Retirement Fund Group Life Assurance Benefit (GLA)
Benefits:
- By default, you are on the Retirement Fund Group Life Assurance Benefit.
- The trustees of the pension fund distribute four times (4x) your annual pensionable salary plus your retirement fund savings to your beneficiaries.
- For this benefit, your Nomination of Beneficiary form is an expression of your wishes and a useful guide for the trustees, but they are not obligated to follow it. They will do a thorough investigation over a 12-month period to establish your financial dependants and their degree of dependency. The trustees will consider your nomination form and other factors as set out in the Pension Fund Act when deciding how the death benefit will be distributed.
- Every month, you contribute 0.80% of your salary to Group Life Assurance.
If you are age 53 or older
If you are age 53 or older, you may elect to reduce your cover to two times (2x) your annual pensionable salary plus your retirement fund savings. This reduces the cost of life insurance and increases the contributions allocated towards your retirement savings.
Employer-provided Life Insurance Benefit
Benefits:
- This additional benefit is paid to your beneficiaries in the event of your death or permanent disability.
- This insurance policy pays out two times (2x) your annual pensionable salary to your beneficiaries. This payment is tax free.
- You cannot change the level of cover of this benefit.
- For this benefit, your Nomination of Beneficiary form is binding on the insurer and the benefits must be distributed according to your wishes.
If you die while working for Woolworths, the above death benefits that are payable to your beneficiaries are investigated and distributed by the Board of Trustees. This is governed by the section 37C of the Pension Funds Act. Fund benefits do not form part of your estate and are therefore not distributed according to your will. When dealing with the payment of your death benefits, you as the member do not necessarily have the final say.
Nominating your beneficiaries
It is most important that you keep your Nomination of Beneficiary Form current and up-to-date. You must update your beneficiaries whenever your personal circumstances change. Find out more about nominating your beneficiaries here.
For example:
Funeral Benefit
Benefits:
- Woolworths provides a R20 000 funeral benefit to assist your surviving family members with some of your funeral costs. This is only for your funeral.
- You nominate two people on the Funeral Benefit Nomination Form and send it to your HRA.
- One of these two people needs to submit your death certificate to the Risk Benefits Department in Cape Town.
- The money will be paid out to the nominated person and must be used towards your funeral.
- As the benefit is paid out in cash, it is vital that the people you choose are people you can trust.
If you want additional family funeral cover
Go onto Imbizo and search for the Momentum funeral scheme. You can then apply to have your family covered by a funeral policy. You will have to be included in the cover as well, but as funerals are expensive, the additional cover will not go amiss.
WOOLWORTHS MEMORIAL EDUCATION FUND BENEFIT
Benefits:
- On your death, the Woolworths Memorial Education Fund steps in to pay the school fees for your children – right up to and including tertiary education. The benefit starts from Grade R.
This is an excellent benefit. Obviously a small baby has no immediate cover, but as long as the baby is registered on the Woolworths Memorial Education Fund the benefits will start when the child reaches Grade R.
Learn More
Not sure how to complete the forms?
Learn more about the Fund's required beneficiary forms and how to make sure your loved ones are provided for in the event of your death or disabilit:
- Nomination of Beneficiary form
- Retirement Fund Group Life Assurance Benefit
- Employer-Provided Life Insurance Benefit
- Funeral Benefit form
Beneficiary Form Summary
