Preservation of Benefits

The preservation of benefits is how the superannuation system is safeguarded from members releasing Superannuation from the system before they are eligible.

A member’s entitlement will be preserved until the person becomes eligible to access their Superannuation.  Once a person has satisfied a condition of release they can have access to their money depending on the condition of release they have met.

Broadly, there are three categories of preservation that relate to a members account balance:

• preserved benefits (PBs)
• restricted non-preserved benefits (RNPBs)
• unrestricted non-preserved benefits (UNPBs)

Once a full condition of release has been met, member’s benefits will automatically become unrestricted non-preserved meaning they are entitled to all of their member entitlements. You can see the status of your Superannuation entitlement by viewing your member’s statement.

A partial condition of release that satisfies transition to retirement pensions does not transfer a member’s balance to unrestricted non preserved benefits.  Not until the pensioner has met a full condition of release will their member entitlements transfer to unrestricted non-preserved benefits.