Shine Lawyers launched a class action on behalf of thousands of QSuper fund members who were allegedly wrongly charged excessive premiums for their life insurance policies.
On 18 June 2026, the Federal Court of Australia approved the settlement of the QSuper Class Action in the amount of $67 million, marking the conclusion of proceedings against the QSuper.
This settlement amount includes legal costs and represents a full and final resolution of the claims brought by the applicant and group members, and was agreed by QSuper without any admission of liability.
The action, led by representative applicant Jessica Challenor, and funded by global litigation funder, Woodsford, commenced in 2021 on behalf of members of QSuper superannuation funds that held insurance from May 2016.
The claim alleged that QSuper breached its obligations by failing to properly notify members in 2016 of important changes to life insurance policy premiums and by failing to implement systems to automatically apply premiums at lower occupational rates, according to the personal circumstances of certain members.
Settlement Administration – August 2026
From August 2026, the QSuper Class Action entered the administration phase.
During this phase, payments to participating group members will be calculated and made.
Shine Lawyers has been appointed as the Settlement Administrator. Australian Retirement Trust has been appointed as the Settlement Distributor and will be responsible for paying group members’ respective shares of the settlement sum.
If you:
elected to opt out of the QSuper Class Action; or
did not register, or registered after the registration deadline, to participate in the QSuper Class Action; or
registered and were assessed as ineligible,
then you will not receive any compensation from the settlement.
For the majority of registrants that were deemed to be ineligible, this was because, based on the allegations made in the QSuper class action and the information provided in registration forms, those registrants did not suffer any loss or only suffered minimal losses ).
The opportunity to opt out or register for the QSuper Class Action is closed.
How long will the settlement take?
A number of steps need to be taken to process the proposed settlement. An indication of the steps is set out in the timeline below.
1
Final orders made on 18 June 2026
On 18 June 2026, the Court issued its orders and reasons for judgment relating to the approval of the settlement of the QSuper Class Action.
2
Administrator reviews Group Member claims and calculates payment amounts for eligible Group Members
The administrator will follow the process set out in the settlement distribution scheme approved by the Court to determine who will receive payments and estimate payment amounts.
3
Distribution to Group Members
The administrator will provide the list of eligible group members, and their respective payment amounts, to Australian Retirement Trust who will distribute the payments to Group Members who registered to participate by the Court-ordered deadline. Distributions cannot be made until the Settlement Administrator has determined:
the final number of group members who are eligible to participate in the Scheme; and
their respective payment amounts.
It is difficult to confirm how long it will take for the administrator to confirm the number of eligible group members and payment entitlements. This is because the data validation process is still ongoing and some claims are more difficult to verify than others.
What is the QSuper Class Action about?
Shine Lawyers allege that QSuper breached its obligations by failing to properly notify members in 2016 of important changes to life insurance policy premiums and by failing to implement systems to automatically apply premiums at lower occupational rates, according to the personal circumstances of certain members.
The insurance premium changes related to a package of new insurance arrangements introduced by QSuper from 1 July 2016 that permitted members to personalise their insurance cover and elect to have their insurance premiums charged according to occupational ratings. This might have resulted in lower insurance premiums for certain members, who were eligible for Standard (and under 39 years of age), White Collar, or Professional rates. As a result of the alleged failure to sufficiently communicate these changes, thousands of QSuper members:
Were charged insurance premiums that were higher than they should have been; and
Suffered superannuation investment losses.
If you had a QSuper superannuation account from May 2016 and were eligible for Standard (and under 39 years of age), White Collar, or Professional rates, you may be eligible to join this class action.
Beneficiaries of deceased QSuper members and (former) spouses of QSuper members whose superannuation accounts were adversely affected may also be eligible to join this class action.
Can I join the QSuper Class Action?
The opportunity to register for the QSuper Class Action is closed.
Case Documents
Notice of Proposed Settlement
Further Amended Statement of Claim
Defence to the Further Amended Statement of Claim
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Unique Identifier?
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.
How do I know if I am a group member?
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.
What is occupational rating?
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.
What are Standard, White Collar, and Professional rates?
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.
What are ‘High Risk’ occupations and are they included in the class action?
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.
Meet the QSuper Class Action team
Shine Lawyers’ QSuper Class Action team includes some of the firm’s most experienced litigators, solicitors and support staff. You can learn more about the team running this class action by clicking on their profile below.
Our team includes the country’s most experienced class actions experts and litigators with the skill, industry insight and dedication to deliver the best possible outcomes for deserving Australians.
70+
dedicated class actions team members
We are proudly one of the largest class actions teams in the country. Our senior practitioners are supported by a dedicated team devoted to the complex field of class actions.
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