Virgin Money is the first superannuation fund in Australia to end unfair fees charged to mothers on maternity leave and is challenging the rest of the industry to follow its lead which could result in super payouts for working mothers being boosted by $800 million annually.
Called the ‘Virgin Super Baby Break’, this initiative would partially help redress the current imbalance whereby men have almost double the super of women in this country due in large part to women having children.
The ground-breaking move came after Matt Baxby, managing director of Virgin Money Australia, evaluated the super industry, and concluded employees were not getting a fair deal when it came to maternity leave. “Why should Australian women continue to pay fees while they are not earning a salary or making super contributions for the majority of their maternity leave? It didn’t make sense to us,” Mr Baxby commented.
“Virgin Money is not only introducing a first within the Super industry, we are encouraging all superannuation funds to follow our lead with the Super Baby Break. It is estimated that the industry as a whole is currently charging an astounding $30 million in fees each year during maternity leave alone,” Mr Baxby concluded.
This initiative is even more important given federally-funded paid maternity leave is over a year away (2011) and the recent July 1 determination that any employer-paid parental leave is now officially exempt from the compulsory super system.
-ends-
Notes to editors:
• Virgin Super will freeze all super management costs for each child (for up to 12 months) while its members are on maternity or paternity leave.
• With Virgin Super, you could retire with more than you would compared to some other retail superannuation funds due to its low standard fees and no entry or exit fees. The more you have in your Virgin Super Account, the lower your fees could become.
• Go to http://www.virginmoney.com.au/
