The system we use to manage your pension is changing
We’re always looking for ways to enhance the pension products you’ve come to know and trust.
And it’s important to us that we’re providing you with the best member experience, now and in the future—that’s why we’re changing the system we use to manage our pension accounts.
There will be some changes to your pension account as a result, and these will come into effect from 31 October 2022.
Freeze period
There will be a brief freeze period while we transfer your pension account to our new administration system, beginning 2pm on Tuesday, 25 October 2022 for investment switches and 5pm on Thursday, 27 October 2022 for other transactions, and ending at 9am on Wednesday, 2 November 2022.
Any requests to make changes to your pension account that are received during the freeze period will start to be addressed after 9am on Wednesday, 2 November. These requests won’t be backdated and will be treated as though they were received at 9am on 2 November. We recommend you plan ahead to ensure we receive any change requests before the freeze period begins at 2pm on Tuesday, 25 October. We treat a paper form as received when the request is entered into our administration system, not when you email it and not when it arrives to us by post.
Don’t worry—you’ll still receive your chosen income payments during the freeze period.
Head to unisuper.com.au/pensionupdates to learn more about the freeze period.
The changes
Application of investment returns
Affects: Flexi Pension and Term Allocated Pension members
We’ll apply investment returns to your account as a transaction half-yearly following 30 June and 31 December, or when you make a switch or withdrawal—rather than monthly. We know peace of mind makes a big difference when it comes to your investments, so we’ll enhance your online account to provide you with the estimated investment returns for each of your investment options since your returns were last applied as a transaction. These estimated returns are included in your estimated account balance.
Your current investments won’t change, and there won’t be any financial impacts.
Investment drawdown order
Affects: Flexi Pension and Term Allocated Pension members
If you’ve nominated the order of investment options that your income and lump sum payments are drawn from (‘Your choice’ drawdown method), once these options have been fully exhausted, the default order will apply until you make a new choice.
Specific income amount
Affects: Flexi Pension and Term Allocated Pension members
Currently, you must choose how much you’d like to be paid as an annual amount. Moving forward, if you’d like to be paid a specific income amount, you’ll have to choose the amount you want to receive per payment. So, if you want $12,000 per year, you’d choose $1,000 per month. You’ll notice changes to our forms and your online account that display this change.
Your current income payment amount won’t change unless you request a change.
Your pension number
Affects: Flexi Pension, Term Allocated Pension and Indexed Pension members
Each pension account you hold will receive a new account number, replacing your existing pension number. You’ll also receive a member number that all your UniSuper accounts will be linked to—but if you already have an active super account with us, this will be your current member number.
We’ll let you know what your new account details are in November. If you need to change or update your pension account but haven’t received your new account number yet, you’ll be able to use your old pension number. If you’re a Flexi Pension or Term Allocated Pension member, you’ll be able to log into your online account by Monday, 31 October to find your new account number (and member number).
Your personal details
Affects: Flexi Pension, Term Allocated Pension and Indexed Pension members
Any updates you make to your personal details like your name, residential address or email address will be maintained at a member level—changes will apply to each account you hold, so you won’t have to update each one individually. That means less time spent on account admin, and more time spent enjoying your retirement.
If you have more than one account, remember to check and update your details so they’re consistent across all accounts before 5pm on 27 October. If some of your details are different across your accounts, we’ll update them to reflect the most recent details we have for you.
Administration fee deduction date
Affects: Flexi Pension and Term Allocated Pension members (excluding Transition to Retirement [TTR] members)
We’ll deduct your administration fee from your account at the end of each month or on exit, rather than on the 19th day of each month. The amount of the administration fee isn’t changing, just the date we deduct it. There’s also no impact to the asset-based administration fee, which is deducted from your account on a six-monthly basis and on exit.
Read your member letter
We’re sending affected members a letter by post that explains the changes in detail, depending on your pension type. You should receive your copy shortly if you haven’t already.
You can download the letter at any time:
- Letter for Flexi Pension and Term Allocated Pension members (PDF, 77KB)
- Letter for Commercial Rate Indexed Pension and Defined Benefit Indexed Pension members (PDF, 57KB)
We’re here to help
We understand you may have questions about these changes. You can visit unisuper.com.au/pensionupdates for more information including FAQs, or if you’d prefer to speak to someone about these changes, please call 1800 331 685 or email enquiry@unisuper.com.au.