions, Commonwealth Government co-contributions and LISTO. |
| SES employees | Senior Executive Service employees. |
| Shortfall benefit | See Superannuation Guarantee (SG) benefits. |
| STC | The SAS Trustee Corporation (the Scheme Trustee) as constituted by the Superannuation Administration Act 1996. |
| Superannuation Guarantee (SG) benefits | Since 1 July 1992, the scheme administrator has automatically increased members' employer-financed benefits, where necessary, to meet Commonwealth SG requirements – that is, to avoid a shortfall in the provision of at least the required minimum employer-financed benefits. |
| Spouse or partner | The spouse or partner of a deceased SASS member or pensioner may be entitled to a benefit from the scheme on the death of the member or pensioner. A spouse may be the widow or widower of the deceased, or a de facto partner, including a partner of the same sex. Conditions apply to the payment of benefits to a de facto partner or spouse of a deceased pensioner. |
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