Income protection insurance can help maintain the lifestyle you've built for yourself and your loved ones, by paying a weekly benefit if you are unable to work due to serious illness or injury.

Income protection when you join

Get on with life, knowing you're protected

Depending on your age, employment arrangements, and how you joined QSuper, you may have income protection insurance included as part of your QSuper account. You can check your current level of cover in Member Online.

How much you're insured for

While income protection products typically only protect 75% of your income, QSuper offers up to 87.75%, which includes a payment into your QSuper account.1 This means that if you're unable to work, you can still cover everyday living expenses and continue to grow your super.

How long you'll be paid

If you get sick or injured, you can receive payments for up to two years, giving you time to recover and focus on your health. This is known as a benefit period. You can change your benefit period to receive payments for up to five years or until you reach age 65 in Member Online.2

How long you'll wait

If you make a claim and it is approved, your income protection payments will start 90 days after the date you can't work because of illness or injury (or after you have used up all of your sick leave if this is a longer period of time). This is called a waiting period. You can change your waiting period to 30 or 60 days in Member Online.3

Key QSuper claim statistics

  • 98% Claim acceptance rate4
  • 7,760 Income protection claims paid in 2018-19
  • $188.8m Total paid to members in 2018-19

Cost of income protection insurance

How much you will pay for income protection insurance will depend on your age, income, and employment arrangements. The cost is automatically deducted from your QSuper account, not your take home pay – so there’s no impact on your day-to-day budget.


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Check your current insurance level

Log in to Member Online to see if you have income protection insurance included with your QSuper account. If you don't have cover, you can apply easily online.

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What else to consider

How much cover you need

Everyone's insurance needs are different and how much cover you need will depend on your individual circumstances. Use our Insurance Needs Calculator to get an understanding of how much cover you might need to maintain your current lifestyle.

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Tailor your cover to suit your needs

Our insurance is flexible. You can increase or decrease your level of cover, choose your income protection waiting and benefit periods, cancel or permanently opt in to cover, or change how much you pay to reflect your job.

Change cover

Make an insurance claim

The real value of income protection insurance through your super is when something may happen out of the blue and you need to make a claim. We aim to make the claims process as simple as possible.

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Income protection FAQs Show all Hide all

While income protection products typically only protect 75% of your income, QSuper offers up to 87.75%, which includes a payment into your QSuper account.*

Our default income protection cover is capped at $20,000 per month. If 87.75% of your insured salary is more than that, you can apply for extra cover up to a maximum total benefit of $50,000 a month,^ but you will need to provide us with health and other information.

You cannot apply for cover that is more than 87.75% of your insured salary (or pre-disability income, if you hold unitised cover).


* Cover amount is 87.75% of your insured salary which includes a contribution replacement benefit of 12.75% of insured salary into your QSuper account.
^$50,000 per month is calculated as 87.75% of the first $410,256 of annual income plus 62.75% of the next $382,470 of annual income; expressed as a monthly amount. These figures include a contribution replacement benefit.

If you were eligible to receive income protection insurance when you first joined QSuper through your employer, your income protection will be salary-based.

This means your income protection benefit amount and cost will be based on your insured salary, which is determined using the contributions we receive from your employer.

If you want to be covered for a different amount, or if you didn't receive income protection cover when you first joined QSuper (for example, if you joined online or work on a casual basis), you can apply for unitised cover.

With unitised cover, you can buy cover in "units". Each unit is worth $500 a month, and the cost per unit changes with your age. You can buy as many units as you need (subject to maximum limits) – which is great if you receive income from an employer other than the one putting money in your QSuper account, and you want to be covered for your total income from both jobs.

While you can't be covered for an agreed value with QSuper, you can apply for unitised cover.

With unitised cover, you can buy cover in "units". Each unit is worth $500 a month, and the cost per unit changes with your age. You can buy as many units as you need (subject to maximum limits) – which is great if you receive income from an employer other than the one putting money in your QSuper account, and you want to be covered for your total income from both jobs.

If you have income protection insurance with QSuper, the cost of cover is not tax deductible. However, your income protection insurance is offered through our own insurer who provides affordable bulk insurance rates for our members. Costs are deducted from your super account each month, so there’s no impact on your day-to-day budget. If you take out income protection insurance with a private insurer, you could be eligible to claim a tax deduction on the cost of your cover, but you may pay a higher weekly rate and costs will come out of your take-home pay.

If you are unsure which insurance option is right for you, professional guidance can help.

When you go on maternity or paternity leave, your income protection insurance will continue as long as you have enough money in your account to pay for the insurance premiums. If you have salary-based cover and your parental leave includes a period of leave without pay, we will change your income protection to unitised cover if we do not receive a contribution from your employer for three months.

If we do not receive any money into your account for a continuous period of 13 months, your cover will be cancelled. To stop this from happening, you can choose to permanently opt in to cover, which means cover will continue even if we are not receiving contributions for you.

If you go on leave without pay, your ability to receive a benefit will continue as long as:

  • The time you are on leave without pay isn't longer than 12 months
  • You have a documented return to work date, and
  • You have enough money in your account to pay the insurance premiums.

For more information about what happens to your cover on leave without pay, read the Accumulation Account Insurance Guide (pdf).

Some of the situations where your income protection payments will stop include when:

  • You no longer meet the definition of total and temporary disablement or partial and temporary disablement
  • You turn 65 (or 60 if you're a police officer)
  • You come to the end of your benefit period.

For a full list of when your income protection payments will stop, read the Accumulation Account Insurance Guide (pdf).

If you're currently receiving your full income protection benefit and receive motor accident compensation, social security payments, or any statutory or government payments for loss of income relating to illness or injury, we will reduce your income protection payments by an equivalent amount. Read the Accumulation Account Insurance Guide (pdf) for more information.

If you start receiving Workers' Compensation payments, or your employer starts paying you any annual, recreational, long service, sick, or other personal leave, your income protection payments will be suspended. Read the Accumulation Account Insurance Guide (pdf) for more information.

For more information

For more information about the insurance cover provided through QSuper, see our other Insurance FAQs or read the Accumulation Account Insurance Guide (pdf).