Constabulary & recruits

Membership is compulsory for recruits and constabulary employees. You will be required to join the scheme as a recruit when you enter Police College. You will become a standard constabulary entrant automatically on graduating.

Minimum contributions

Membership category

Minimum contribution rate (as a % of salary*)
Member
Employer (before tax**)

Recruit/standard constabulary entrant

7.5%

15.2%

Constabulary and recruit members will soon have the option of reducing standard member contributions from 7.5% of salary to 5%, 3% or 0%. Deductions will continue to be made from your pay at the default rate of 7.5% unless you make a change. You will be able to reduce your contributions for a short period if you need to and then change them back again. You will also continue to have the option of making additional voluntary contributions between 1% and 10% of salary (in 0.5% increments). These flexible member contribution rates mean you can effectively choose any rate between 0% and 17.5% of salary. Whichever rate or combination of rates you choose, Police will continue to contribute 15.2% of salary on your behalf (less tax).

You will be able to change standard and voluntary member contributions via the Police payroll system from Monday 28 April. We’ll be in touch before then with details of how to change your contributions. Make a time to talk to someone from Mercer’s financial advice team if you’re not sure what the best option is for you.

*Under the current Police Employees’ and Constabulary Collective Employment Agreements, salary includes the competency service increment (CSI) paid as a lump sum if you are at the top of your pay band as well as certain allowances specified in your employment agreement. It excludes bonuses, commissions, fees or other like payment and allowances not specifically regarded as superable.

**Employer superannuation contribution tax is deducted from employer contributions before they are credited to your employer's account. See fees and tax for details.

Contact payroll at payroll@police.govt.nz if you have a question about contributions.

Voluntary contributions

You can make additional voluntary contributions of between 1% and 10% of your salary as regular deductions from your pay by completing the voluntary contributions form and returning it to payroll.

PSS and KiwiSaver

If you wish, you can be a member of a KiwiSaver scheme as well as the PSS and get some of the benefits of KiwiSaver. For example, the government will contribute around $10 a week if you contribute $20 a week or more. See KiwiSaver options for PSS members.

A note for former Traffic Officers

If you are a former Traffic Officer who is also a contributing member of the Government Superannuation Fund (GSF) or the National Provident Fund (NPF), you can join the scheme as a:

  • special entrant – the minimum member contribution rate is 1% of salary (GSF members) or 2.5% of salary (NPF members).  Employer contributions will be paid, but the rate varies depending on your individual circumstances. Contact payroll@police.govt.nz for details of the employer contribution, or a
  • savings contributor, making member contributions only (i.e. Police will not match your contributions).

If you join as a special entrant, you may later elect to change your membership and become a savings contributor with effect from the following 1 April.

Financial advice from Mercer

PSS has engaged Mercer to provide a financial advice service to members. You can receive advice about anything to do with your savings in the scheme, including what to do with your KiwiSaver now you're in PSS. There is no individual charge to you for this service. To arrange a time to talk, sign in to your account online and complete a call-back request form.