Putting Members' Interests First insurance changes

The Australian Government has made changes to when insurance cover is provided through superannuation as part of their Putting Members’ Interests First reforms. These changes aim to protect members under the age of 25 or with low superannuation balances from having their retirement savings unnecessarily eroded by insurance premiums.

These reforms came into effect on 1 April 2020 and only relate to insurance held through an Accumulation account. They don’t apply if you have permanently opted in to cover or are covered by the dangerous occupation exception. See below for more information.

The Australian Government introduced these reforms to make sure young Australians and members with low account balances are not unnecessarily paying for insurance premiums from their super and eroding their retirement savings.

From 1 April 2020, unless you’re covered by the dangerous occupation exception, to automatically receive a new type of cover (including death cover, total and permanent disability (TPD) cover, and/or income protection cover) you will need to:

• Be age 25 or over, and
• Have had an Accumulation account balance of $6,000 or more.

This is in addition to the current eligibility requirements¹ including that you must have received money into your Accumulation account within the last 13 months or have permanently opted in to cover.

This also means that if your employment situation changes, and you do not meet all of the criteria shown above, you may need to apply to receive default insurance cover or an additional type of cover.

If you apply for default insurance cover, a pre-existing exclusion period may apply.²

From 1 April 2020, if you are under age 25, have an Accumulation account with a balance that has not been $6,000, and/or have not received money into your Accumulation account in the last 13 months, any application for insurance cover will be subject to eligibility¹ and you will need to permanently opt in to cover when you apply.

Your insurance cover may have cancelled on 1 April 2020 if:

• Your Accumulation account balance had not been $6,000 or more at any time since 1 November 2019, and
• You haven't permanently opted in to keep your cover.

This cancellation affects any type of cover you had on 31 March 2020 (including death cover, total and permanent disability (TPD) cover, and/or income protection cover).

You can apply for insurance cover and permanently opt in to cover (if needed) in Member Online. 

Emergency services workers are exempt from these changes under the dangerous occupation exception.

Yes, we did contact you via mail or email before 1 April if you were at risk of losing your insurance. If you did not receive any communications from us, you may need to update your personal details in Member Online.

If your illness or injury happened before the date of cancellation, you may still be able to claim on the cover you held.

If you would like to make an insurance claim, contact us on 1300 360 750 to discuss your options.

If you currently have insurance with your QSuper Accumulation account, you can permanently opt in to cover via Member Online. Of course, you can change or cancel your insurance cover at any time.

You can apply to have insurance cover with your Accumulation account at any time. However, from 1 April 2020 any application will be subject to eligibility¹ including: 

• You are aged 25 or older
• Your Accumulation account balance is $6,000 or more
• We have received money into your Accumulation account in the last 13 months.

If you don't meet these criteria, you can still apply for insurance but you will need to permanently opt in.

If you apply for default insurance cover, a pre-existing exclusion period may apply.²

As part of the Government’s changes, superannuation funds could nominate certain dangerous occupations, including emergency services, and exempt from these new rules.

QSuper chose to exclude all employees of the below emergency services from these changes:

• Queensland Police Service (QPS) – all staff, not just police officers
• Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) – all staff, not just paramedics
• Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) – all staff, not just firefighters.

If you work for one of the above employers, you will not be impacted by these changes and your insurance cover will continue unless you cancel it, or we stop receiving money into your Accumulation account for 13 continuous months.³ You can change or cancel your cover at any time.

These reforms allow super funds to select certain occupations to exclude from the new rules. This is called the "dangerous occupation exception" and was included by the Government to recognise that certain occupations carry a higher degree of risk, so super funds can decide that members working in these occupations can continue to receive insurance cover even if they are under age 25 and/or have a super balance of less than $6,000.

There are limited occupations that are allowed to be included under the dangerous occupation exception. The legislation about these reforms specifically says that the exception can be applied to emergency service workers, such as those working for the Queensland Police Service, Queensland Ambulance Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Service.

QSuper is choosing for all employees of these emergency services to be covered by the dangerous occupation exemption.

