Part 3Contributors, contribution rates and contribution points

Part 3—Contributors, contribution rates and contribution points 16—Contributors (1) Subject to this Act, a police officer who became a contributor to the Police Pensions Fund before the commencement of this Act (including a person who was a cadet immediately before that commencement and who subsequently became a police officer) must contribute to the Scheme. (2) An officer's contributions may be deducted from his or her salary. 17—Contribution rates (1) Subject to subsection (1a), a contributor must make contributions to the Treasurer at the rate at which he or she was contributing immediately before the commencement of this Act. (1a) A police officer who was a police cadet immediately before the commencement of this Act must make contributions to the Treasurer at the rate at which he or she would have been contributing to the Police Pensions Fund immediately before the commencement of this Act if he or she had been a police officer at that time. (2) A contributor's contributions will be fixed in relation to each financial year, as from a day in that financial year determined by the Board— (a) on the basis of the contributor's actual or attributed salary as at 31 March last preceding the commencement of the financial year or, if the contributor's hours of employment have increased or decreased between that date and the commencement of the financial year, on the basis of the contributor's salary following the last such increase or decrease in the hours of employment; (i) if the contributor had not then commenced his or her employment, the contributions will be fixed on the basis of the contributor's commencing salary; (ii) if the contributor was then on leave without pay or at a reduced rate of pay, the contributor will be taken for the purposes of determining the contributor's actual or attributed salary to be employed for the number of hours that the contributor would have been employed and to be receiving the salary that the contributor would have been receiving, if not on leave; (iii) if after the date on which contributions for a particular financial year are fixed there is a reduction in the contributor's salary resulting from a reduction in hours of work (other than a temporary reduction of less than two weeks' duration), there will be a proportionate reduction in the contributor's contributions (but such a contributor may, with the Board's approval, elect to contribute as if there had been no reduction in salary and in that event benefits payable under this Act will be calculated as if there had been no reduction of salary); (iv) if the reason for the reduction in hours of work is an illness or injury suffered by the contributor, an election under subparagraph (iii) may, with the Board's approval, operate during subsequent years despite paragraph (a). (3) If on the 31st day of March in any year a contributor is receiving weekly workers compensation payments those payments will be regarded as salary or a component of salary and contributions will be based on the aggregate of the contributor's salary (if any) and the weekly workers compensation payments as at that date. (3a) If, after a contributor's contributions have been fixed in relation to a financial year, the contributor receives weekly workers compensation payments and the aggregate of the contributor's salary (if any) and the weekly payments is less than the salary on which the contributions were based the Board must make a proportionate reduction in the amount of the contributions. (4) The following provisions apply to leave without pay: (a) any period of leave without pay of two weeks or less will be treated as a period of employment in respect of which contributions are payable; (b) if leave without pay is taken for a continuous period exceeding two weeks, no contribution is payable in respect of that period unless the contributor elects to contribute and the election is approved by the Board; (c) the Board must only approve an election in respect of a period of leave without pay that exceeds 12 months if satisfactory arrangements have been made for reimbursement of the costs of benefits attributable to that period. (5) A contributor will cease to contribute to the Scheme if before termination of the contributor's employment the following conditions are satisfied: (a) the contributor is of or above the age of 60 years; and (b) the contributor has not less than— (i) an aggregate of 360 contribution points; or (ii) an aggregate number of contribution points equal to the number of months between the date on which he or she became a contributor and the date on which he or she reached the age of 60 years, whichever is the greater number. 18—Contribution points (1) Contribution points accrue to a contributor who is employed on a full-time basis at the rate of one point for each contribution month. (2) Where a contributor is employed on a part-time basis a proportion of one contribution point accrues to the contributor in respect of a contribution month equal to the proportion that the amount actually contributed in respect of that month bears to the amount that would have been contributed if the contributor had been employed on a full-time basis. (3) A contributor will not be credited with contribution points in respect of a period— (a) during which the contributor is on leave without pay and is not contributing to the Scheme; (b) during which the contributor is suspended from South Australia Police without pay. (4) Where a formula in this Act requires the extrapolation of a contributor's contribution points to a particular age the following provisions apply: (a) if the contributor has then reached the age to which the points are to be extrapolated, the number of points to be used in the formula is the aggregate of the accrued contribution points; (b) in any other case— (i) if the contributor has been in full-time employment throughout the contribution period—the number of points to be used in the formula is the aggregate of the accrued contribution points plus a number equal to the number of months' difference between the contributor's age as at the entitlement day and the age to which the points are to be extrapolated (an incomplete month occurring in that period being taken to be a whole month); (ii) if the contributor has not been in full-time employment throughout the contribution period—the number of points to be used in the formula is the aggregate of the accrued contribution points plus the relevant proportion of the number of months' difference between the contributor's age as at the entitlement day and the age to which the points are to be extrapolated (an incomplete month occurring in that period being taken to be a whole month). (5) The reference in subsection (4) to the relevant proportion is a reference to a proportion arrived at by expressing the contributor's employment as a proportion of full-time employment. 19—Attribution of contribution points and months The Minister may, in appropriate cases— (a) attribute additional contribution points to a contributor; (b) attribute additional contribution months to a contributor.