Information for recruits and standard constabulary entrants

Eligiblity for employer contributions while on leave without pay

Depending on the type of leave you are taking, you may be eligible for employer contributions for the time you’re away. You are eligible for employer contributions for the time you are on:

• parental leave (as defined in the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987)
• study leave without pay (with your employer’s permission)
• other leave without pay recognised by your employer as being in the interests of Police or your career development.

However, you must first make up the member contributions you’ve missed. There are three ways to do this. These are explained below. If you only make up some of the contributions you've missed, you will receive employer contributions based on those contributions.

Arranging catch-up contributions when you return to work

You can make catch-up contributions as regular contributions from your pay when you return to work. Catch-up contributions need to be made at a rate of 7.5% of salary. Police will make employer contributions as you make your payments. You must:

• begin paying your contributions within 1 year of returning to work
• complete payments within 2 years of returning to work.

We cannot accept catch-up contributions after this time. However, on your return, you can pay at a higher rate than 7.5% of salary to the scheme in order to repay the amount in a shorter timeframe. You can also change your contributions at any time if you need to.

You can arrange catch-up contributions (or vary the rate of your catch-up contributions) by completing the leave without pay form and returning it to payroll.

Arranging employee contributions while you’re on leave

If you prefer, you can pay contributions as regular payments while you’re away. When you return to work, Police will contribute a lump sum amount to cover the employer contributions on these payments. You need to arrange this option before you go on leave. Your employee contributions must be made fortnightly at a rate of 7.5% of salary. You can’t alter the contribution amount but you can stop payments at any time. If you do decide to stop payments, you can still make catch-up payments on your return to work. Contact payroll at payroll@police.govt.nz if this is your preferred option.

Any contributions paid while you are on leave must be paid direct to Mercer, the scheme's administration manager. This is explained on the leave without pay form.

Parental leave

There is a third option for members on parental leave. You can arrange to make up contributions from the ex-gratia payment(s) you are entitled to on returning from parental leave. Employer contributions will be paid at this time. Contact payroll as soon as you return to work if you are interested in this option. Payroll will calculate your employee contributions and arrange to pay those contributions direct to PSS.  Again, contributions need to be made at a rate of 7.5% of salary. If you wait until the ex-gratia payment is made to you, you won’t then be able to pay that money into the scheme. This is because we cannot accept lump sum contributions from members due to our exemption from the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009.

Leave on reduced pay

If you are granted leave on reduced pay, your contributions and employer contributions will be assessed on your reduced salary during that period at a rate of 7.5%.

Making employee contributions if not eligible for employer contributions

If you are granted leave without pay and your situation does not fall into any of the categories outlined above, you may choose to continue to contribute to the scheme while you're away. However, Police will not make employer contributions.

Keeping in touch

Sign in to your account and change your work email address to a personal one before you go on leave. We can then notify you when your annual account statement is available to view online. You’ll also continue to receive our member e-newsletter 2 Minutes on Super.