Financial adviser FAQs

To get your authority added to your client's QSuper account, please send us a completed Authority to Release Information form (pdf), which has all the required information we need.

If you would prefer to use your own authority form, please make sure that you provide all the information we need to action your authority:

• Your client's full name, address, and date of birth
• Your name and your organisation's name
• Your ARN and AFSL
• Whether the authority is to be given only to you, or other representatives from your organisation as well
• Whether or not the authority has an expiry date, as we do not automatically apply expiry dates to adviser authorities.

Please note it may take up to 3 working days for your authority to be processed once received.

When you lodge an Authority to Release Information form (pdf) for a member with an Accumulation account, Transition to Retirement Income account, Retirement Income account, or Lifetime Pension, a Client Summary will automatically be emailed to the address listed on your authority for all eligible accounts the member has. Please note it may take up to 3 working days for your authority to be processed once received.

If you have previously lodged an authority, you can request a Client Summary by phoning us on 1300 360 750 and selecting option 3 for advisers, or by completing this online form. 

The QSuper Client Summary has been designed specifically with your needs as a financial adviser in mind, to provide:

• Essential client account information
• Your client’s account personalisation options
• Links to tools and product features to help you give the best advice to your clients.

You'll need to register as an adviser with Australian Retirement Trust to request an advice fee be paid from your client's QSuper account. Once registered, you can access our QSuper Advice fee request form via Adviser Online.

For more information about the advice fees that can be paid under standard registration arrangements, please refer to our Advice fee request FAQs.

We have a dedicated page for adviser questions about our Lifetime Pension product.

We currently accept electronic/digital signatures from members for some of our forms, and your client can manage some of their account without a form in Member Online:

• Accumulation Account Departing Temporary Resident Claim 
• Authority to Release Information to a Financial Representative
• Authority to Release Information: Personal Representative¹
• Deposit
• Insurance – Change of Insurance¹
• Insurance – Permanently opt in to Your Accumulation Account Insurance¹
• Insurance – Application to Cancel Insurance¹
• Notice of Intent to Claim or Vary a Tax Deduction for Personal Super Contributions (S290-170 form)
• Surcharge Debt Payment (unless paying by cheque)
• Switch Investments in an Accumulation Account
• Switch Investments in an Income Account
• Tax File Number Notification
• Transfer Your Deferred Retirement Benefit to an Accumulation Account.

All other forms currently need your client's physical signature, but we're working on being able to accept electronic signatures for more forms in the future.

Your clients have four options for how to provide their digital signature:

1. Type their name on the form in the signature box
2. Electronically sign through DocuSign or Adobe Reader or another program, or copy and paste an image of their signature in the signature box
3. Include their name at the bottom of their email when sending us their form (e.g. “Regards, Jane”)
4. Include a signature block containing their name in the footer of their email when sending us their form.

1. For security purposes, these forms must be emailed from the email address we have on file for the member.

Our Income account can provide your client with flexible payment options, a focus on long-term performance, and simple, transparent fees.

Your client may also be eligible for a Retirement Bonus when they move their money from a QSuper Accumulation or Transition to Retirement Income account to a QSuper Retirement Income account or a Lifetime Pension.

When your client opens an eligible Retirement Income account or Lifetime Pension from money held in an Accumulation or Transition to Retirement Income account with us, there's a reduction in tax payable by Australian Retirement Trust. The Retirement Bonus is funded from this tax saving.

Your QSuper Client Summary will show the potential value of a Retirement Bonus for your client’s account, estimated at the date of the quote (a specific amount is not guaranteed).

Your client's Retirement Bonus is calculated as 0.50% of the eligible amount transferred, up to a maximum of $9,500. The table below shows some examples:

All investment options, except the QSuper Self Invest option, qualify for the Retirement Bonus. Your client needs to be a member with an account balance with us for at least 12 consecutive months, in addition to other eligibility criteria.

For more information about how the bonus is calculated, refer to the QSuper Accumulation Guide (pdf).

When your client retires or closes their Defined Benefit account, their benefit is calculated by multiplying a number that reflects both their years of service and their contribution rate (the multiple) with their final salary.

