From July, public sector employees choosing to salary package will gain access to benefits though Smart’s salary packaging platform.

The change will take effect just as employees are submitting tax returns and budgeting for the coming financial year, amid continuing pressures on the household bottom line.

Smart provides salary packaging and employee benefits services for more than 150 employers and 25,000 workers in South Australia. That figure is expected to increase to more than 100,000 workers in 2024-25, when state public sector workers transfer to Smart.

Nationally, as a trusted partner for Australia’s largest employers across governments, health, not-for-profit and education, Smart’s services support more than 1.5 million workers in the public and private sectors, enabling those who salary package to take home extra money in their pay packets every week.

Smart executive, Sophie MacIntosh, said as the cost of living continued to have a significant impact on families and spending habits, salary packaging was one way of helping people to make their pay packet go further.

“What salary packaging means is that for a public hospital nurse earning $70,000, for example, by packaging with us they would take home more than $3,000 extra each year,” MacIntosh said.

“That’s a significant amount when it comes to a family’s grocery bill over a year, or it could mean new football boots, paying club memberships or sports uniforms for their kids.

“The Federal Government has recognised the need to support and grow the regional workforce, with additional salary packaging benefits available to those living in regional and remote areas.

“That means some State Government employees living in the regions can increase their tax benefits by up to 50 per cent through Smart.”

ASX-listed Smartgroup, the parent company of Smart, has had a successful track record in South Australia for close to 25 years and continues to grow its service offerings to more Australians.

“We’ve been consistently growing our workforce in South Australia, and with the state’s public sector transitioning to Smart, we’ll be increasing our presence within the community as well,” MacIntosh said.

“Smart is committed to South Australia and we are building more opportunities for employment by growing our operations here.

“We’re also working with local companies, as we have a lot of talented data scientists and engineers in South Australia, to explore emerging technologies to make salary packaging even easier to understand and access.

“We are proud to have developed streamlined paperless processes, customer apps and secure portals for both employers and employees. We’re here to make life easier and to help ease the cost of living crisis for more South Australians than ever.”