Income Protection Insurance

Income Protection helps you feel confident in your family’s financial security. It can help replace up to 75% of your income for a period of time if you find yourself out of action due to sickness or injury and need to maintain your lifestyle.

Comprehensive cover up to 75% of your income up to $10,000 a month
Flexibility to tailor your policy
Quick and easy to apply

Get a quick quote

Or call 13 11 55

Save up to 10% on premiums every year

Take out a quote and purchase by 2 December 2024 and save 5% for the life of your policy + existing customers save an extra 5%^{^}.

T&Cs apply.

What is Income Protection?

Features & Benefits

How to choose your policy

How to apply

FAQs

What is Income Protection Insurance?

If you experience illness or injury and you’re unable to work, income protection insurance provides regular, monthly payments for a specified time, so you can continue to pay your bills and living expenses. With Suncorp, you can receive up to 75% of your pre-tax income, up to $10,000/month.

Income protection features & benefits

What's Included

Comprehensive cover amount per month

Up to $10,000 a month or 75% of income*
Increases yearly in line with inflation

*75% of the average of the last

12 months’ pay at time of claim

Claim waiting period (time off work before claim is payable)

Your choice of a 14, 28, 60 or 90 day waiting period after you’ve lodged a claim

See how it works

Benefit period

Receive income payments for 6 to 60 months – you choose!

When your benefit is paid

Benefits build up from the end of the waiting period (after a successful claim has been made) and are then paid monthly in arrears.

Assistance returning to work

Partial benefits are paid to supplement earning capacity, to assist your return to work on claim benefit periods of 24 and 60 months.

Recovery Support Benefit

If you’re confined to bed, you may receive extra financial support for the first two months of the claim period. This could help cover expenses for childcare, nursing care, housekeeping, travel to medical appointments and more.

Cover for mental health and pre-existing conditions

Subject to meeting health assessment criteria.

5% off your premium with our multi-policy discount

If you’re an existing Suncorp Insurance customer.

Get a quick quote

View our operating hours

Optional add-on

Accidental Injury Benefit

Designed to help you and your family with the financial strain of accidental injury, this will backdate the benefit payment to the date of your accidental injury, if it results in:

Being totally out of action for the duration of the claim waiting period
Remaining totally out of action beyond the end of the claim waiting period and eligible to receive a benefit or partial benefit
The total benefits paid on any claim is up to the maximum claim benefit period nominated on your policy. The Accident Benefit Option is available if you take out Income Protect Plus Cover with a 14 or 28 day claim waiting period.

What's Not Included?

No benefit will be payable if the sickness or injury is caused directly or indirectly by:

Pregnancy
Self-harm
Drug and alcohol related sickness or injury
Criminal activity
War and terrorism

Other exclusions may apply, including other specific exclusions agreed upon with you first and as listed in the policy schedule. Please see the PDS for further details.

Want to know more?

For full details of what is and isn’t covered, please refer to the PDS.

How does income protection work?

Income protection provides monthly payments if you’re unable to work due to illness or injury. You’ll serve certain waiting periods for income protection. You can choose a waiting period between 14 and 90 days, which means your benefit period will begin after that amount of time has passed.

You can choose a benefit period between 6 and 60 months.

If you find yourself out of action due to sickness or injury, income protection can step in.

Suncorp Income protection provides up to 75% of your income up to $10,000 per month with flexibility to tailor your policy. And with extra Recovery Support benefits to assist with childcare or housekeeping and a financial supplement to assist your return to work, Suncorp Life will be there so unpredicted illness or injury doesn’t have to change your family’s lifestyle.

You choose the waiting period - the length of time before you receive your first payment - and the benefit period - how long you’ll receive payments for. It’s flexible and can be tailored to your needs, lifestyle and budget.

Benefits paid can be used towards everyday expenses such as rent or mortgage, groceries, medical expenses, childcare and more.

Paying bills can be stressful at the best of times, and it’s even worse if you’re struck by unexpected illness or injury. Suncorp Income Protection gives you the reassurance that your lifestyle is protected, knowing you are supported whatever comes your way. That’s the Suncorp spirit.

Get a quote

General advice only. You should consider if the advice is right for you and read the PDS available at suncorp.com.au/policy-documents before making a decision to buy or continue to hold a product. The Target Market Determination (TMD), where applicable, for the product is available on our website at suncorp.com.au/policy-documents.

