NORTHERN TERRITORY TREASURY NORTHERN TERRITORY SUPERANNUATION OFFICE Northern

NORTHERN TERRITORY TREASURY NORTHERN TERRITORY SUPERANNUATION OFFICE Northern Territory Government Death & Invalidity Scheme

Topics § What is NTGDIS? § Why was it introduced? § Who is eligible? § How the benefits are determined § Medical declarations § Invalidity retirement § Responsibilities

What is NTGDIS? § Free Northern Territory Government Death and Invalidity Scheme. § Administered by the NT Superannuation Office. § Applies to all eligible Public Sector employees who commenced after 9 August 1999. § Payable to eligible employees/dependants upon invalidity retirement or death.

Why was it introduced? § To provide equality for all NT Public Sector employees regardless of their superannuation arrangements. § NTGPASS members already have this level of cover however this scheme was closed to new members in 1999. § The NTPS 2004 -2007 certified agreement of 21 January 2005 provided for its implementation. § The Scheme commenced 1 July 2007 with transitional arrangements for employees who commenced before this date.

Who is Eligible? • Permanent employees who are not members of CSS or NTGPASS and are under 60 years of age. • Temporary and Contract employees who have at least 6 months continuous employment. • Casual employees are not eligible. • A benefit is payable if the employee is retired on the grounds of invalidity, or dies leaving dependants while employed by the NT Government.

How the benefit is calculated • NTGDIS benefit is determined by age and salary, and calculated using the formula 17. 5% x years of prospective service to age 65 x final salary. • Contract Executives - Benefit calculated using ‘superannuation salary’, i. e. 65% of total salary package. • Parliamentarians - Calculated on the basic backbencher salary plus the salary for any additional office held at the time of death or invalidity.

Benefit Offsets and Reductions Benefits are not paid: • After ceasing employment with the NT Public Sector. • If the employee dies without any dependants. • After reaching age 60. Benefits are reduced: • After age 50. • By any worker’s compensation payments or Hopkins agreements. • If a pre-existing medical condition (RBC) causes death or invalidity within the first 10 years of cover.

Medical Declarations • Must be completed by eligible new employees. • All medical declarations are assessed by the NT Medical Advisor to determine if there is a pre-existing medical condition. • An employee may be directed to attend a medical examination. • The employee is considered to be on duty whilst at the medical examination.

What is an RBC? • An RBC is a Reduced Benefit Classification Certificate. • Issued where an employee is assessed as having a medical condition which poses a significant risk of invalidity retirement or death within the first 10 years of employment. • If an employee does not complete a medical declaration, they will be issued with a blanket RBC. • Where an employee dies or retires on invalidity grounds during the first 10 years of employment and the retirement/death is due to a condition specified in the RBC, any benefit will be reduced.

Invalidity Retirement If the agency believes an employee should be retired on the grounds of invalidity – which is defined in the Superannuation Act as: “…. physically or mentally so incapacitated that the member is (or was) unfit for any available employment (on a full-time or part-time basis) for which the member is reasonably qualified by education, training or experience. ” then the agency will need to have the employee medically assessed using the same process that is used for NTGPASS or CSS members.

Agency Responsibility • Ensure new employees are aware of NTGDIS. • If the Medical Adviser has requested an employee attend a medical examination the agency is responsible for paying the invoice/account. • Ensure invoices for medicals are paid in accordance with agency standards.

NT Super Office Responsibility • Administer NTGDIS. • Follow up missing/incomplete medical declarations. • Provide information to employees. • Issue RBC’s. • Process NTGDIS benefits.

Questions?