When a stroke means you can't go back to work
Many working Australians have insurance attached to their super. Most were never told. After a stroke, one kind of that cover matters most: cover for when going back to work is not likely.
This page explains it in plain English. Short sections. You can stop at any point.
What a stroke can leave behind
A stroke can change more than movement.
- Weakness or paralysis, often on one side.
- Trouble with speech, or finding words.
- Memory, concentration and decision-making.
- Fatigue that does not lift.
- Changes to vision.
- Slower thinking.
- Changes in mood.
Some of these are visible. Many are not. For work, the invisible ones can matter just as much.
The words to know
TPD stands for total and permanent disability. It is a type of insurance. Many super funds include it in their members' accounts automatically.
A TPD benefit is a payment that can be made when a person is unlikely to return to work they are suited to. Whether it applies depends on the policy. Every fund writes its definition a little differently.
Some super accounts also include income protection: payments made monthly, for a period, while a person cannot work.
What usually matters under a policy
Policies vary. These are the things they usually look at.
- Whether work has stopped, and whether a return to the usual work is considered unlikely.
- Whether the effects are ongoing, or expected to be.
- Whether cover was in place when work stopped.
- Whether the treating doctors can describe the effects in writing.
None of this is a test you pass or fail on a website. A licensed professional reads the policy and looks at your situation. We do not do that part, and we will never tell you whether you have a claim.
The invisible effects belong in the evidence
Claims paperwork often focuses on physical recovery. Memory, fatigue, communication and mood can affect work just as much. If they are part of your life after the stroke, they belong in what your doctors write.
If you have partly recovered
Partial recovery does not close the door on its own. The question a policy usually asks is not "has there been improvement". It is whether a return to work suited to the person's training and experience is considered likely. Depending on the policy, a person who has recovered in some ways may still be covered.
If you are reading this for someone else
That is common after a stroke. A family member or carer can often help with the process, especially where speech or memory is affected. You are welcome to be the one who calls.
A note about older super accounts
Insurance attached to a super account can switch off if the account sits without contributions. Moneysmart, the Australian Government's money guidance website, says that by law, super funds cancel insurance on accounts with no contributions for at least 16 months, and that some funds also cancel cover if the balance is too low. It also says your fund will contact you before your cover ends. That is set by rules, not by anything you did. What usually matters for a claim is the cover that was in place when you stopped work.
Your super fund can tell you what insurance is attached to your account. Call them and ask. If you ask, they have to answer: the law requires a fund to give a member the information they reasonably need to understand their benefits (Corporations Act 2001, section 1017C). It costs nothing.
Where we fit
ClaimsGuide explains the systems. We do not run claims, assess anyone's policy, or give legal or financial advice. If you want, we introduce you to a firm on our panel that handles this type of claim. Panel firms work no win, no fee, and each one explains its own costs before you agree to anything.
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. "I'm not sure" is a fine answer to any question we ask.
Sources
- Moneysmart, Insurance through super (ASIC), last updated 18 June 2026.
- Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), section 1017C.
Enquiries open soon. When they do, the contact page is where to reach us: we'll explain which doors exist for your situation and, if you want, introduce you to a firm on our panel. You never pay us. Panel firms do.
We try twice, then we stop. There is no third call and no marketing list.
Which of these sounds like where you are?
I don't know where to start
The whole interview from the first question, with nothing assumed and nothing pre-filled. Not knowing where to start is a situation this tool is built for, not a failure to have picked a better door.
I'm looking into this for someone else
For a partner, a family member or a friend. Question one asks who this is for, and the answer changes the page: what a fund or a scheme will tell you today without any paperwork, and what waits for a signed authority. Most of it can be done without them.
I'm on workers comp, the TAC (Transport Accident Commission), Comcare or the DSP (Disability Support Pension)
For a reader who already knows who pays. Picking the scheme here fills question 3, and the interview goes straight to what has arrived and what has changed.
My payments have stopped or changed
Starts from the money. The payments-stopped event is ticked at question 2, and the next question is who pays, because who pays decides whose published rules the change runs under.
I've had a letter and don't understand it
I heard the rules changed and I don't know if it's about me
Rules change, and most changes only reach claims first made on or after a set date. The interview asks roughly when the claim was made, and the page names the rules it drew and the date each one was checked. Not knowing that date is a normal answer, and the page names who can tell you.
I've been off work a long time
Most of what this tool can show runs on time from when work stopped. The stopped-work event is ticked at question 2 already, and the interview asks who pays, then the month and year work stopped.
I want to know what insurance I might have
The super branch. Insurance is commonly attached to super accounts, including accounts since closed, merged or rolled over, and what is attached to an account is a question a fund can answer without any claim existing. This door asks who pays now, the date work stopped, and the funds held around then.
My situation isn't one of these
Including Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT
Situations this tool does not describe yet.
This tool draws the published timetables it has checked: workers compensation in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, the TAC, Comcare and the DSP. If the situation is not in that list, this page will not guess at it.
For Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT: we have not checked those rulebooks yet, so no scheme timetable is drawn for them. The parts that are national still apply: super, insurance inside super, and Centrelink. The interview can still run for those parts, and the page it builds says plainly which parts have not been checked.
Whatever the situation, three routes are open and free: the claims line printed on any letter about the claim, the member line of any super fund held when work stopped, and Legal Aid in every state and territory.