This video is brought to you by TAL Direct Pty Limited 39 084 666 017 AFSL 243260. Products are issued by TAL Life Limited ABN 70 050 109 450 AFSL 237848 (TAL Life or insurer) which is part of the TAL Dai-ichi Life Australia Pty Limited ABN 97 150 070 483 group of companies (TAL). TAL Life is not part of the Suncorp Group. TAL Life uses the Suncorp brand under licence from the Suncorp Group.

Is income protection worth it?

Paying bills can be stressful if you’re struck by an unexpected illness or injury. Suncorp Income Protection Insurance provides peace of mind with regular monthly payments for a period of time to help keep your life on track if something goes wrong. There’s also built in financial assistance when returning to work and extra support for childcare to help protect your family.

Take the stress out of worrying about how you would cover your bills, get a quote.

Calculate your income protection cover

Help take control of your finances with Suncorp Income Protection, which you can tailor to suit your budget. How much you pay will depend on a few things, like your job, lifestyle and medical history, and the cover amount for bills and lifestyle costs. Get an income protection insurance quote online to see how you can personalise your policy.

Suncorp Life offers flexible cover so you can choose the right policy for you. For instance, if you have savings and you can afford a longer waiting period, you can select a 90-day waiting period and reduce your monthly premium.

Use the Income Protection Calculator to get an indication of how much cover you may need.

Try the Income Protection Calculator

How to choose an income protection policy

Here are some things to consider when choosing income protection insurance.

Policy type: indemnity value policy or agreed value policy

Income protection comes in two policy types: indemnity value or agreed value.

Indemnity value policy: this policy type insures you for a percentage of your salary at the time you make a claim. Suncorp Income Protection Insurance pays up to 75% of your monthly salary, based on the average of your last 12 months’ pay at the time of the claim. In some instances, indemnity value policies can be more cost-effective than agreed value policies.
Agreed value policy: with this type of policy you receive a percentage of a set salary amount agreed upon with your insurer at the time of purchasing the policy. Although typically more expensive than indemnity value policies, agreed value policies may be useful for people with fluctuating incomes.

In April 2020, Australian life insurers stopped offering agreed value policies. Existing agreed value policies purchased before that time will remain valid. However, for new income protection policies only indemnity value policies are available.

Waiting period and benefit period

Waiting periods

A waiting period is how long you’ll wait between making a successful claim and receiving your first payment.
Suncorp offers a choice of 14, 28, 60 or 90 day waiting periods.
Generally, longer waiting periods may assist with lower premiums
After the waiting period if you’re still unable to work as a result of your sickness or injury you’ll become eligible for payments.

When selecting a waiting period you may want to consider your savings, sick leave or annual leave entitlements that could provide temporary financial support. You should consider the appropriateness of doing so based on your own personal needs and circumstances.

Benefit periods

The benefit period is how long you’ll receive monthly payments for if you remain unable to work due to illness or injury.
Suncorp Income Protection insurance policy benefit periods range from 6 months to 60 months – it’s your choice.
Usually, longer benefit periods result in higher premiums.

How to apply for income protection

Are you:

an Australian resident?
aged between 18 and 60?
working a minimum of 20 hours a week?
generating an income?

If you answered yes to all these questions, then you’re eligible to apply for Suncorp Income Protection Insurance.

Get a quick quote

View our operating hours

Why Suncorp Income Protection?

Quick and easy to apply

Apply online or over the phone with no medical exams required for Australian residents aged 18-60

Flexible for you

See how you can help tailor a policy to suit your needs, lifestyle and budget

Comprehensive cover

You can choose to insure up to 75% of your income, up to $10,000 a month with Income Protect Plus Cover

Extra support if you’re out of action

Receive a Recovery Support Benefit for up to two months if you’re confined to bed as a result of sickness or injury

Easy claims process

If you need to make a claim, a dedicated claims manager will make the process as stress-free as possible

We are helping Australians every day

With over one million dollars in accident, illness or injury claims paid every day

Frequently Asked Questions

Income protection insurance pays a monthly, ongoing benefit in accordance with your policy’s waiting period and benefit period, while life insurance pays a lump sum payment if you pass away or are diagnosed with a terminal illness. The main purpose of income protection is to insure your income, not your life. Also, unlike life insurance, the cost of income protection insurance is generally tax deductible when taken out outside of superannuation, meaning you can claim the cost of the policy each year at tax time.