The longer they work for the Queensland Government (and keep their Defined Benefit account open), and the higher the rate they contribute, the bigger their multiple will be.

Each year, your client's multiple grows in relation to the amount they contribute and work. By default, their multiple increases by 0.21 each year. For example, after 10 years contributing at the default rate, your client's multiple will be 2.1, which means their benefit will be 2.1 times their final salary.

Because the multiplier is calculated based on your client's salary rather than investment earnings, your client's defined benefit is not impacted by market movements. For more information about this formula, including how part-time work affects the multiple, see the Defined Benefit Account Guide (pdf).

Please note the situation is different for Police and State accounts.

Each financial year, employers report their employees' salary for superannuation purposes to us, which is what we use to calculate your client's benefit. This is their permanent full-time equivalent salary as at 1 July, including allowances that have been approved by the Queensland Government.

If your client was working in higher duties, the higher salary is only reported to us as their 1 July salary if they have been acting in the higher role continuously for at least the 12 months preceding that 1 July. This also applies when they have been seconded to another government department to act in a higher-paid role.

If your client closes their Defined Benefit account when they're 54 years old or older, their final average salary is worked out by averaging their salary for superannuation purposes over the 12 months before they leave. To do this, we proportion their two most recent salaries for superannuation purposes to get their final salary. If your client is 54 years old, we only proportion their salary back to their 54th birthday.

Your client's final salary is not reduced if they work part-time, because we use their permanent full-time equivalent salary. Instead, if they work part-time, their multiple will grow at a proportionally smaller rate during that time. This means they still reap the benefit of their years of service spent working full-time and their full-time equivalent salary.

If your client has previously chosen to reduce their Defined Benefit contribution rate, they may be able to catch up by temporarily increasing their rate to make up for the contributions they didn’t pay earlier.

The table below shows the different percentage rates of your client's salary that they can contribute and how this grows their Defined Benefit multiple.

The catch-up option is not available for periods when your client is on leave without pay, but it might be available to them while they are receiving WorkCover benefits. Catch-up only applies if your client has previously lowered their standard contribution, and does not apply to periods when they have been working part-time. There are several ways to catch up, including increasing the standard contributions deducted from your client's pay, or by making a standard contribution directly to their account. For more information about catch-up contributions for Defined Benefit accounts, please call us on 1300 360 750.

1. Police officers have different contribution rates. See the Defined Benefit Guide (pdf) for more details.
2. This rate is only available if your client has previously paid less than 5% and is ‘catching up’.

If your client's salary is reduced, they may be entitled to an additional amount, called a salary reduction benefit. This recognises the benefit they accrued on their previously higher salary.

If your client has more than one salary reduction during their employment, each one is calculated separately.

Your client would not receive a salary reduction benefit if their final salary was higher than their indexed reduced salary. The indexed reduced salary is your client's 1 July salary before the reduction, indexed with average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE)¹ growth up to the point when they access their benefit.

The salary reduction benefit is paid when your client accesses all or part of their defined benefit. If they only access a portion of their defined benefit, they will only receive a corresponding portion of the salary reduction benefit. The remaining salary reduction portion will be taken into account when they access their remaining defined benefit.

For example, if your client starts a Transition to Retirement Income account equal to 30% of their defined benefit, then 30% of their salary reduction benefit calculated at that time would also be moved to their Transition to Retirement Income account. If they later retire, and they're still eligible for a salary reduction benefit, they would receive 70% of the amount available at that time. The best way to see whether they are eligible and how much they might receive is to call us and ask for a quote.

If your client was working in higher duties and starts a new, higher salary, the higher salary is only reported to us as their 1 July salary if they have been acting in the higher role continuously for at least the 12 months preceding that 1 July. This also applies when they have been seconded to another government department to act in a higher-paid role.

If your client starts a new, reduced salary at 1 July, they may be entitled to a salary reduction benefit, discussed in a separate FAQ on this page. This recognises the benefit they accrued on their previously higher salary.