If you stop working for the Queensland emergency services, you will keep any insurance you have even if you are under age 25 and/or your Accumulation account balance is less than $6,000.

Your cover will still be cancelled if there is not enough money in your account to cover insurance costs, or if no money has been received into your account in the last 13 months. See the Accumulation Account Insurance Guide (pdf) for other circumstances when cover will end. You can choose to keep your cover by permanently opting in via Member Online or by sending us a completed Change of Insurance form (pdf).

If you stop working for the Queensland emergency services and your cover has been cancelled, or you don’t hold a particular type of insurance cover (i.e. income protection cover, total and permanent disability cover, or death cover), the dangerous occupation exception will no longer apply to the types of insurance cover you don’t hold.

This means if you want to automatically receive any new type of cover, you will need to:

• Be over age 25
• Have an Accumulation account balance of $6,000 or more
• Have received money into your account in the last 13 months.

Alternatively, you can permanently opt in to cover when you apply for cover.

Of course, you can change or cancel your insurance cover at any time.

No, your insurance premiums will not automatically increase because of the dangerous occupation exception.

Instead of paying default premium rates, members can request to be occupationally rated.

You can find out how changing your cover will affect your premiums and what occupational rating you are with our Insurance Premium Estimator.

These reforms allow super funds to select certain occupations to exclude from the new rules. This is called the "dangerous occupation exception" and was included by the Government to recognise that certain occupations carry a higher degree of risk, so super funds can decide that members working in these occupations can continue to receive insurance cover even if they are under age 25 and/or have a super balance of less than $6,000.

There are limited occupations that are allowed to be included under the dangerous occupation exception. The legislation about these reforms specifically says that the exception can be applied to emergency service workers, such as those working for the Queensland Police Service, Queensland Ambulance Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Service.

QSuper recognises there are many other occupations that also carry a higher degree of risk. Unfortunately, not all of them can be included in the dangerous occupation exception. We recommend you consider your insurance needs and consider getting professional guidance to make sure you have the right insurance cover for you.

These changes will only affect insurance held with QSuper Accumulation accounts.

These changes do not impact Defined Benefit, Deferred Retirement Benefit, State, or Police accounts.

If you have a Defined Benefit account and have insurance with an Accumulation account, these changes may affect your Accumulation account insurance.

If you are on extended leave, you may not be making contributions to your Accumulation account for a period of time. To avoid having your insurance cancelled while we aren't receiving money into your Accumulation account, you can choose to permanently opt in.³ Of course, you can change or cancel your insurance cover at any time.

These changes do not impact any current claims.

You may be affected by this change if you said yes to insurance when completing your application to join QSuper.

If money was received into your QSuper account before 1 April 2020, and the balance of your account has not been $6,000 or more at any time before 1 April 2020, the insurance you asked for on your application to join would have been cancelled on 1 April 2020.

If money is received into your QSuper account after 31 March 2020, the insurance you asked for on your application to join will start once you are aged 25 and over, and have an Accumulation account balance of $6,000 or more, and we have received money in your account in the previous 13 months.

Default insurance cover is the insurance offered by QSuper that you can generally get without having to provide any medical history or complete any health checks. For details about the default insurance cover applicable to you and other terms and conditions related to default insurance cover, see the Accumulation Account Insurance Guide (pdf).

Permanently opting in to cover means that the types of insurance cover you currently hold (including death cover, total and permanent disability cover, and/or income protection cover) will continue even if:

• You are under 25 years old, and/or
• You have an Accumulation account balance under $6,000, and/or
• We have not received money into your account in the last 13 months.

You can permanently opt in to cover in Member Online or by sending us a completed Change of Insurance form (pdf). Of course, you can change or cancel your insurance cover at any time.

There are various other circumstances when cover will end. Refer to the Accumulation Account Insurance Guide (pdf) for more information.

Everyone's insurance needs are different, so it's important to understand how much cover you have, and whether it is right for your unique circumstances.

You can check your current level of cover in Member Online and use our Insurance Needs Calculator to see how much insurance you might need.

Read the Accumulation Account Insurance Guide (pdf) to find out more information about these changes. If you need any help, call us on 1300 360 750.