Protecting Your Super

Under legislation, we’re required to stop maintaining the insurance cover held through a member’s super account from 1 July 2019, if: 

• your client’s account becomes inactive for a continuous period of 16 months, because it hasn’t received any amounts such as a contribution or a rollover, and
• your client hasn’t elected to retain their insurance cover even in these circumstances.

To comply with the legislation, we’re required to contact your clients when their account has been inactive for certain specified periods and provide them with the opportunity to confirm they want to continue with the insurance cover. This legislation was passed to ensure that superannuation account balances are not eroded by insurance premiums for cover that members are not aware they hold or no longer need.

We’ll write to your clients who have not made an election to and are inactive for nine, 12 and 15 months before their insurance is cancelled to provide further opportunities to opt in.

If you have clients who would like to opt in, they can do this anytime via Computershare by making an election online.

All your client needs to do is go to  computershare.com.au/super and enter their account number and postcode when prompted

Please note if you have clients who have not opted in and their account is inactive for a continuous period of 16 months, the insurance cover will be cancelled.    

Under the legislation, we can only accept the insurance election directly from your clients.

If the insurance has ended on or after 1 July 2019 and your client would like to obtain cover again, they’ll need to reapply for cover by contacting their insurer. Please note, the new insurance application may be subject to underwriting and acceptance by the Insurer.

From 1 July 2019, certain fees for accounts with a balance of less than $6,000 are capped at 3% of the account balance on the last day of a financial year. Where these fees have been charged in excess of this amount, we need to refund the excess amount back to members within 3 months. 

Where applicable, we’re required to transfer account balances to the ATO. 

Where an account is an ‘inactive low-balance account’, we’ll be required to transfer the balance to the ATO. Transfers are required by 30 April and 31 October each year.