Superannuation

Overview

Refer to the Policy and Guidelines tab.

Related policies

• Remuneration — Teaching Service
• Salary Packing — Teaching Service
• SuperStream — Updating Choice of Superannuation

Contact information

• Contact HR

Policy and Guidelines

Superannuation

The following information relating to superannuation is available in this tab under these chapters:

• General
• Information in relation to current employees
• Employee contributions whilst on leave without pay
• Cessation of employment
• Employees with previous membership of an ESSS Scheme
• Information in relation to new employees, including Choice of Fund

General

The information provided here is general information only to assist principals, managers and employees in understanding their obligations and responsibilities relating to superannuation.

All employees are required to be a member of a superannuation fund to which the Department or school council, as the employer, must make Superannuation Guarantee (SG) contributions. The information provided here applies to department employees who are paid on the department's central payroll system and school council employees who are paid on the School Local Payroll module on eduPay.

Comprehensive superannuation information, particularly concerning an individual’s situation, should be obtained from the fund of which the employee is a member.

The superannuation arrangements for an employee will generally be determined by the commencement date of their current period of employment as follows:

• a person whose employment commenced prior to 1 January 1994 is likely to be a member of a defined benefits scheme, such as the Revised, New or State Employment Retirement Benefits (SERB) Schemes. These superannuation schemes are administered by Emergency Services and State Super (ESSSuper)
• an employee whose current employment commenced on or after 1 January 1994 has the opportunity to nominate a complying accumulation fund of their choice for Superannuation Guarantee (SG) contributions

The department is required to offer eligible employees the opportunity to choose a complying superannuation fund to which they wish to direct their employer’s SGC contributions ( refer to the chapter Information in relation to new employees, including Choice of Fund for more information). Employees are advised to obtain appropriate financial advice when considering their options in relation to choosing a fund.

An employee is required to provide their superannuation choice details, however where an employee does not provide superannuation details the department will firstly attempt to 'staple' their fund from ATO data, if no result is received enrolment will be directed to the default super product - Aware Super Future Saver (formerly VicSuper FutureSaver) with Aware Super Pty Ltd.

Information in relation to current employees

Employees who are members of the Emergency Services and State Super (ESSSuper) defined benefit funds are to contact ESSSuper for information about their fund, entitlements and other enquiries.

Employees who are members of an accumulation fund are to contact their superannuation fund for further information.

Superable salary for those in ESSSuper Defined Benefit schemes

Executive Officers and employees in the executive class and principal class in defined benefit schemes have their salary for superannuation purposes specified in their contract of employment. The Department provides ESSSuper with this information to enable the calculation of the member's contribution rate.

The superannuation salary for all other employees in defined benefit funds is determined in accordance with the relevant superannuation legislative provisions based upon the ordinary salary they receive and allowances as determined by ESSSuper, which currently include:

• higher duties (after it has been paid for at least 12 months)
• salary maintenance
• special school allowance (teachers)
• regular earnings leave purchase allowance (education support class)
• intensive care allowance (education support class)
• special payment (after it has been paid for at least 12 months)
• gratuity

Updates to the superable salary for all employees in the defined benefit funds occurs once per year from the first pay in a new financial year based on your salary and eligible allowances at 1 May earlier that year. The superable salary is used to calculate your employee contributions.

Salary sacrificing to superannuation

Employees have the opportunity to salary sacrifice contributions to a superannuation fund. For full terms and conditions regarding these arrangements, employees should contact the fund of which they are a member.

Teaching service employees are required to salary package through the Department's salary packaging provider - (refer to Salary Packaging — Teaching Service).

Public Service employees may record any salary sacrifice for superannuation directly on eduPay self-service. Refer to the Enter or Update Superannuation Details help document on eduGate.

Employee contributions whilst on leave without pay

An employee who is a member of a defined benefit scheme administered by Emergency Services and State Super (ESSSuper) who takes leave without pay (LWOP) for any purpose should contact their fund for advice.

Members of an accumulation fund, such as Aware Super Future Saver, should contact the fund prior to taking leave without pay to determine what action, if any, should be taken with regard to their contributions.

Cessation of employment

Emergency Services and State Super (ESSSuper) is automatically notified electronically following an employee's cessation based on details processed on eduPay. It is the responsibility of the employee to contact ESSSuper to make suitable arrangements concerning their superannuation entitlements when employment has ceased.

A cessation retrospectively recorded on the payroll will not be advised to ESSSuper and manual cessation information may need to be provided to ESSSuper on request from the fund.

Employees with previous membership of an ESSS scheme

Where a new employee of the Department is a member of a scheme administered by Emergency Services and State Super (ESSSuper) immediately prior to joining the department and there is no break in employment between the previous government organisation or the department, the new employee may retain their membership of that scheme.

Where a person is re-employed with a break in service of one working day or longer, their membership of the scheme will be terminated. ESSSuper makes decisions on fund membership in these circumstances.

Information in relation to new employees, including Choice of Fund

The Department or school council, as the employer, is required to offer employees the opportunity to choose the superannuation fund to which they wish to direct the employer superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions.

Superannuation entries are recorded by the employee directly on eduPay using self-service as part of their onboarding process completed at the time of hire or rehire.

Access to record superannuation is available on provision of login information prior to actual commencement of employment. However, in the rare circumstance, where an employee is unable to access Employee Self Servcie and record their superannuation details the following applies:

• for Department employees a Choice of Superannuation fund form is available under the Resources tab
• for school council employees on the School Local Payroll use the link to the ATO form and include the school council details as the employer

Resources

Procedures and forms

• Superannuation — Administration Procedures (Word)

Employees are to add or update their superannuation requirements via Employee Self Service (ESS). The following choice form is only required where access to ESS is not available (refer to eduPay and eduPay Help):

• Choice of Fund form for Department employees
• Choice of Fund form for school council employees paid on the School Local Payroll

Superannuation funds

• Emergency Services and State Super
• Aware Super - Aware Super Future Saver (formerly VicSuper FutureSaver) (department default fund)

Victorian Public Sector Commission

The Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) manages executive remuneration and employment policy for the Victorian Public Service. Information about executive remuneration and conditions, including superannuation, is available from the VPSC Public Sector Executive Remuneration Policy

Australian Taxation Office

The website of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) provides detailed information to assist employees in relation to their superannuation, in particular choosing a fund, and to help employers meet their superannuation obligations. The following may be of assistance:

For employees

• general superannuation information for individuals

For school councils, as employers

• general superannuation information for employers
• superannuation standard choice form (only used where access to ESS is not available as indicated above)