Can't work? How to find out what cover you hold inside your super

Most working Australians have insurance attached to their superannuation, their super. Many were never told. If illness or injury has stopped you working, it is worth finding out what you hold before assuming there is no support left.

This page walks through how to find out, step by step. Every step is free, and you can do all of it yourself.

What the cover is called

The government's Moneysmart site explains that most super funds, other than self managed funds, offer three types of insurance to their members:

• Life cover, also called death cover. It pays a lump sum or income stream to your beneficiaries when you die or you have a terminal illness.
• Total and permanent disability cover, called TPD. Moneysmart says it pays a benefit if you become seriously disabled and you are unlikely to work again. How each policy defines that varies.
• Income protection, also called salary continuance. It pays a regular income for a set time if you cannot work due to illness or injury. Moneysmart gives two years, five years or up to a certain age as examples of that period.

Moneysmart adds that most funds will automatically give you life cover and TPD if you are aged 25 or over, and that some funds automatically give income protection too.

None of this means you have a claim. It means the account you already have may hold cover you were never told about. Finding out costs nothing.

Is this worth your energy?

It may be, if any of these fit:

• You have stopped working because of illness or injury.
• You are not sure what insurance sits inside your super.
• You have changed jobs a few times, so you may have more than one fund.
• You think you may have old or forgotten super accounts.

One more thing worth knowing. Moneysmart says 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 provides cover anyway. So if you were 25 or older and your balance had passed $6,000, there is a reasonable chance your fund switched cover on.

Step 1: Ask your fund what you hold

The fastest way to find out is a phone call. If you ask, your 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). You can ask:

• What insurance cover do I have on this account?
• How much is each type of cover for?
• Is the cover still active? Has it ever lapsed or been switched off?
• Can you send me the policy document and the insurance section of my statement?

If phone calls are hard right now, the same questions work by email or through the fund's member portal. "I'm not sure" is a fine answer to anything they ask you.

Step 2: Read the insurance section of your statement

Your annual statement, and your fund's member portal if you use one, will usually have an insurance section. It lists the type of cover and the amount.

If that section is blank or missing, treat it as a question, not an answer. Some statements only summarise. It is worth asking the fund directly before concluding you hold nothing.

Step 3: Look for super you may have forgotten

If you have worked for different employers, you may have more than one account, and old accounts are easy to lose track of. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) says you can see all of your super accounts, including lost super and super the ATO itself holds, through its online services in myGov.

A caution before you tidy anything up. Moneysmart says to check your insurance before changing super funds or closing an account, and notes that if you are over 60 or have a pre-existing medical condition you may not be able to get the cover you want afterwards. If you are unwell and think you may need that cover, it is worth finding out what each account holds before closing any of them.

Why old accounts can still matter

If you stopped work a while ago, the cover that was in place at the time can still matter, depending on the policy. So a fund you left years ago is not automatically irrelevant. Working out what an old policy says, and whether it can respond, is a job for a licensed professional. We do not assess that, and nothing on this page can.

Early release of super is a separate door

Separate from any insurance claim, super itself can sometimes be released early. The ATO says this is only possible in very limited circumstances: compassionate grounds, severe financial hardship, a terminal medical condition, temporary incapacity and permanent incapacity. Each category has its own rules and evidence requirements. The details matter here, so this door is worth walking through with proper guidance rather than guesswork.

Where the three steps leave you

You will usually know three things: which funds you have, whether insurance is attached, and what type. What you will not know is whether a claim would succeed. That depends on the policy wording and your medical situation, and it is a decision for licensed professionals.

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. Panel firms work no win, no fee, and each will explain its own costs before you agree to anything.

Sources

• Moneysmart, Insurance through super (ASIC), last updated 18 June 2026.
• Australian Taxation Office, Early access to super.
• Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), section 1017C.