Police has announced its intention to change the scheme rules to give you flexibility around what percentage of your pay, if any, you contribute to the scheme. The changes will only apply to recruits and constabulary members. The default rate will remain 7.5% of salary, so you won’t need to do anything if you want your contributions to continue as they are now. The changes require approval from the Financial Markets Authority and the trust deed will need to be updated. Police intends to have these changes in place in early 2025. We will be in touch then to let you know how to change your contributions if you wish. Mercer’s financial advice team will be available to help you work through your options. In the meantime, please contact your Payroll Officer if you have questions about the changes.

Mercer, our administration manager, has moved to a login system that uses a combination of a password of your choosing and the email address Mercer has on file. The first time you log in to your account, you’ll be asked to follow a once-only authentication process. First, you’ll be asked to enter your member number, date of birth and the email address you have registered with PSS (your QID email, another Police email or your personal email). Then, you’ll be prompted to set up your security methods: email, password and mobile phone number. This allows for multi-factor authentication which provides an additional layer of security. For example, if you attempt to log in from a new device, we’ll send a verification code by email or SMS just to make sure it’s you. Contact the helpline if you have trouble with the authentication process.

The last payment date for benefits for 2024 will be Friday 13 December. You need to factor this in if you are planning to withdraw money over the holidays. This applies to all benefits including partial withdrawals, first-home benefits, leaving service payments, significant financial hardship payments and withdrawals from retained member accounts. For a pre-Christmas payment, Mercer needs to receive the completed form from you (or Payroll in the case of leaving service payments) by Friday 6 December. At this point, a pre-Christmas payment may not be possible if you have a charge registered against your super. Investment changes requested and regular payments for retained members will be processed as usual. The helpline will also operate as usual over the holiday period.

Mercer’s financial advice team will be working until Friday 20 December and then taking a break until Monday 6 January. They will respond to any call-back requests submitted during the holiday period on their return.

It's been widely reported in the New Zealand media that cost of living pressures have seen a rise in the number of significant financial hardship applications from KiwiSaver members. We’ve noticed a similar trend.

As you know, you can use your savings as security for a loan with the Police and Families Credit Union or other lender. If you do, a charge is registered against your account. This gives the lender the option of having any outstanding balance repaid at the time you make a withdrawal from the scheme. When you apply for a benefit, Mercer contacts the lender. The lender assesses the security of the loan and either authorises Mercer to process the payment or contacts you if an amount needs to be repaid or retained in your account as security. If there’s a charge against your account, Mercer needs to follow this process whether or not you have repaid the loan. Expect your payment to be delayed by up to a week while the charge matter gets sorted.

You’ll be aware that, after 3 years’ membership of the scheme, you are entitled to make partial withdrawals from your member’s account subject to certain limits. There is a second benefit still in play that was introduced before the partial withdrawal facility. The in-service benefit allows you to make one withdrawal from your member’s account on reaching age 45 and/or 20 years’ service. However, the limits on these withdrawals are intertwined – they apply across both benefits. Our current policy is that each amount you withdraw under these benefits will be expressed as a percentage of the total amount available on the occasion of that withdrawal. When the aggregate sum of all withdrawals under these benefits reaches 100%, subsequent withdrawals are limited to 5% of your member’s account balance each year. For example, if you meet the criteria for an in-service benefit and have previously made partial withdrawals totalling 60% of your member’s account balance, the most you could withdraw as an in-service benefit is 40% of your member’s account balance.

Predicting returns over a single year is always fraught, as demonstrated by Mercer’s periodic table of investment returns. Produced each year, the table colour codes 16 major asset classes and ranks how each performed on an annual basis over the last 10 years. The table illustrates the adage that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns. Let’s look at a couple of examples: New Zealand equities and global equities.

The volatility experienced this year is not unusual or extreme by historical standards. For example, in March 2020, share prices as measured by the S&P 500 index jumped by as much as 9.38% in single day and fell as much as 11.98%. Sharemarkets move in broad cycles known as bull and bear markets. A bull market is when share prices are generally rising and investors are optimistic. A bear market is when share prices are generally falling and investor sentiment turns negative. The trouble is that it’s very difficult to predict when these cycles will begin and end.

You can change your investment choice online by signing in to your account or downloading a form from our website. You can choose one (or more) of five investment options, each with a different mix of assets, or Super Steps where the mix of investments changes automatically based on your age. You can choose a different strategy for your current account balances and for future contributions (unless you select Super Steps where this doesn’t apply). Make sure you read this part of the form carefully and double check your choices before you submit the change online or send in the completed form.

We will pay your benefit to your legally nominated personal representative(s) if you die while you are an active member of PSS or while you are entitled to a deferred benefit from the scheme. ‘Personal representative’ means the person(s) granted probate (where the deceased left a will) or letters of administration (where the deceased did not leave a will).

With the support of the Commissioner and service organisations, we've amended the trust deed to allow members to access their savings from age 65 while still in service.

PSS offers all members (including retained members) access to a limited financial advice service provided by Mercer. Its financial advice team can help with questions about PSS and KiwiSaver, choosing the best investment option for your circumstances, saving for a first home, managing your PSS funds in retirement and more. The team can provide specific advice in relation to your savings in PSS and general information on other types of financial products.

It’s never too early – or too late – to start planning for retirement. The Financial Services Council’s retirement planning guide might be a useful starting point to help get you thinking about how you might create an income in retirement.

You’re eligible for employer contributions while on parental leave and some other kinds of leave without pay. You just need to pay the member contributions you’ve missed. For most members, Police contributes around $1.35 (after tax) for every dollar you make up, so it’s well worth making up your contributions if you can. 

The scheme is a popular way of salting away extra cash either for a first home or for retirement. Around one in 10 members choose to make additional voluntary contributions which totalled more than $4 million last year. You can make additional voluntary contributions of between 1% and 10% of salary. Complete the following form and return it to Payroll.

• Constabulary members: voluntary contributions form
• Non-constabulary members and savings contributors: vary contributions form

Regulations mean that we can’t accept contributions from retained members.

Most PSS members are also in KiwiSaver. Many choose to take a savings suspension, but still top up their KiwiSaver account by $1,042.86 each year (around $20 a week), so they qualify for the full government contribution of $521.43. If you’re not already in KiwiSaver, there’s nothing to stop you joining so you can take advantage of this extra money from the government. However, you will have to contribute 3% of your salary for a year before you can take a savings suspension. Read more about PSS and KiwiSaver.

We can only pay benefits into an account in your name. This means we cannot pay benefits into family trust accounts, business accounts or accounts in someone else’s name. That’s why we need to ask for supporting evidence of your bank account details when you make a withdrawal, and it also helps prevent a slip-up in transcribing your account number. The evidence needs to show the name the account is in and the bank account number. The simplest way is to take a screenshot from your internet banking or a photocopy of the top of a bank statement or ask your bank to print and sign a verification of account slip. Once Mercer has this information on file, you won’t need to provide it again unless you change your account. This extra step is designed to help protect members against fraud. It’s also required by our auditor.