Medical grounds for release

You may be able to access your super early on medical grounds if you are permanently incapacitated or you have a terminal medical condition.

Permanent incapacity

Permanent incapacity means that due to ill health – whether physical or mental – the Trustee is reasonably satisfied you are unlikely to engage in gainful employment for which you are reasonably qualified by education, training or experience.

You can access your benefit as a lump-sum withdrawal or you may choose to open a Cbus Super Income Stream.

Please see the Additional Information Guide for the full definition and further details of access due to a terminal medical condition.

Terminal medical condition

Terminal medical condition means the following circumstances exist:

• Two registered medical practitioners have certified, jointly or separately, that the person suffers from an illness, or has incurred an injury, that is likely to result in the death of the person within 24 months
• At least one of the registered medical practitioners is a specialist practising in an area related to the illness or injury suffered by the person, and
• For each certificate, the 24-month period has not ended.

Please see the Additional Information Guide for the full definition and further details of access due to a terminal medical condition.

Please note that these definitions are different from the definitions that apply to insured benefits and, accordingly, for insured benefits to be released, both the insurance and the above definitions (as applicable) must be satisfied. If you are eligible to release your super benefit but the definitions that apply to insured benefits are not satisfied, withdrawing your super balance will effectively close your account and you will lose any insurance in your super as premiums will no longer be able to be deducted.