What is limited cover in super insurance, and when does it end?
Limited cover (also called new events or restricted cover) pays only for illnesses and injuries that start after the cover begins. It ends once you've been at work for a set number of days, which is 10 to 60 at most funds. Only Rest also ends it on time alone, after 24 months, for its main automatic cover.
It's the clause that most often surprises people at claim time, and most people don't know they're on it.
What it is
When automatic cover starts, many funds treat it as limited cover at first. If the condition you claim for existed before the cover began, or was something you had symptoms of or sought advice about, it isn't covered. Your family would still get paid if you died from something new, or you could claim for a new accident.
It's meant to stop people joining a fund after being diagnosed. For people who join through a new job it's often a technicality that ends within weeks. For people who weren't working when cover started, it can run for years.
What ends it
At almost every fund, the answer is time at work. Making contributions isn't enough on its own, and neither is just waiting. The exception is Rest, which ends limited cover at the earlier of 60 days at work or 24 months, whether or not you're working.
| Fund | What ends limited cover |
|---|---|
| AustralianSuper | 60 consecutive days in active employment |
| Australian Retirement Trust | 30 days in a row at work (12 months first if not at work from the start) |
| Aware Super | The first day you're at work (12 months if the first employer contribution is more than 6 months late) |
| Australian Food Super | 30 consecutive days in active employment, if an SG contribution arrives within 120 days (otherwise at least 12 months first) |
| Australian Ethical | 30 days in active employment, with conditions; otherwise at least 24 months |
| Bendigo SmartStart | 30 consecutive days in active employment (24 months first for personal members) |
| BUSSQ | 30 days at work if four tests are met; otherwise 12 or 24 months, then a run of days at work |
| Brighter Super | 30 consecutive days at work |
| Cbus | 10 consecutive days in active employment (24 months first if contributions start late) |
| CareSuper | 30 consecutive days in active employment |
| Equip Super (including Catholic Super) | 30 consecutive days at work (24 months plus 30 days if contributions are late) |
| Essential Super | At least 2 years, then 30 consecutive days capable of working |
| First Super | 30 consecutive days in active employment (at least 24 months first for late or personal members) |
| HESTA | 10 consecutive days in active employment |
| Hostplus | 24 months, then 30 consecutive days in active employment |
| legalsuper | At least 12 months, then 30 consecutive days at work (24 months for personal members) |
| Mercer Super | 6 months, then 30 consecutive days at work |
| NESS Super | 30 consecutive days at work (24 months first for personal members and late contributions) |
| NGS Super | 14 consecutive days of active employment (24 months first if contributions are late) |
| Prime Super | 30 days in active employment (24 months first for personal members) |
| REI Super | 30 days at work, subject to tests; otherwise at least 24 months and then 30 days |
| Rest | The earlier of 60 days at work or 24 months |
| Vanguard Super | 30 consecutive days at work (24 months first if cover starts late) |
| Team Super | 30 days in active employment, with no time limit |
Funds with a different set-up. UniSuper's Personal Account has no limited cover. Cover you elect carries a pre-existing condition exclusion for at least three years (24 months for a life events increase), and it only comes off if you're back in active employment for two consecutive months. Vision Personal and MLC Fundamentals have no automatic cover at all, so any restriction is an exclusion or loading the insurer sets when it accepts your application, and the guides don't describe a time limit on it.
The one time-only case among the newer funds. Vanguard's life events increase stays limited for 24 months with no at-work test in its guide, but that applies only to the extra cover, not to the default cover underneath it. Nothing else we added ends limited cover on time alone the way Rest does.
Several funds change the rules depending on whether your employer paid your first contribution on time. If you join within a few months of starting a job, the short version usually applies. If you start cover later, or you join as a personal member, the longer one often applies.
What "at work" means
The wording is strict. It usually means you're doing your normal duties, on full hours, not on sick leave or restricted duties. Check whether time off sick resets the count. The definition in your guide decides.
The case that matters most
If you're unwell and not working, limited cover won't lift. At 23 of these 24 funds, being off work means you never accumulate the days at work you need, however long you keep contributing. If you're in that position, check your guide and ask the fund directly, in writing, what ends your limited cover and whether you have any alternative.
Why this matters for comparing funds
Two funds can show identical automatic cover and behave very differently for someone with a health history. The cover amount is only half the story. Ask how limited cover ends before you decide.
Sources
- Each fund's current insurance guide as at 22 October 2026, via the miadvice fund comparison (Ts and Cs, Limited cover tab). The detail differs by member type and when contributions start, so check your fund's guide.
Check your health answers
Free, no sign-up. Uses each fund's published rates and rules.
General information only, not personal advice. Fund rules and premiums change, usually on 1 July or 1 October. Check the fund's current insurance guide before relying on a figure here.