Welcome to the September edition of Mercer’s Public Sector eNewsletter.

Mercer has recently released its report Securing Retirement Incomes: Risks and opportunities for Australia’s retirement income system, which addresses many of the risks and opportunities in the current system. In this interactive flipbook of the report, we offer further thoughts and recommendations, as well as those of the industry’s leading experts.

View the flipbook.

The Commonwealth Government has recently released its Review of Pension Indexation (Matthews Report) which looks at pension indexation arrangements for Australian government civilian and military superannuation schemes. While the scope of the report was limited to Commonwealth superannuants, the findings and recommendations are relevant to all public sector schemes that pay indexed pensions.

Read article.

A recent High Court case has resulted in the surcharge assessments for a member of three constitutionally protected funds being overturned.

Read summary.

Many members have unrealistic expectations about the level of income their super will provide them with in retirement. Many funds provide useful on-line calculator tools to help with this, however the reality is that this member engagement is often less than it should be to really assist understanding. Sending personalised forecasts to members could also help, however currently this is considered personal financial advice under Corporations Law, which means that statements of advice and fact finding is required. ASIC has released its Regulatory Guide on Intrafund advice and further guidance is expected soon. What are the likely changes and how can funds be prepared?

Read article.

David Knox Worldwide Partner Mercer +61 3 9623 5464 send an email

Martin Stevenson Worldwide Partner Mercer +61 2 8864 6818 send an email