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The ADF Financial Services Consumer Centre and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) want you to be well-informed and confident about getting financial advice.
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You may find that not all the ideas in this website may apply to your particular circumstances.
Under the ADF Total Workforce System (TWS) members have access to a structure of Service Categories (SERCATs), which allows greater flexibility in how you serve, providing more opportunities to extend your ADF career, in ways that meet your needs and that of the Service.
Permanent members serving full-time in SERCAT 7, may be able to, with approval, move to a part-time pattern of service, SERCAT 6, for a specified period of time. This calculator estimates the change to your salary and allowances of moving between SERCAT 7 and SERCAT 6, within the permanent force.
How to use this estimator
Choose your current and proposed pattern of service and then enter salary and allowance details directly from your payslip. Your annual salary can be found on the top right hand side of your payslip. Allowances are detailed in the ‘Earnings’ section, and you may also need to account for a ‘Rent contribution’ amount from the ‘Deductions’ section of your payslip.
Note, we have not included allowances paid on a ‘per occurrence’ basis as these are not pro-rated and will be paid as earned under either permanent service category. The income tax calculation does not take into account your personal circumstances or liability for the Medicare levy and as such should be viewed as an indicative amount only.
Disclaimer: This SERCAT Change Remuneration Estimator will help you estimate the effect on your ADF salary and allowances as a result of a change in service category, between SERCAT 6 and SERCAT 7 within the permanent forces. This estimator does not take into account non-working periods greater than 28 days in your proposed or current service pattern.
This calculator only estimates changes to salary and allowances and should not be used as your sole source of information. We recommend obtaining accurate information for your personal situation through the proper channels. By using this Estimator you are acknowledging this Disclaimer and calculator Assumptions.
1. Any allowance paid on a ‘per occurrence’ basis has been excluded from the calculation as they are not pro-rated under a change of SERCAT.
2. If you are a member of MSBS or DFRDB the bulk of your super benefit will be in the form of a lifetime indexed pension, based on your years of service and final average salary. The longer you stay in Defence, the larger your lifetime pension. Due to the complex nature of the final calculation it is not appropriate to estimate an annual value here.
3. For defined benefit super scheme members, moving from SERCAT 7 to SERCAT 6 will not change your employer superannuation benefit calculation.
4. Rent contribution increases by 50% if days worked drops below 130 days per calendar year. Rent contribution will also increase by 50% if your pattern of service includes a non-working period of more than 28 consecutive days, however this calculator does not account for the 28-day rule increase.
5. Calculated income tax may differ from actual income tax on your payslip. Income tax calculated makes no allowance for partial Medicare levy liability, salary sacrificed amount or other personal deductions that may alter the amount of tax actually paid.
Assumptions
You enter actual income details as they appear on your payslip.
You use a payslip that is indicative of your regular salary and allowances.
Superannuation benefit for accumulation fund members is based on the current Defence contribution rate of 16.4% of salary and allowances.
Salary and allowances for a SERCAT 6 service pattern based on days per week or days per fortnight basis are calculated differently to that of SERCAT 7. SERCAT 7 members are paid a 14-day fortnight, however SERCAT 6 members are only paid for days worked. Pro-rating of salary and allowances takes this into account and hourly rates are adjusted accordingly.
If your SERCAT 6 pattern is based on ‘months per year’, a month is defined as a 28-day cycle. Therefore a service pattern of 6 months per year will result in pay being less than 50% of a full-time equivalent.
Some allowances will not be paid for nonworking periods of more than 28 days. The estimator does not take this into account.
If your SERCAT 6 service pattern is based on ‘weeks per year’, estimates are calculated based on a 7-day week.
One-off allowances and incentive payments are not pro-rated under the Total Workforce System.
All allowances are assumed to be taxable for the purposes of this estimator.
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