QSuper Class Action

If you have been identified as a potential Group Member by QSuper, you will have received the Settlement Notice by email or post from 5 December 2025.

However, there were a small number of Group Members who were unintentionally omitted from QSuper’s original distribution list. These Group Members were not sent a settlement notice or an opt out notice. These additional group members will be sent a Supplementary Settlement and Opt Out Notice by 6 March 2026 (if Australian Retirement Trust has valid contact information for them).

At this stage, we are unable to provide an estimate of potential compensation payments or timeframes for when eligible group members will receive compensation. 

Further updates will be provided to Group Members after the settlement approval hearing. 

Please note that the Registration Deadline to participate in the QSuper Class Action for persons who were issued a settlement notice in December 2025 was at 4:00pm AEST on 27 February 2026. The Applicant intends to seek an order from the Court that these group members who did not register by 27 February 2026 will not be entitled to participate in the settlement. If the Court considers that it is appropriate to make such an order, you will not receive any payment from the settlement.

If you are an additional group member and receive the settlement notice issued in March 2026, you must complete an online registration form by 4.00pm (AEST) on 10 April 2026 if you wish to be considered in the settlement. The registration form will be accessible from 6 March 2026.

To have your eligibility to participate in the settlement assessed , you must complete a registration form on our website by the deadline on 4.00 pm (AEST) on 27 February 2026. 

If you do not register, the Court will be asked to make orders that you will be bound by the settlement, but you will not receive a payment. 

Yes. If you have previously registered for the QSuper Class Action with Shine, you must complete the online Registration Form for the settlement on or after 5 December 2025 and before 4:00pm (AEST) on 27 February 2026 to have your eligibility assessed to participate in the settlement.  

The new form collects specific information needed to confirm your eligibility. This information will be matched with QSuper’s records to speed up the assessment process.  

This is an anonymised, randomly generated number which is unique to you. It was generated by QSuper to identify potential Group Members who may be eligible for the settlement. 

If you register, you must enter your Unique Identifier correctly. You will receive a notification on the online registration form if it does not match a Unique Identifier in QSuper's records. 

After you have registered, QSuper will use your Unique Identifier, the Fund Member's date of birth (and other information, if necessary) to check its records to determine if you are a Group Member. 

If you are not an affected Fund Member on QSuper's records, or your claim does not relate to an affected Fund Member, then you are not eligible to participate in the proposed settlement of the QSuper class action. 

Your Unique Identifier is contained at the top of the covering communication which contained the settlement notice. This was sent to you either by post or email. The Unique Identifier has been generated by QSuper. Shine Lawyers cannot provide this to you.

If you are unsure about your Unique Identifier details, please contact QSuper or Australian Retirement Trust. Shine Lawyers’ legal team or call centre staff cannot provide you with your Unique Identifier or confirm whether your details are correct.

If you did not receive a settlement notice but believe you may be a group member, please contact Australian Retirement Trust on 1300 360 750 who can advise if you are a potential group member and, if so, provide you with a Unique Identifier to register.

If you did not receive a settlement notice and you believe you are a group member, please contact QSuper or Australian Retirement Trust. Shine Lawyers’ legal team or call centre staff cannot inform you whether or not you are a potential Group Member.  

1. The deadline to submit a Notice of Objection for persons who were issued a settlement notice in December 2025 was at 4:00pm AEST on 27 February 2026.

2. If you are an additional group member and:

• receive the settlement notice issued in March 2026; or

• did not receive a settlement notice in December 2025 or March 2026 but are included on Australian Retirement Trust’s list of potential group members,

• you can send the Notice of Objection and email it to Shine Lawyers by 4.00 pm (AEST) on 10 April 2026. You can find the Notice of Objection at the end of the Settlement Notice. If you object but still want to be considered to receive any payment if the settlement is approved, you must also complete the registration form online

More information is set out at Section B of the Settlement Notice.

You are a group member if you meet the criteria set out in the statement of claim, which is a court document filed by the Applicant when the class action began.   

You may be a group member (or “Fund Member”) in this class action if you held a QSuper superannuation account from May 2016 and were eligible for:  

• White Collar or Professional occupational rates; or  

• Standard occupational rates and you were under 39 years of age.  

You may also be eligible to register if at any time after 1 July 2016:  

• you represented or received a payment from a deceased Fund Member who met the eligibility criteria above; or   

• you were the former spouse of a person who met the eligibility criteria above and you received a transfer from a Fund Member, pursuant to an order or settlement in a Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) proceeding.  

If you meet the criteria above, we encourage you to register.   

If you would like to read about the eligibility criteria in more detail, please see paragraphs [16]-[18] of the Settlement Notice.

