Qsuper Income Protection Reviews
Kum Dana
Income protection insurance can help maintain the lifestyle you've built for yourself and your loved ones, by paying a weekly benefit if you're temporarily unable to work due to an illness or injury.
Depending on your age, employment arrangements, and account balance, you may have income protection insurance included as part of your QSuper account. You can check your current level of cover in Member Online.
Our income protection cover can protect up to 87.75% of your income, which includes a 12.75% payment to your QSuper Accumulation account.1 This means that if you're unable to work, you can still cover everyday living expenses and continue to grow your super.
If you're sick or injured, you may get payments for up to 2 years, giving you time to recover and focus on your health. This is known as a benefit period. Your benefit period is the maximum period of time we can pay you an income protection benefit.
If you make a claim and it's approved, your income protection payments will start 90 days after the date you can't work because of illness or injury (or after you've 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.2
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.
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 by applying an occupational rating.
1.In summary, your insured salary is the salary notified to us by your Queensland Government or default employer for your permanent full-time or part-time employment. See the Insurance Guide (pdf) for full details.
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'll change your income protection to unitised cover if we don't get a contribution from your employer for 3 months.
If you're currently receiving your full income protection benefit and receive Workers' Compensation payments, 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 QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf) for more information.
If your employer starts paying you any annual, recreational, long service, sick, or other personal leave, your income protection payments will be suspended. Read the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf) for more information.
1. Salary-based income protection cover is set at 87.75% of your insured salary which includes a contribution replacement benefit of 12.75% of insured salary into your QSuper account.
2. If you work for the Queensland Police Service as a police officer, your waiting period will be 180 days or accrued sick leave plus approved Queensland Police Service sick leave bank, whichever is greater. You can't change your waiting period.
3. For period 1 January - 31 December 2022. Source: APRA Life Insurance Claims and Disputes Statistics, published 18 April 2023.
One of the benefits of having insurance cover through your super fund is that the costs are paid directly from your super account, so your family are protected without affecting your day-to-day budget.
QSuper insurance is designed to be flexible so as circumstances change, so can your cover. You can change your level of cover by logging into Member Online or by using the Change of Insurance form (pdf). If you need help, please contact us.
To find out what your occupational rating is and how this could affect the cost of your insurance, use our Insurance Premium Estimator. You can also occupationally rate your premiums through Member Online.
More information about occupational ratings.
As part of opening a QSuper Accumulation account through your Queensland Government or default employer, you will be provided with death cover and TPD cover if you are eligible. You may also be provided with income protection cover depending on your circumstances.
When your insurance cover starts will depend on your employment arrangements, your age, and your account balance. Under current legislation, you also need to have received money into your QSuper Accumulation account in the past 13 months to be eligible for insurance.
There are a few circumstances where your insurance cover will end. For example, your death cover, TPD cover, and/or income protection cover will be cancelled if we don't receive any money into your account for a continuous period of 13 months, or if there is not enough money in your account to cover the insurance costs. You can also cancel your insurance at any time via Member Online if you feel it is not right for your needs. Refer to the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf) for more information about the circumstances when cover will end.
You can choose to have your death cover, TPD cover, and/or income protection cover continue even if we stop receiving money into your QSuper Accumulation account by permanently opting in to cover. This makes sure we won't cancel your cover if no money goes into your account for 13 months.
You can permanently opt in to cover in Member Online. For more information about what happens to your insurance cover if we are no longer receiving contributions into your account, read the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf).
You 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. For more information about bringing your insurance with you, read the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf) or contact us.
We can't pay your insurance claim if it is caused directly or indirectly by certain things, including war, criminal activity, deliberately hurting yourself, or a pandemic illness that occurs within the first 30 days after getting insurance or increasing your insurance.
In addition, you might have a pre-existing condition - an illness or injury where you had signs or symptoms of it before your insurance started or increased. In that case, your insurance might have a pre-existing exclusion period (a time during which we won't pay a claim for the condition) or an exclusion (limited or no cover).
Some of our insurance cover comes with a 'pre-existing exclusion' period where we won't pay out an insurance benefit if you had signs or symptoms of your illness or injury before your cover with us began.
In most circumstances, you will have no pre-existing exclusion period on your default cover once you have been at work for 30 consecutive days following your cover start date. Being 'at work' has a particular definition, which you can find in the QSuper Insurance Guide (pdf).
If you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness that's likely to result in your death within 24 months, you may be able to access your superannuation balance and any death benefit insurance cover that you hold with an Accumulation account. For more information and the full definition of terminal illness, read the Claiming a Terminal Medical Condition Benefit factsheet (pdf).
To learn more about automatic insurance in a QSuper Accumulation account, read our Insurance in Super Key Facts Sheet (pdf). Or if you work for the Queensland Government or a default employer, read the Insurance in Super Key Facts Sheet for Queensland Government and default employers (pdf).
Carefully consider your needs and review how much you're insured for, how much you're paying (your insurance premiums), and other terms and conditions like pre-existing exclusions, waiting periods, and benefit periods. You should also consider the impact paying insurance premiums out of your super will have on your retirement savings.
If you choose to consolidate your accounts, your insurance cover will not automatically be transferred from one account to another - but you can request for your insurance to be transferred over before you consolidate your accounts. If you consolidate your accounts before transferring your insurance cover, the insurance on the account you're closing will be cancelled. There are a few things to consider when consolidating your accounts.
You can get help interpreting or translating letters or emails from us. Please call the Australian Government's Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) on 131 450. It's open 24/7 (all day, every day).
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