Income protection insurance
Income protection insurance
If you need to take extended time off work to recover from an injury or illness, income protection insurance can help pay the bills.
Where eligible, you can be paid a benefit of up to 87% of your monthly pre-disability income. This includes 12% super payments. You can apply to receive benefits to age 70 under the 2-year benefit period. You can choose to receive a benefit for up to 2 years, 5 years or to age 65 while you're medically unable to work.
Check your eligibility
You can apply for income protection insurance if you’re:
- Aged at least 15 and under 70
- Earning at least $16,000 p.a. through ongoing work or working at least 15 hours each week
- A full-time, part-time, self-employed or casual worker or contractor.
Income protection insurance is only available as voluntary cover and isn’t included as standard cover. You can apply for income protection insurance at any time (subject to eligibility).
Read your Insurance Guide to find out more information, including any extra eligibility criteria and conditions.
Cost of income protection insurance
The cost of income protection insurance is based on your gender, age, occupational category and your chosen waiting period and benefit period.
See your relevant Insurance Guide and Fact sheet (if applicable to you) for details on the cost of cover including how it’s calculated and when it’s deducted from your account.
Calculate your insurance costs
See how much income protection insurance costs and how making changes could affect the fees you pay using our insurance calculator.
Your occupation makes a difference to your cover
There are two occupational categories — General and Professional — each reflecting the level of risk associated with different roles and occupations.
You can apply to change your occupational category to pay less for your cover or get more for a slight increase in fees.
Apply for TPD cover in the ‘Insurance section’ of MemberOnline , or complete and return an Insurance application form.
Income protection insurance provides a temporary replacement income if you’re unable to work due to illness or injury (specific conditions apply). This means you can continue to pay your bills while taking time to recover and recuperate.
To qualify for an income protection benefit, you must suffer (while insured) an illness or injury that meets the definition of total disability or partial disability and have been unable to work for the applicable waiting period.
Premium loadings and/or exclusions may apply to some members. To find out more, read your Insurance Guide.
No, income protection doesn’t provide a benefit payment if you’re made redundant or dismissed from your employment. Income protection is designed to be a temporary replacement income if you’re unable to work due to illness or injury.
The waiting period starts from the date of disablement (that prevents you from being able to work). You can choose a waiting period of 30, 60 or 90 days. Different fees apply depending on the waiting period you choose.
The benefit period is the maximum amount of time benefits may be paid for and begins at the end of the waiting period. You can choose a 'to age 65' benefit period or 2-year or a 5-year benefit period. Different fees apply depending on the benefit period you choose.
There are two occupational categories: General and Professional. Your occupational category can make a difference to the amount or cost of your insurance cover.
You automatically go into the General category. If the work you do is limited to professional, managerial, secretarial or similar ‘white collar’ tasks, you may qualify for the Professional category and receive more cover for a slight increase in fee or keep the same cover and pay less. See your Insurance Guide and Fact sheet (if applicable) for more information.