6 February 2024 | Open PDF
Term 1 2024 Women’s e-news
This term, there are two items of interest that you might like to report to branches and Area Councils in your role as a QTU Women’s Contact.
- Superannuation – Quarterly hot topic
- Keeping in touch (KIT) days
Superannuation – Quarterly hot topic: Understanding retirement age
Members might like to start the year with a better understanding of their potential retirement age.
Please see some information below from QSuper. This article/page, which explains when someone can access super, was one of the fund’s most engaged with pieces last month. Always a good topic to raise.
What is the retirement age in Australia?
While there is no fixed retirement age in Australia, there are a few things you should consider before leaving the workforce, such as when you can access your super and the age pension. You can find out more about retirement age on the QSuper website.
When can you access your super?
When deciding on what age to retire, it's important to understand some of the rules around when you can legally access your super. Generally:
- If you're age 65 or over, you can access your super, even if you're still working. Keep in mind that if you hold a Defined Benefit account, there are some important considerations before you access your super when you are still working.
- If you're over age 59 and under 65, you can access your super as long as you're permanently retired.
You can find out more about accessing your super on the QSuper Website.
Keeping in touch (KIT) days
For those who are not aware, KIT days are provided for in the Queensland Industrial Relations Act 2016 (QIRA). Their purpose is to enable the employee to “keep in touch” with their employer, to facilitate a return to work after the end of a period of parental leave. These days are often used to attend planning days, professional development, student-free days, or other agreed activities that will support the employee’s return, in keeping with the purpose of KIT. The days are arranged and agreed to between the employee and the employer, for example a teacher and their principal. Employees are paid their normal wage and they accumulate leave entitlements for each KIT day or part day. Employees must be on unpaid parental leave from the department to be eligible for KIT days.
Some changes to the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 (Cwlth) (the Commonwealth Act) regarding eligibility for Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave (CPPL) have led to some confusion about keeping in touch (KIT) days. To be clear, KIT days still exist, they have not disappeared.
However, members should be familiar with the changes to the Commonwealth Act, as these will affect how they are paid their CPPL if they choose to work a KIT day. The changes impact upon parents of children born or adopted after 1 July 2023.
As a result of the changes to the Commonwealth Act, employees eligible for CPPL will no longer be able to receive payment for a KIT day on the same day as receiving a CPPL payment. Eligibility for each day of CPPL now includes a requirement for a person to be “caring for the child on that day” and performing “no more than one hour of paid work on that day”. Essentially, this means that if an employee is paid for a KIT day, as they should be under the QIRA, then they cannot receive CPPL on that day. They are either working a KIT day or receiving a CPPL payment for that day, not both.
KIT days still exist, and are a positive and important part of returning to work for many employees following a period of parental leave. The changes just mean that the way CPPL is paid will be different. This does not mean that employees then lose eligibility for CPPL, it just means their ongoing CPPL payments will be administered differently, i.e. through Services Australia, rather than through the department.
Interested members should read more about this in the updated QTU “Parental leave” advice brochure.
Gillian Crotty
QTU Assistant Secretary - Women’s Coordinator, Social Welfare Issues
Authorised by Kate Ruttiman, General Secretary, Queensland Teachers' Union
21 Graham Street, Milton, QLD, Australia, 4064