Workers hungry for more super as Budget looms

The survey of more than 2,000 participants commissioned by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) examined community attitudes to superannuation, the industry, compulsory superannuation and the scheduled increase of the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) to 12%.

The Super Guarantee scheme requires employers pay 10% of an employee’s earnings into their superannuation fund.

This is scheduled to rise to 10.5% from 1 July 2022, and will rise half a percentage point each financial year until it reaches 12% in 2025.

ASFA's 81% agreed with the statement "people need to save more superannuation, not less".

Additionally, 58% agree that giving people early access to their super will undermine the fairness of the system.

ASFA CEO Dr Martin Fahy said Australians value superannuation and consider that it is crucial to ensure they have dignity in retirement.

“It is clear that the average Australian believes more money should be saved for retirement and not less," he said. 

"However, many Australians are concerned that while they personally may have saved enough to live well in retirement, others who don’t save might become a burden on taxpayers.

“In this context, there is overwhelming support for maintaining the legislated increase of the SG to 12% and for the compulsory nature of the system."

Other key findings:

• Three quarters of respondents (75%) agree with the statement that “postponing the super guarantee increases may mean that many people will have to work longer in order to retire”.
• When a full list of national issues were prompted to respondents, government intervention in the superannuation industry was considered one of the least important priorities. Just 2% of respondents said that they would rank further regulation of the industry as a top priority.

Proposed changes to super in the 2022 budget

According to EISS Super, more flexibility for the Pension Loans Scheme is being proposed for the 2022 budget. 

If successful, participants would now be able to access up to 26 fortnights’ worth of top-up payments as a lump sum.

This measure will provide immediate access to lump sums of around $12,385 for singles, and $18,670 for couples.

The Pension Loans Scheme, also known as the Home Equity Access Scheme, allows senior Australians to draw a fortnightly payment backed by the equity in their home to enhance their standard of living in retirement.

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