redundancy and your super
Facing redundancy or losing your job can be extremely difficult. Along with the stress of finding a new job, you usually need to make some important decisions about your short and long-term financial future.
One small but significant step you can take is to find other super you might have and combine it all into one account*.
Combining your super could mean you’ll stop paying multiple fees across multiple super accounts.
Your super is your money. Just like a savings account, the more that’s in it – the more it could earn.
That’s why it’s important to consider keeping all your super together, in one happy place.
* Check your insurance cover and any other benefits you have before you combine accounts. If you're unsure, consider seeking financial advice before making any decisions.
Combine online - it's easy
You just need to log in to your account and go to the ‘Combine’ tab. It only takes a few minutes. Make sure you have your identification details handy.
Before you get started, make sure you review any other benefits, such as insurance cover, that you have through your other fund/s.
Members receive automatic insurance with HESTA when they become eligible, unless they choose not to have it.
Automatic insurance includes Income Protection Cover, which pays a monthly benefit to support you if you can’t work due to illness or injury, and Death Cover, which provides a lump-sum benefit to help look after your loved ones if something happens to you.
If you have Income Protection Cover, you remain covered for up to 90 days after you stopped working. If you are unemployed for more than 90 days, you will not be able to claim from your Income Protection Cover after those 90 days, even if you continue paying insurance fees for the cover. As soon as you start working again, you will be covered for and be able to claim from your Income Protection Cover.
You may like to check if your cover is still appropriate and at the right level for your changing circumstances. Start by checking your current cover in your online account and decide if it’s the right cover for you.
Once your insurance cover starts, it continues throughout your HESTA membership unless you cancel it, become inactive or don’t have enough money in your super account to pay your insurance fees.
It’s important to be aware that if we don’t receive any contributions or roll-ins into your account for a continuous period of 16 months, your account will be considered inactive and your insurance cover will exppire.
Your cover may also stop if your balance falls below $6,000. And if this happens, we won’t be able to provide you with insurance cover unless you’ve told us you want to keep it.
Tell us if you'd like to keep your insurance cover
To keep your insurance cover, just log in to your account, go to the Preferences section and choose ‘Please keep my insurance cover if I become inactive’.
Super is typically only available if you retire.
However, if you’re finding the financial strains of retrenchment or losing your job challenging, you may be able to apply for early access to part of your super.
Find out more about accessing your super or contact us.
If you have a spouse or partner, they could add a bit extra to your super while you’re not working.
On top of boosting your balance, your partner may even be eligible to get a tax offset that could benefit both of you.
If your income is less than $37,000 per year, your partner can make after-tax contributions to your super and claim an 18% tax offset on up to $3,000. That means the maximum offset is $540.
The offset also applies to spouses earning less than $40,000 per year, but it reduces by $1 for every $1 of total income over $37,000.
And you get regular contributions into your account, which, over time, grows with investment returns - all adding up to a higher super balance in retirement. It’s a win-win.
Eligibility criteria applies. You can visit the ATO website to find out more, or seek financial advice about your own situation.
If you’re in a relationship, your partner may be able to pay some of their before-tax super contributions into your account (or vice versa) to keep your super growing.
There are limits on how much super your partner can split into your account. The maximum amount of your partner's super that can be split is the lesser of:
- 85% of the before-tax contributions made in the financial year OR
- the before-tax contributions cap for that financial year*.
Contribution splitting is available to people in same or opposite sex de facto relationships – you don’t have to be married.
Your partner would need to contact their super fund to check they also offer contribution splitting and whether any fees apply.
* For members with a total super balance of under $500,000 at the end of the previous financial year, you may be eligible for a higher contributions cap through unused concessional contributions.
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