Retail IP is portable: it stays with you when you change jobs, but the cover behaves differently if you become unemployed. Group salary-continuance cover inside super, by contrast, often ends when you change employers.
The contract is between you and the insurer, not between you and your employer. Premiums and claim assessment continue regardless of who pays you, as long as you keep paying premiums and the policy remains in force.
What happens when you change jobs
- Tell the insurer your new occupation. Premiums and definitions are linked to occupation class.
- A move to a lower-risk class (manual to office) may reduce premium at the next anniversary.
- A move to a higher-risk class may increase premium or trigger underwriting questions.
- If you do not disclose a class change and later claim, the insurer may calculate benefits as if you had disclosed (potentially adjusting downward). See TAL Accelerated Protection PDS (12 December 2024), Section 2.6.5 (When we will reduce the benefit).
- Cover for benefits is generally based on the occupation you held at the time of disablement, subject to the policy's specific occupation rules.
What happens if you become unemployed
- The policy stays in force while you pay premiums.
- You can claim only if disablement (illness or injury) prevents you from working. You cannot claim because you are unemployed by choice or redundancy.
- For unemployed claimants, several PDSs apply specific provisions for maternity leave, paternity leave, or sabbatical, where the insured remains covered but with adjusted definitions. See AIA Priority Protection PDS (Version 32, 9 November 2025), Section 5 area covering unemployed or on employer approved maternity leave, paternity leave, or Sabbatical Leave.
- Long-term unemployment can change how the insurer applies the disability test. The standard own-occupation test in the first 24 months may shift if no occupation exists to measure against.
Group salary continuance is different
Group or default cover inside an employer-arranged super fund typically ends or changes when you change employers. The cover is tied to the employer's fund. Retail IP on the panel is the opposite: it stays with you, follows you across jobs, and is portable across employer changes. This is one of the practical reasons many IMFL clients hold retail IP alongside any default cover they have through super.
Common considerations
- Do not let retail IP lapse during a job change. New cover applied for later will be underwritten on your current health, which may have changed.
- If you go from PAYG to contracting or self-employment, notify the insurer and update the insurable-income method (BAS-based versus payslip-based).
- If you take an extended career break (more than 12 months unemployed), the insurer may reduce or pause benefits structured around an active occupation. The Insurance Contracts Act 1984 and your policy's specific clauses govern this. Check the PDS section on unemployed claimants before assuming continuity.