Why has legalsuper signed up to the Insurance in Superannuation Voluntary Code of Conduct? As the super fund for Australia’s legal community, legalsuper always conducts itself with the highest levels of transparency and to deliver best outcomes for our members.
We proactively seek ways to improve processes, performance and disclosure practices. What changes have been made or will need to be made to meet the code? Our board resolved to adopt the code at its March meeting, recognising that full implementation will require time and may require financial investment; however, this will always be undertaken in the best interests of our members. The code was created partly in response to identified instances of previous poor claims handling by some organisations – which was disappointing given the sensitive issues that arise in respect of death and/or disablement claims – so one fundamental focus for us has, and will continue to be, improving the experience of claimants.
Is legalsuper making any other improvements to its insurance offering? Why? legalsuper was able to hold members’ insurance premiums constant over the last six years preceding our last renewal. In late 2017, at the time of our last renewal, the increase we put in place still left us below the industry median. We comprehensively review our insurance offer every three years and continually monitor our performance in claims handling.
Our specialisation in the legal community means our membership is more homogenous than at super funds that serve diverse occupational groups. Our insurances are, therefore, better designed to suit the needs of people who work
in the legal community.
As an example, a recent focus group of more than 70 law students highlighted a concern that insurance premiums were reducing their super balances. This feedback resulted in legalsuper reducing default insurance cover and the associated premium for younger members. Default cover up to age 25 was halved, reducing from $440,000 a year to $220,000, and premiums were halved from $7.80 a week to $3.90.
Our overall insurance cost, flexibility and suitability –in addition to the collaborative approach we take to working with our insurance provider – was recently recognised with a key industry award from SelectingSuper.
Throughout our 11-year association with OnePath Life, our insurance partner, we have combined our deep and growing understanding of our members’ needs, evolving profile, characteristics and requirements, with OnePath’s capacity to work with us to design and deliver a range of insurance options that suit our full cross-section of members.
Two recent initiatives legalsuper has been working on with OnePath are in technological enhancements to improve information management and member experiences, and mental health. The latter is a subject in which legalsuper has a keen interest, through our association with SANE Australia.
With an ongoing aim of providing more visibility, transparency and convenience, OnePath is delivering improvements to the storage, presentation and utility of underwriting information and enhancing claims reporting data and systems.
OnePath is also working to deliver access to an integrated, real-time information portal to further enhance claims
data extraction, monitoring and management.
In mental health, OnePath has established a new senior role, head of mental health and wellness for life insurance, which is aimed at improving customers’ mental health and wellbeing, in recognition of this very important issue.
legalsuper actively works to maintain a constructive and rewarding working partnership with OnePath, with whom we share a common goal of making available the best value, best quality and most appropriate insurance cover for people who work in Australia’s legal community.