If your client has a Defined Benefit account and is younger than 55 years old when they resign or voluntarily leave employment with an employer who offers a Defined Benefit account, we will calculate their benefit and split it into the client's part (money they contributed, plus interest earnings) and their employer's part (money their employer contributed). The employer's part stays in the defined benefit environment as a Deferred Retirement Benefit (DRB) until your client turns 55, unless your client asks us to transfer a discounted amount to their Accumulation account instead. Meanwhile, your client's part is invested in an Accumulation account for them.

From the time your client leaves their defined benefit employer, their DRB increases every quarter in line with average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE).¹ This increase is intended to reflect the salary growth they might have earned if they had stayed with an employer who offers a Defined Benefit account.

When they turn 55, we transfer their DRB to their Accumulation account. We will contact your client before they turn 55 to ask how they would like their money invested. If we don't hear back from them, then when they turn 55, we'll invest their funds according to their existing Accumulation account investment preference, or if they don’t have one, our default investment option, Lifetime.

At any time, your client might choose to leave the DRB and transfer a discounted transfer value to their Accumulation account. The level of discount to your client's benefit can be found in the Defined Benefit Account Guide (pdf), or you can call us for a quote or statement. You can show your client our Product Disclosure Statement for Accumulation Account if they are considering this option.

The group life insurance policy for the QSuper Accumulation account has exclusions which mean we cannot pay a benefit where the claim arises (directly or indirectly) from things like:

• Declared war or acts of war
• Active service in the armed forces of any country or international organisation. This does not apply to Australian Defence Force Reservists on active service and engaged in disaster relief within Australia.
• Criminal activity the member is convicted of
• A pandemic illness that occurs within the first 30 days of the member receiving new cover (see pandemic FAQ).

For the full list of exclusions that may apply, please read the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf).

Yes, the group life insurance policy for the QSuper Accumulation account has a pandemic illness exclusion which has taken effect from 18 March 2020.

This exclusion only applies to new insurance cover that starts on or after 18 March 2020.

It does not apply to default cover your client receives that:

• They receive automatically as a result of starting work with a Queensland Government or default employer, or
• They apply for within the first 120 days of starting work with a Queensland Government or default employer.

If the pandemic illness exclusion applies to your client, we will not pay an insurance benefit where their claim arises (directly or indirectly) from a pandemic illness where their date of disablement occurs within 30 days after their cover starting.

See the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf) for more information.

In most circumstances, your client will have no pre-existing exclusion period on their default cover once they have been at work for 30 consecutive days from when their cover starts.

Refer to the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf) for more information.

A 2-year pre-existing exclusion period will apply to any cover above the default cover, including:

• Extending the benefit periods of income protection
• Increasing death and TPD sums insured
• Increasing an insured benefit for income protection
• If returning to default and there is an increase in cover.

Each time your client increases their cover, the pre-existing condition exclusion period applies only to that increased portion of cover.

Other exclusions may also apply; see the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf) for details.

In many cases, members can request to have pre-existing exclusion periods removed. Your client can apply by providing health and other supporting information. More information can be found the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf).

We don't require your client to be underwritten before providing them with default cover if they're eligible.

However, if your client applies to change their cover, we will ask them a range of health and other questions for our underwriting team to assess their eligibility.

If your client wants to have the pre-existing condition exclusion period removed from their cover, they will need to provide health and other information so we can assess their application.

Your client would also need to provide health and other information if they were applying for additional cover above our automatic acceptance limits (AAL). The automatic acceptance limits are as follows:

• Income protection cover: $20,000 per month with a benefit period of 2 or 5 years, or $10,000 per month with a benefit period to age 65
• Death cover: $1,000,000 (or lower depending on your client's age and income)
• TPD cover: $1,000,000 (or lower depending on your client's age and income).

For more information, please see the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf).

We don't require any personal medical history before providing your client with default cover (if they're eligible), so we won't ask whether they smoke.

However, if your client applies to change their cover, we will ask them a range of health and other questions including whether or not they are a smoker.

If your client chooses to occupationally rate their cover, this personalises their cover and their premium may change, depending on their occupation. They can occupationally rate themselves through Member Online by answering a few simple questions; however, they do not have to proceed if they feel it is not suitable for them, e.g. if their insurance premium would increase rather than decrease.

