Can't work? There may be insurance inside your super you were never told about

Most working Australians have insurance attached to their super. Many were never told.

If illness or injury has stopped you working, that cover may matter more than anything else in your account. This page explains what the cover is, why so many people don't know about it, and how to find out what you hold. Reading it commits you to nothing.

The not knowing is common, not careless. Super Consumers Australia surveyed 1,526 people and found that 27 per cent were either unsure whether they had insurance in their super (19 per cent) or did not know what their policies were (9 per cent). (Source: Super Consumers Australia, "1 in 4 Australians are in the dark about the insurance in their super", Pulse Spotlight, 27 March 2025.)

What the cover is

TPD stands for total and permanent disability. The Australian Government's Moneysmart website uses the same term. It is the same cover.

Moneysmart explains that TPD insurance can pay a lump sum if illness or injury leaves you unable to work again. It is designed to help with living costs, debts, and medical or rehabilitation expenses when returning to work may no longer be possible.

Super funds often attach other cover too. Many provide income protection insurance, which can pay a monthly amount for a period while you can't work, and most provide life cover.

None of this means you have a claim. It means the cover exists, and it is worth knowing whether you hold it.

Why so many people don't know

Because nobody signed a form. Insurance through super usually starts automatically, without you choosing it. Moneysmart says most super funds will automatically give you life cover and TPD insurance if you are aged 25 or over, and that some funds automatically give you income protection as well.

People who never took out a separate policy often assume they have no insurance at all. That assumption is completely reasonable. For a lot of people, it is also wrong.

A rule of thumb from Moneysmart

Moneysmart puts it this way. Insurance through super does not start automatically if you are a new member under 25, or if your balance is under $6,000, unless you contact the fund and ask for it, or you work in a dangerous job and the fund gives you automatic cover anyway.

Turn that around and it becomes a useful rule of thumb: if you were 25 or older and your balance had passed $6,000, there is a fair chance your fund switched on some default cover, including TPD. Moneysmart also notes that if you already have cover and your balance later falls below $6,000, you usually keep it.

That does not mean everyone in that position holds cover. It means the question is worth asking, and the answer is easy to get.

Old super accounts count too

Cover you have forgotten is still cover. If you have changed jobs over the years, you may have super accounts you've lost track of, and insurance may have been attached to them.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) says its online services can track down your super, including lost member accounts and super the ATO itself is holding for you. That search is free.

Cover can end quietly

Insurance in super does not always stay in place. Moneysmart says that by law, super funds cancel insurance on accounts with no contributions for at least 16 months, and that some funds have their own rules and cancel cover if the balance is too low. Moneysmart also says your fund will contact you before your cover ends.

Two things are worth knowing here. First, finding out where you stand costs nothing, and knowing is better than assuming, even if you do nothing else with the answer. Second, a cancelled policy is not automatically a closed door: depending on the policy, what can matter for a claim is whether the cover was active at the time you became unable to work, not whether it is active today.

How to find out what you hold

Moneysmart lists three main ways:

• call your super fund and ask what insurance is attached to your account
• log in to your super account online
• read your annual statement and the Product Disclosure Statement, called the PDS, which sets out the cover's terms

Whichever way you go, four details are worth writing down:

• what type of insurance you hold, or held
• how much cover applied
• whether the policy was active at the relevant time
• whether any exclusions or definitions could affect a claim

One thing about definitions

Not every TPD policy works the same way. Moneysmart sets out three definitions insurers use. "Own occupation" asks whether you are unable to work again in the job you were doing before. "Any occupation" asks whether you are unable to ever work again in any job suited to your education, training or experience. An "activities of daily living" definition asks whether you are permanently unable to do basic self care tasks such as bathing, dressing or moving around without help, and Moneysmart describes it as the hardest of the three to satisfy.

The definition in a policy shapes how a claim is assessed. It is one of the first things a specialist firm reads.

When this page might matter to you

It may be worth finding out what you hold if:

• illness or injury has stopped you working
• your doctor has said returning to work may be unlikely
• you are living with cancer, chronic pain, a serious injury, or a mental health condition
• you have changed jobs a few times and may have old or lost super accounts
• you simply don't know what insurance sits inside your super

None of these mean you have a claim. They are the situations where this question most often turns out to matter.

Where this leaves you

You can do everything on this page yourself, for free. If you ask, your super fund has to tell you what insurance is attached to your account: the law requires a fund to give a member the information they reasonably need to understand their benefits (Corporations Act 2001, section 1017C). The ATO's online services can find accounts you've lost track of. You don't need us for either.

Sources

• Moneysmart, Insurance through super (ASIC), last updated 18 June 2026.
• Moneysmart, Total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance (ASIC).
• Super Consumers Australia, Pulse Spotlight: 1 in 4 Australians are in the dark about the insurance in their super, 27 March 2025.
• Australian Taxation Office, finding lost and unclaimed super through myGov.
• Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), section 1017C.

If you want to talk any of this through, we'll explain which doors exist for your situation and, if you want, introduce you to a firm on our panel. It costs you nothing. You never pay us. Panel firms do.