For all members
Lower fees
In March 2022, we introduced a new Trustee Fee following changes to super law. This fee is paid to the Trustee and held in a reserve for use in the event that the Trustee or its Directors incur penalties for breaches or similar events.
The Trustee Fee currently forms part of your administration fees and costs (0.0165% p.a. of your account balance) and investment fees and costs (0.0155% p.a. of your account balance invested in non-Choiceplus investments).
We’re pleased to advise that we’re going to remove the Trustee Fee from 1 September 2024. For a Hostplus Superannuation and Personal Super member with $50,000 invested in the Hostplus Balanced option, this means a saving of $16 p.a. That means more money in your account, where it belongs.
For members with Hostplus insurance cover
Lower insurance premiums and better cover
We’ve renegotiated the terms of our insurance cover to deliver better protection for eligible members.
From 1 October 2024, all Hostplus members with automatic Death and Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD) insurance cover will pay lower premiums, with an average cost saving of 13% across all age groups. What's more - all eligible insured members will have access to enhanced terms and conditions.
We’ve summarised the key changes below. Full changes with detailed explanations can be found in the Significant Event Notice dated 12 August 2024.
We're improving our automatic insurance design so it’s easier to understand
Our automatic (also referred to as default) insurance cover is currently referred to as ‘unitised’ cover. That means your level of Death and Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD) insurance is based on the number of units of cover you hold, which depends on your age.
From 1 October 2024, we’re simplifying this design for members with automatic Death and/or TPD insurance, to remove the reference to units. Your level of cover from 1 October 2024 will be the same as your level of cover on 30 September 2024, but it will now be based on your age rather than based on a number of units.
And we’re changing the way we calculate your insurance premiums
Currently, the cost of your automatic insurance cover is based on the number of Death and TPD units you hold (which change as you age), and your occupational rating.
From 1 October 2024, the cost of your automatic cover will depend on your age and gender - male, female or unisex - your occupational rating and the level of Death and TPD cover you hold. This means your premiums will be more accurately tailored to your personal circumstances.
The result? All members with unitised Death and TPD cover will transition to age-based unisex premium rates and the majority of these members will pay lower premiums from 1 October 2024.
It's important to note:
- You will stay on the age-based unisex premium rates until you make a change to your cover, then male or female premium rates will apply.
We’re also making it easier for members to qualify for TPD
We're improving our TPD eligibility by enabling more members to be assessed under Part 1 of our TPD definition (“Unlikely to work in a suited occupation ever again”). We're doing this by:
- raising the age limit on claims from 65 to 67
- extending the period you can be unemployed and still make a claim from 12 months to 16 months.
Members can now hold Income Protection cover later in life
We’re helping more members access Income Protection cover. From 1 October 2024, we’re increasing:
- the maximum expiry age (when a member’s cover ceases) from age 65 to 70 for our 2-year and 5-year benefit periods
- the maximum entry age from 64 to 69.
This means older members can hold Income Protection insurance cover, with the aim to provide peace of mind later in life.
We want to make it clearer that you can change your occupational rating (and possibly pay lower premiums)
Occupational ratings are applied to different types of work and are used when calculating your insurance premiums. If you receive automatic Death and TPD cover, you’re currently assigned a ‘Standard’ occupational rating. This may not clearly reflect that you can update your occupational rating and possibly pay lower insurance premiums.
If you’re currently assigned the ‘Standard’ occupational rating, we will update this to ‘Unknown’ from 1 October 2024. If you're starting or recommencing automatic insurance from 1 October 2024, you'll be assigned the ‘Unknown’ occupational rating, unless we know what your occupation is.
We’re also creating a new ‘Professional’ occupational rating for Income Protection, which may reduce your premiums
From 1 October 2024, if you meet the criteria for a 'Professional' occupational rating, your Income Protection premium rates will reduce. Currently, these members pay Income Protection premiums based on the 'White Collar' occupational rating.
And we’re covering more occupations to help us protect more members
We’re removing the ‘Excluded Occupation’ lists so that more members will now be able to apply for:
- automatic insurance cover if they join us by choice, or
- additional cover if they joined through their employer.
We’re also introducing a new ‘Special Risk’ occupational rating which means that members can now access cover who previously couldn’t because of their job.
We’ve increased the amount of cover you can transfer into Hostplus
If you have insurance with other super funds or policies, you can apply to transfer this cover into Hostplus.
We’re increasing cover transfer limits for Death and TPD from a maximum of $1.5 million to $2 million.
If you’re transferring Income Protection cover, you can transfer the lesser of:
- $20,000 (increased from $10,000) per month, for a maximum benefit period of 2 or 5 years
- 90% of your pre-disability income (unchanged)
- $10,000 per month for a maximum benefit period to age 65 (unchanged).
We’re improving additional cover for specific life events
Currently, members can increase their Death and TPD cover when a significant life event occurs (e.g. marriage, divorce, or taking out a mortgage). We’re now extending this offer to members with existing Income Protection cover.
We’re improving the special insurance offer for members
Eligible members can apply to increase their automatic Death and TPD insurance, and opt-in to Income Protection insurance, without the need to complete lengthy paperwork or supply medical information. We're improving this special insurance offer with the aim of providing more cover and more opportunity for eligible members to apply.
From 1 October 2024, eligible new members can apply for a pre-packaged multiple of 2, 3 or 4 times the automatic age-based level of cover. We're also increasing the amount of Income Protection cover a member can apply for from $4,000 per month to $5,000 per month.
Members can apply within 60 days of the date their automatic cover commences (that is, when the member opts in for automatic cover, or is 25 years or older and has an account balance of at least $6,000).