SMSF Association Media Release
The SMSF Association has thrown its support behind the Federal Government’s decision to include superannuation payments in paid parental leave.
The Minister for Finance and Women, Senator Katy Gallagher, announced today this superannuation payment, which begins on 1 July, was a key element in the Government’s national strategy to achieve gender equality and enhance women’s economic security.
SMSF Association CEO, Peter Burgess said we support this measure which is designed to reduce the impact of parental leave on retirement incomes and help close a gender gap that was still a pronounced issue in the superannuation sector.
Burgess says the SMSF sector is leading the way when it comes to closing the superannuation balance gender gap, with the balance gap in SMSFs steadily closing since 2017.
Research released last year by major SMSF software provider, Class, shows between the 2017 and 2022 financial years, the gender balance gap for SMSFs administered on Class software had declined from 20.3 percent to 15.9 percent.
“Higher levels of member engagement combined with legislative changes which have enabled catch-up concessional contributions, contribution splitting and encouraged re-balancing strategies to stay within the transfer balance cap, have no doubt been a contributing factor.”
“The evidence suggests the more engaged members are the greater the likelihood of closing the gender superannuation balance gap. Further policy support is needed to address this issue but including super payments in paid parental leave is a step in the right direction”, Burgess says.