Western Australian Consolidated Acts

STATE SUPERANNUATION REGULATIONS 2001 - SECT 47A

47A .         Early release of benefit — severe financial hardship or a compassionate ground

        (1)         A Gold State Super Member may apply to the Board for the early release of all or part of the Member’s benefit —

            (a)         if the Member is in severe financial hardship; or

            (b)         on a compassionate ground.

        (2)         On receipt of an application under subregulation (1) the Board is to determine whether, in the Board’s opinion, if the SIS Regulations applied, the Member would be taken for the purposes of those regulations —

            (a)         to be in severe financial hardship; or

            (b)         to satisfy a condition of release on a compassionate ground.

        (3)         If the Board determines that subregulation (2)(a) or (b) applies to the Member, the Board is also to determine the maximum amount that the SIS Regulations would permit to be paid to the Member in those circumstances.

        (4)         When the Board has made a determination under subregulation (3), it is to pay the Member a benefit of an amount equal to the least of the following —

            (a)         the amount applied for by the Member;

            (b)         the amount determined by the Board under subregulation (3);

            (c)         the Member’s discounted benefit.

        (5)         A Member making an application under subregulation (1) must give to the Board all the information required to enable it to make the determinations required under this regulation.

        (6)         When a benefit is paid under this regulation the Board is to determine, on the advice of an actuary, the consequent reduction that is to be made to —

            (a)         any benefit subsequently arising in respect of the Member under this Division; or

            (b)         if the Member is entitled to a preserved GSS withdrawal benefit, that benefit.

        (7)         A reduction under subregulation (6) may be —

            (a)         the deduction of a monetary amount, with or without interest;

            (b)         the reduction by a specified amount of the multiple of final remuneration used to calculate the benefit; or

            (c)         calculated in any other manner agreed to by the actuary.

        (8)         In this regulation —

"         compassionate ground" and "severe financial hardship” have the same meanings as they have in Part 6 of the SIS Regulations;

        “discounted benefit” means the amount, as at the day on which the Board made its determination under subregulation (3) —

            (a)         if the Member is an eligible Gold State worker, of the benefit to which the Member would have been entitled under regulation 44 if the Member ceased to be an eligible Gold State worker on that day; or

            (b)         if the Member is entitled to a preserved GSS withdrawal benefit, of that benefit,

                discounted to the extent that the Board, on the advice of an actuary, considers appropriate to reflect the early payment of the benefit.

        [Regulation 47A inserted in Gazette 25 Jun 2004 p. 2229-30; amended in Gazette 26 May 2006 p. 1930; 13 Apr 2007 p. 1599; 18 Jan 2008 p. 150.]