Super scandal

Could you be paying income insurance you never signed up for, that’s eating up your hard-earned nest egg?

Statement from REST Super

As part of its MySuper reforms, the Government made Death and TPD cover a mandatory part of superannuation.  Echoing the Government’s recognition of the importance of insurance as part of superannuation, Rest also provides Income Protection insurance on an opt-out basis to all members.

We believe this provides important protection for those members working in part-time, casual and low-income jobs, who would otherwise be ineligible for insurance cover from other providers, or which might otherwise be unaffordable.

While we can’t comment on this matter due to privacy laws, Rest proactively and openly communicates with members to help them understand their insurance cover.

When a member joins the fund, we advise them of their insurance cover as part of a welcome letter and then two weeks later we send a separate communication to remind them of the insurance we provide.  The Rest app also prominently provides information on a member’s insurance cover.

We are committed to making it easier for our members to understand and manage our insurance products.

When a member decides that insurance is not appropriate for their needs, we make it easy for them to opt-out of their cover online, over the phone, via the Rest app or through email.

Rest also supports initiatives to reduce the number of Australians with multiple superannuation accounts, to help avoid unnecessary costs. We also proactively support our members to consolidate their superannuation into a single account. 

As a not-for-profit superannuation fund, Rest provides insurance to more than 1.5 million members. In the 12 months to 30 June 2017, Rest paid more than 5,100 insurance claims including more than 3,000 Income Protection and 1,000 Total and Permanent Disablement claims.