The revised proposals for agreement on the pay and conditions of teachers under Clause 2 (iii) of Annex 1 of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work include a proposal for the purchase for superannuation purposes of incremental service given to teachers when they were eligible to join the secondary teachers' superannuation scheme but did not do so. The proposal provides for the purchase of such service at the normal contribution rate of 6.5 per cent — 5 per cent for teachers who are not members of the spouses' scheme. The proposal is confined to actual incremental service given in schools in this country and would not apply to the purchase for superannuation purposes of any other service.
It is possible for teachers on voluntary service abroad with APSO to have up to two years of such service given after 1 January 1995 made reckonable for superannuation purposes subject to payment of contributions at a rate of 18? per cent — 15? per cent for a teacher who is not a member of the spouses' scheme.
My Department operates a scheme for the purchase of notional service. This scheme enables teachers to voluntarily purchase additional years for the calculation of superannuation benefits. It is open to any member of the relevant superannuation scheme to apply for the purchase of notional service at the appropriate rates.