There are occasions where a member will be required to occupationally rate - see below.

For more details, please see the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf).

Occupationally rating cover is voluntary unless your client is changing away from default cover.

Your client would be required to occupationally rate for changes such as:

• Fixing cover
• Transferring in external cover
• Unitising income protection
• Increasing cover
• Changing waiting or benefit periods.

Yes, your client may be able to transfer across existing death cover, TPD cover, and/or income protection from another Australian insurer held either directly or through an Australian super fund.

Be aware that unless your client permanently opts in to cover, they will not be eligible to have insurance if they are under the age of 25, or their account balance has not reached $6,000 or more, or has not received any money in the last 13 months. Find out more.

To apply for a transfer, please send us a completed Application to Transfer My Insurance form (pdf).

While there is no minimum account balance required, to keep their insurance cover, your client will need to make sure:

• Their account receives money regularly, at least once every 13 months
• Their account has enough money in it to pay insurance premiums.

If a premium payment would reduce their account balance to $0, this will cancel their insurance.

Your client can transfer funds from their QSuper account to another super fund to pay for insurance premiums with that fund. However, if they want to also keep their QSuper insurance by keeping their Accumulation account active, they must keep at least $10,000 in their account.

Your client can cancel their QSuper insurance at any time by logging in to Member Online or using the Application to Cancel Insurance form (pdf).

Your client can apply for cover again at any time (subject to eligibility), but they will need to provide health and other information so we can assess their application, and their cover may be subject to pre-existing condition exclusions.

Salary-based income protection cover can be changed to unitised cover at any time in Member Online or by using our Change of Insurance form (pdf). Some members may choose to do this if they have a second income they want to cover or because they want to reduce or increase their cover to meet their personal circumstances.

If your client has a 2-year benefit for income protection, their benefit payments will stop if they are deemed to be totally and permanently disabled and receive a TPD payment.

If a member has a 5-year or to age 65 benefit, their income protection benefit payments may continue if they are deemed TPD. They then receive an income protection benefit payment and a TPD payment.

Our definition for TPD according to the SIS Regulations is on an Any Occupation basis.

See the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf) for more information.

Our investment strategy is to invest in a “risk-balanced” way, which means we focus on risk allocation not asset allocation.

What this means practically for our members in our default and other diversified options is decreased equity risk and increased exposure to other asset classes, led by bonds, as well as direct infrastructure, real estate, private equity and alternative investments.

Our risk-balanced investment strategy aims to achieve approximately equal long-term returns to traditional ‘balanced’ portfolios but with reduced volatility and better outcomes in significant downside events.

Find out more about what we invest in.

The QSuper Accumulation account MySuper (default) option is Lifetime, a lifecycle investment option that automatically adjusts a member’s investment strategy based on their age and Lifetime account balance.

The default investment strategy for our Income account (Retirement Income and Transition to Retirement) is the Balanced option.

If your client wants more control over their super, they can choose from our range of our investment options.

We have adopted a diversified strategy to seek long-term, risk-balanced returns in its portfolios by allocating the risk premium across the full range of investment classes. This is an alternative to simply holding more equities to make up the growth assets of a multi-sector portfolio.

While our Lifetime and other Diversified options have similar return objectives to their peers, the asset allocations will often differ, particularly with regards to growth assets. While other more traditional growth portfolios typically rely more heavily on equity exposure, we aim to deliver our objectives with reduced volatility and better outcomes in significant downside events. This is due to the low correlation between fixed income and equities and is a contributor to meeting these return and volatility objectives.

The fixed interest allocation within Lifetime and our other Diversified options differs to the Diversified Bonds option portfolio, as it includes a greater allocation to high return-seeking bonds. These are fixed interest investments which provide diversification and a hedge against inflation and target yield enhancement. They have a similar risk/return profile to equities - noting that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance - but importantly, the returns do not typically exhibit a strong correlation to equities.

This serves to reduce volatility at the overall portfolio level, by lessening the impacts of equity market downturns, but similarly muting strong equity market performance. These assets also have a high duration, increasing meaning the sensitivity of the price of the bond to interest rate movements.