Retirement Income
Member Outcomes Assessment for 2024/25
Each year, we assess the performance of our Retirement Income (RI) Allocated Pension plans to ensure they continue to promote the financial interests of our members. After assessment for the financial year ending 30 June 2025, the GESB Board has determined that GESB is promoting the financial interests of the beneficiaries of the fund.
This Member Outcomes Assessment provides information on how our RI Allocated Pension plans have performed during the 2024/25 financial year, including how they have performed against industry peers.
How we’ve performed
Our RI Allocated Pension plans have passed the assessment, and we’ve determined that they do promote our members’ financial interests.
Our performance is measured against four areas:
- Investments (including investment strategy, investment returns and levels of risk)
- Fees and costs (including fees and operating costs)
- Options, benefits and facilities
- Scale
Who we are
We are the super fund for the Western Australian (WA) public sector and have over 85 years' experience managing the super savings of current and former public sector employees. With around 250,000 members and over $46 billion in funds under management (as at 31 December 2025), we’re the largest super fund based in WA.
WA public sector super fund
Largest based in WA
85 years experience
250,000 members
$46b funds under management
Our purpose
To help members achieve a quality retirement
We put our members first in everything we do, which means they can trust us to look after their super. We support them in making informed decisions about their super and we advocate for them when it comes to their super, retirement and insurance.
| Our purpose | To help members achieve a quality retirement |
|---|---|
| Our vision | To be the fund of choice for current and former WA public sector employees |
Investments
Investment returns
Our Retirement Income (RI) Allocated Pension plans are compared to the SuperRatings fund crediting survey over the five years to 30 June 2025.1 This survey compares returns of Retirement Income products across the industry. Throughout this assessment we refer to this as the ‘fund universe’.
Over the five years to 30 June 2025, all RI Allocated Pension plans have performed close to median. A key point to note is that administration fees are deducted from our performance detailed above, but this is not the case for all comparative funds in the universe, whereby administration fees are charged separately. Therefore, it is not an entirely like-for-like comparison.
Some of the key processes we have put in place to monitor and strengthen our performance include:
- Enhancing our approach to managing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors
- Reviewing Strategic Asset Allocations to make sure they remain appropriate
- Reviewing our approach to medium term asset allocation decisions
Level of investment risk
The level of investment risk for each plan is shown in the table below.
Risk levels are determined based on the AustralianPrudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA’s) guidance, which describe the number of years in a 20-year period the plan is expected to experience a negative annual return. Using this guidance, we estimate the risk of each investment plan based on the expected return and risk characteristics of investments, the likely fluctuation in returns and the relationship between asset classes.
Risk scale for RI Allocated Pension investment plans
As at 30 June 2025
Investment strategy
The aim of the investment strategy for our RI Allocated Pension plans is to meet our investment objectives. Investments are diversified across a range of different asset classes, to improve the risk-return profile and reduce the impact that any one asset class has on the overall investment returns.
The investment strategy and objectives are reviewed annually and take into account a range of factors, such as the average age of our RI Allocated Pension members, so that we can ensure that sufficient, but not excessive, risks are taken.
For more information on our investment strategy, performance and risk, visit the Retirement Income options product dashboard.
Fees and costs
Fees
Costs for managing RI Allocated Pension investment plans include a percentage fee for administration and investment costs.1 This is estimated to be between 0.18% p.a. and 0.75% p.a., administration costs of 0.12% p.a. and transaction costs up to 0.08% p.a. of the value of the investment, depending on the investment plan chosen.
We are positioned in the lowest fee quartile of all super funds for our RI Allocated Pension investment plans (as at June 2025).2
We aim to provide our members with products that are fairly and equitably priced. We charge fees on a cost-recovery basis, which means that fees are set to cover our projected actual costs and our requirements to maintain appropriate reserves. This enables us to continue providing value-for-money products and services to meet our members’ needs.
Operating costs
Our operating expenses, relative to the size of our membership base and assets, are in the lowest quartile of all super funds and are well below industry medians.2
Our size enables us to benefit from reduced investment costs. Our management expense ratio, which is the cost to manage our investments, is among the lowest of all super funds.3
Options, benefits and facilities
We provide a range of member information and support services.
These include:
- Insurance claims consultants
- Member Services call centre consultants
- Online Live Chat services
- A secure Member Online portal
- One-on-one Retirement Options appointments, virtual (online) or in-person
We also offer a range of seminars and webinars at no extra cost to our members, to support them in making informed decisions regarding their super, retirement and insurance.
Scale
To continue to deliver value-for-money products and services to our members, it is important for us to have adequate scale in terms of funds under management (FuM) and number of members.
Our current membership size of around 250,000 and FuM of over $46 billion enables us to offer our members competitive investment and administration costs, and access to a wide range of products and services, including investment options.
Board declaration
The GESB Board has determined that GESB is promoting the financial interests of the beneficiaries of the fund.
Jo Gaines - Chair
Ben Palmer - Chief Executive Officer
Footnotes:
1 SuperRatings Smart Database – Pension Fund Crediting Survey, January 2026.
2 These are not charged to members as a fee but are deducted from investment returns before earnings are applied to their account. SuperRatings Smart database, January 2026.
3 SuperRatings Annual Benchmarking Report 2026.
Thank you for printing this page. Remember to come back to gesb.wa.gov.au for the latest information as our content is updated regularly. This information is correct as at 23 June 2026.