A SSS pension is payable on:
- early voluntary retirement between the age of 55 and 60
- normal retirement (age 60 for most members, but age 55 for female members contributing to retire at this age)
- invalidity
- retrenchment.
A pension may also be paid to:
- an eligible spouse or de facto partner of a deceased member
- a dependent child or children of the deceased member or spouse of the deceased.
Pension payments
To assist you with the planning of your bills around your fortnightly pension payments State Super has created a pension pay day calendar, which you can download at your convenience.
Your pension will be adjusted each year in accordance with the percentage movement in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) (All Groups Index). For more information, please refer to CPI adjustment of your pension.
Communications to our pension members
If you are under age 60, State Super will send you a PAYG payment summary, which you will need to include with your annual income tax return. For more information, please refer to PAYG payment summary.
All pension members will receive a Pensioner Details Confirmation form in October each year that you must complete and return to Mercer within four weeks. If you do not return the form within the required timeframe and we are unable to contact you, your pension may be suspended.
Completing this form each year reduces the risk of pension overpayments and helps State Super locate potential reversionary beneficiaries.
State Super has a responsibility to protect the assets held in trust for current and future beneficiaries. This includes implementing necessary procedures to ensure, as far as possible, that pensions are paid only to those entitled to them and cease to be paid when a pension member passes away.
Pension suspension
If your pension is suspended, it will be reinstated when Mercer receives a completed Pensioner Details Confirmation form. You will receive pension arrears for the period that your pension was suspended.
If you will be away from home during October in any year, it is important that you let us know in advance by contacting Customer Service on 1300 652 113.
Change of contact or banking details
To minimise the risk of overpayment, State Super will suspend pension payments if any correspondence sent to a pension member is returned unclaimed and we are unable to contact the member. It is therefore important that you notify State Super of any changes to your contact details, including your residential address and telephone numbers.
If your contact details have changed, please complete Pension Form 301: Change of contact details. If your banking details have changed or will soon change, please complete STC Form 207: Change of personal and banking details.
Spouse or de facto pension entitlements after full commutation by an SSS member
If you are the spouse or de facto partner of an SSS pension member who had fully commuted their pension entitlement, you will still be entitled to a reversionary pension. Under the scheme rules, a reversionary beneficiary is entitled to a pension at the rate of two-thirds of the pension the deceased member would have been receiving at the time of their death. The pension entitlement is payable regardless of whether the scheme member commuted their pension.