Occupational rating affects how much you pay for insurance in your superannuation to reflect the level of risk related to your job or occupation.  

The class action alleges QSuper failed to introduce a system to occupationally rate members and/or failed to sufficiently communicate these changes to members.    

If you were eligible for Standard (and under 39 years of age), White Collar, or Professional occupational rates, the class action alleges you were:  

• Charged significantly more for your life insurance than you should have been; and  

• Suffered superannuation investment losses. 

In the class action, Standard, White Collar and Professional rates all refer to the premium you were charged for insurance cover within superannuation. Generally, each of these rates were lower than the ‘Default’ rate.   

Whether you fall into Standard, White Collar or Professional for the purpose of the class action, depends on the level of risk related to your job or occupation from 1 July 2016.   

• Standard rate – Applicable if your occupation was not classified as high risk, professional or white collar and if you were between the ages of 17 and 39 as at 1 July 2016. For example, this may include nurses, health care workers/carers, or manual light positions.  

• White collar rate – Applicable if you spent 80% of your time in an office or classroom environment performing primarily administration or managerial duties as at 1 July 2016. For example, this may include managers, teachers, or call centre operators.  

• Professional rate – Applicable if you were university educated relevant to your occupation, or a senior manager working in an office with an annual salary of $120,000.00 or more, as at 1 July 2016. For example, this may include surgeons, doctors, or executives.   

The types of occupations that are likely to fall into one of the above occupational rates include:  

• Teachers, teacher’s aides and school principals  

• Lawyers  

• Engineers   

• Information technology roles  

• Finance / accounting roles  

• Doctors and other allied health professionals  

• Executive or management roles (with a primary office-based job)  

• Nurses (aged under 39 as at May 2016)  

• Marketing roles.  

The class action does not include police, emergency services, cleaners, security guards and heavy manual and other hazardous occupations. Under the occupational rating system introduced by QSuper in May 2016, these were classified as 'High Risk’ and were not eligible to pay to lower premiums for insurance in superannuation. Generally, High Risk rates were higher than standard, white collar and professional rates.    

For more assistance about whether you might be a Group Member based on your occupation, please review the guidance on page 11 of the Settlement Notice.

The class action does not include ‘High Risk’ occupations, such as heavy manual and other identifiable occupations with higher risks such as police, emergency services, cleaners, security guards.  

This is because under the occupational rating system introduced by QSuper in May 2016, occupations which were classified as high risk were not eligible to pay to lower premiums for insurance in their superannuation. Generally, high risk rates were higher than standard, white collar and professional rates.   

In Australia, class actions are run on an ‘opt-out’ basis. This means that even if group members don’t actively sign up to the class action, they are automatically included if they meet the eligibility criteria.   

At a certain point in the case, the Judge will make orders that anyone who is eligible for the class action is notified of their right to opt-out of the class action. 

The opt out period for the QSuper Class Action ended at 4:00PM on 20 September 2023. If you did not opt out by the deadline in 2023, you must now seek permission from the Court if you wish to do so.

However, if you receive the settlement notice issued on 6 March 2026 (or did not receive any notice but held an accumulation account with insurance as at 1 July 2016), this means that QSuper has identified that you did not receive an opt out notice in 2023. If you wish to opt out of the proceeding, you can do so by completing the form annexed to the back of the supplementary notice at Annexure A and sending it to the Registrar of the Federal Court of Australia at the address listed on the form. If you opt out, you will not be entitled to receive any money from the proposed settlement.

You do not have to pay any money out of pocket to participate in this case.

The QSuper class action is funded by a third-party company called Woodsford Group (Woodsford). Woodsford is a litigation funder that are paying the applicant’s legal costs of bringing the claim on behalf of all group members. We are also deferring some of our costs. If the class action is successful, and the applicant obtains money from a settlement or judgment, she will repay to Woodsford any reasonable costs and a funding commission, as well as fees deferred by Shine Lawyers, together with an uplift of 25% on those deferred fees.

In the event of a successful outcome, the legal fees and costs to run the case can only be deducted from the settlement if approved by the Court. Those fees and costs are typically deducted from the settlement amount before compensation is distributed to group members. This means that if you are a group member the Court may order that your proportionate share of the approved costs of the class action, be deducted from any recovery made in respect of your claim in return for Woodsford (and others, including Shine Lawyers) bearing the costs risk of the class action. The proposed deductions from the settlement (including litigation funding commission and legal fees) are explained in the Settlement Notice.

If the claim is unsuccessful, Woodsford and Shine will be responsible for paying all costs on behalf of the lead applicant and all group members.

This means that either way, there are no out-of-pocket costs to you.

If you would like to read about the costs in more detail, please see paragraphs [33]-[41] of the Settlement Notice.