According to the Australian Tax Office (ATO), you may be able claim the cost of the premiums that you pay for your income protection insurance against the loss of your income. You also need to include payments you receive through your income protection insurance as income.

If you are considering the tax implication of purchasing and receiving benefits under Suncorp Income Protection, it is important you seek independent, professional taxation advice.

Most superannuation funds offer a range of insurance policies including life, total and permanent disability (TPD) and income protection insurance for their members. When you purchase an income protection policy through your super fund, you’re limited to the options your fund has made available (e.g. their specific waiting periods, benefit periods and age restrictions). Policies purchased through a super fund are also generally not tax deductible against your income.

You can have both workers compensation and income protection, however, if you receive a workers compensation benefit, this may reduce your income protection insurance benefit. This is because Income protection is designed to help cover your loss of income, but if you’re already being compensated for the loss of that income from somewhere else, such as workers compensation, this will be factored in and generally your Income Protection benefit will be reduced accordingly.

Yes, you are eligible to apply for income protection insurance if you’re self-employed. In calculating your benefit amount, your business expenses are excluded from your pre-tax earnings to calculate your personal income. Note that income paid from rental income, investment income, other disability income policies, retirement plans or lump sum disability payments are some examples of income we would generally not consider to be part of earnings. Please refer to the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for further information.

At Suncorp, we offer income protection Insurance to Australian residents aged 18 to 60 who work full-time or part-time, provided you work a minimum of 20 hours a week. You must also be in gainful employment, which means you are working and as a result of your efforts, you generate an income.

Income protection insurance is designed to provide cover against illness or injury that affects your ability to earn an income. A redundancy is a difficult time, but it is not related to your personal health. Suncorp income protection Insurance won’t cover you if you’ve been made redundant or lose your job due to unforeseen circumstances.

Receiving a COVID-19 vaccination approved for use by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia will not affect the cover under your existing insurance policy. Suncorp Income Protection policies do not include exclusions or limitations related to COVID-19 including vaccine related side-effects. If you were to experience sickness or injury after receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, a claim can still be lodged for a benefit under your policy and your claim will be assessed and is subject to the terms and conditions of your policy.

Suncorp Income Protection policies provide a benefit if you suffer an illness or injury and you are unable to work, in line with policy terms and conditions. Therefore, if your employer mandates that you are required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and you are restricted from working as a result of choosing not to be vaccinated, you will not be entitled to make a claim against your policy for being unable to work if you are not suffering an illness or injury that is preventing you from working in your usual occupation or performing your usual daily activities.

Our claims specialists will help you understand the claims process, explain what to expect for the assessment of your claim, and make the claim process as easy as possible for you. We require you to fill out a claim form and provide documentation in support of your benefit entitlement. Please contact us on 1300 618 255 as soon as you know you will be out of action for longer than your claim waiting period, to avoid delays in processing your claim.

Suncorp Life’s Commitment to the Life Insurance Code of Practice

Suncorp Life Insurance policies are issued by TAL, who played a key role in creating the Life Insurance Code of Practice. Suncorp Life is committed to delivering the best possible customer service standards. Suncorp Life will continue to look for ways to raise the standards of customer service now and over the years to come. Read more.

At TAL, we are committed to supporting our customers who may be experiencing vulnerability or have unique needs. Contact us or see how we can help if you are experiencing financial hardship or domestic and family violence.

Suncorp Income Protection is here to help

Call the Suncorp Life Team

For help with a quote, contact the Suncorp Life team about Income Protection Insurance today.

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Call 13 11 55

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^{^} The ‘up to 10% discount’ offer is only available to customers who take out a quote and purchase a new Suncorp Income Protection or Life Insurance policy between 1 July and 2 December 2024. All eligible customers will receive a 5% discount automatically applied to their Suncorp Income Protection or Life Insurance premium for the life of the policy. Where an eligible customer is also an existing Suncorp customer who holds any other Suncorp branded insurance policy/ies such as home or car insurance, the 5% discount on premiums for Income Protection or Life Insurance will be automatically applied in addition to the 5% Existing Suncorp Customer discount offered on Income Protection or Life Insurance. The two discounts combined amount to a total of 10% off Income Protection or Life Insurance premiums for the life of the new policy.