Pension Bonus Scheme

Question

Senator RUSTON: The Pension Bonus Scheme, which was- Mr Lye: I think, from memory, the Pension Bonus Scheme was that, if you defer your retirement, there was a bonus for every year or every period of time. The design of that meant it was clunky, I think, so there were a lot of people who had the hope of getting a certain amount, and it wasn't-it didn't materialise. Senator RUSTON: Is that completely defunct now? Mr Flavel: It's certainly closed. I would have to check whether there are still legacy people because, as Mr Lye said, it relied on you effectively deferring, and I don't know how many people are still eligible. I suspect it's probably still not a small number. It's probably more than one. I was asking that question because I think there was a forerunner to the current work bonus. There's always been an additional incentive, if you want to call it that, for age pensioners to engage in employment. That actually turned into the work bonus and was substantially enhanced in terms of the level of the income bank. Senator RUSTON: Yes. It would be interesting just to know how many people are still technically signed up to-well, actually, who is signed up to the program? Is anybody using it? Also, how many people would still be eligible for it? I assume that, when the program was shut, there would be no new people coming into it. Mr Flavel: That's right

Answer

Please see attached answer.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• DSS SQ26-000735.pdf (opens in a new tab)