Stapling is the process of linking super accounts to members. A stapled account will follow a member from job to job.

Your employees can still nominate their preferred super account using a Choice of fund form (like ours, available here). 

If they don’t make a choice, you will be required to contact the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to ask for each employee’s stapled fund, and to pay contributions to it.

No, stapling doesn’t override choice of fund.

Much like stapling, choice of fund minimises the creation of multiple accounts. Eligible employees will continue to have choice of fund, which takes priority over stapling. In order to nominate a preferred fund, employees must complete a choice of fund form.

Employees can nominate any fund. You can provide information on your default fund, and the employee could choose that fund even if they don’t have a current account with the default fund. You can’t compel employees to complete the form, or encourage them to choose your default fund.

Employees can choose to change funds at any time, and can advise you by giving you a new choice of fund form.
If an employee hands you a completed choice fund form, you must pay to their nominated fund.

Yes. Employers must check for a stapled fund before making super payments to a default fund or a fund stipulated in an EBA, regardless of whether or not the employee is eligible for choice of fund.

If the EBA was made before 1 January 2021, and it stipulates a fund, the employee doesn’t need to be offered a choice of fund before checking for stapled fund details. If the EBA was made after 1 January 2021, the employee needs to be offered choice of fund.

If your new employee doesn’t nominate a fund using a choice of fund form, you’ll need to find the details of their stapled fund from the ATO.

The ATO hosts a search tool, accessible through ATO online services. Once you’ve supplied the employee’s tax file number declaration or made an initial salary payment to establish an employment relationship, you’ll be able to enter the employee’s details into the tool to find the stapled account.

The ATO will select the stapled fund by following a set of prioritisation guidelines. It will nominate a single super account.

When someone has more than one fund, the ATO will consider such ‘tiebreaker’ factors as the date of account creation, recency of contributions and account balance.

The ATO will nominate a single ‘stapled’ super account. You will not have to select a fund or prioritise.

If the employee provides you with a completed Choice of fund form, you must pay to the chosen fund.

If the employee doesn’t provide you with a completed Choice of fund form, you must visit the ATO search tool to find a stapled fund for the employee.

If there’s no stapled fund for the member, you must pay to your default fund.

(Confused? It’s a lot to take in. This flow chart should help you out.)

If an employee doesn’t have a super account – perhaps this is their first job – and doesn’t nominate one with a Choice of fund form (like ours, available here), you must pay their super into your default fund. 

(Still choosing a default fund? Learn more about partnering with CareSuper here.)

Yes, you still need a default fund. If a new employee doesn’t nominate a fund or doesn’t have an existing fund, you’ll need to pay their contributions to your default fund.

A super fund must meet certain criteria in order to be stapled to a member.

• It must be a complying fund.
• The employee must be a member of the fund.
• The fund must be able to accept contributions from the employer.
• The ATO must be able to disclose information about the member or their fund to the employer.

A stapled fund does not have to be a MySuper fund; that is, it doesn’t have to be the low-cost, simple super solution employers choose as their default product. However, if you’re looking for a MySuper fund, the CareSuper MySuper option is our Balanced (MySuper) option.

YourSuper is an interactive online comparison tool that provides a table of simple super products ranked by fees and investment returns, with links to fund websites.

YourSuper is hosted by the ATO here: YourSuper comparison tool.

YourSuper:

• Provides a table of simple super products (MySuper products) ranked by investment returns and fees
• Links you to super fund websites where you can choose a MySuper product
• Links to your myGov account to show your current super accounts and prompt you to consider consolidating accounts if you have more than one.

The annual performance test aims to protect members from poor outcomes by casting a light on underperforming super funds and bringing more transparency and increased consequences to super fund trustees.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) conducts the annual performance test. APRA is the prudential regulator of the financial services industry and oversees most of the super industry.

The test looks at the long-term performance of MySuper and trustee directed products against clear and objective benchmarks

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) conducts the annual performance tests and notifies funds of the results by 1 September each year.

As part of its assessment, APRA compares the average investment return of MySuper products and trustee directed products over at least five years (net of investment and administration fees) with the return that could have been achieved if the product invested in equivalent benchmark products as determined by APRA (net of the median level of fees) over the same time period.

APRA then publishes the results and confirms which funds passed or failed the test.

CareSuper is one of Australia’s leading super funds, with a track record of outperformance over the long term. You can see details of our investment performance on our Investment performance page.

The annual performance test applies to both MySuper products (the low-cost, simple super solution employers choose as their default product) as well as trustee directed products (‘choice products’ that members can opt to invest their super in). 

CareSuper has passed all performance tests, for all investment options that were assessed. These results, which are available on the APRA website, demonstrate we’re a high-performing fund with a strong focus on delivering quality outcomes to our members.

Our Balanced (MySuper) option has a long history of strong returns, which puts us in the top 10 performing funds over 10, 15 and 20 years in Australia according to SuperRatings.*

*SuperRatings SR50 Balanced (60-76 Median) Index, June 2023. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance and you should consider other factors before choosing a fund or changing your investments.

Our Balanced (MySuper) option was assessed as part of APRA’s 2023 performance test. APRA also assessed the following options under the performance test for trustee directed products:

• Growth
• Alternative Growth
• Sustainable Balanced 
• Conservative Balanced
• Capital Stable
• Fixed Interest

If a fund fails the test – meaning the fund’s actual return is 0.5% below the benchmark or more – APRA will advise the fund. APRA also publishes the performance test results on its website every year.

The fund will then have 28 days to advise its members, using the heading and subject line ‘Important notice about your super product’s performance’. The notice will advise the member how they can change to a super product that may perform better and will direct members to the YourSuper comparison tool.

The notice will also be published on the fund’s website.

It’s important to note that, unless a member takes action after receiving such a letter, they’ll remain with that fund, and can be stapled to underperforming funds. If the member doesn’t want to be stapled to, or remain a member of, an underperforming fund, they will need to take action to leave that fund.

Employers who are paying super contributions to an underperforming fund that can no longer accept new members will also hear from the fund.

If a fund fails the test for two consecutive years, it will not be able to accept new members into that option until they have again passed the test.

• Super trustees are required to act in the best financial interests of members, and
• Trustees need to provide members with key information regarding how they manage and spend their money in advance of each year’s Annual Members Meeting.

CareSuper is an Industry SuperFund. We don’t have shareholders and don’t pay dividends. We operate the fund only to benefit members and act in their best financial interests.

In a short-form summary (single page), funds must provide:

• Total executive remuneration
• Total payments for
  - Promotion
  - Marketing
  - Sponsorship
  - Political donations
  - Industrial body payments
  - Related party payments.

The above statement will also be published on the fund’s website. You can see past details here.

At CareSuper, we already publish much of this information, including financial statements and staff and board remuneration, in our annual reports. You can view our annual reports on our Forms & publications page.