Income Protection Insurance

If you become Totally Disabled, and your income protection claim is accepted, you will receive Monthly Benefits to replace lost income. These payments:

• commence after the selected Waiting Period has expired, and
• continue for the duration of your Total Disablement, to a maximum of the Benefit Period.

Income protection claims payments are payable monthly in arrears, so your first payment will generally occur about one month after the end of your Waiting Period. Totally Disabled / Total Disablement means, as a result of Sickness or Injury occurring while covered for Disability Income Insurance, you are:

• Unable to perform your Regular (Own) Occupation for the first 24 months on claim, and unable to perform Any occupation from month 25 onwards, and
• not working (whether paid or unpaid), and
• following the advice of a Medical Practitioner and the agreed rehabilitation plan.

You can choose a Monthly Benefit from $1,500 per month up to a maximum of 70% of your regular monthly income, to an overall maximum of $30,000 per month.

Up to 10% of the sum insured can be added to allow for superannuation contributions that would have continued had you not been on claim. The amount you receive will be the Monthly Benefit, less any Claim Offsets, to a maximum of 70% of your Pre-Disability Income. If you have selected superannuation contributions, this will be paid directly to your eligible superannuation fund.

Please note that if immediately prior to Total Disablement you have been either:

• unemployed for 12 months or more; or
• on parental leave and not receiving an income for 12 months or more

your Pre-disability Income will be nil and no benefit will be payable in the event of an Income Protection claim.

You can choose a waiting period of either 30 days or 90 days. The waiting period begins on the first day off work due to the Sickness or Injury, as long as it is not more than 7 days before a Medical Practitioner examines you and certifies you as being Totally Disabled. No income protection benefits are payable during the Waiting Period.

You can choose a Benefit Period of 2 years, 5 years, or to age 65. The Benefit Period begins once the Waiting Period has ended and continues for this period whilst you are Totally Disabled (or subsequently Partially Disabled), or upon the earlier of the benefit expiring or death.

NobleOak Disability Income Insurance may also pay a reduced benefit if you return to work in a reduced capacity. The Partial Disablement Benefit becomes payable providing you have been Totally Disabled for at least 14 days and remain Totally Disabled or Partially Disabled beyond the expiry of the Waiting Period.

Partially Disabled / Partial Disablement means due to your Sickness or Injury:

• you are unable to work more than 32 hours per week, and
• you are working to your full medical capacity, and
• Your monthly income is less than 80% of your pre-disability income, and
• you are following the advice of a Medical Practitioner and the agreed rehabilitation plan.

The Partial Disablement benefit is calculated as follows:

Partial Monthly Benefit = Total Monthly benefit – 75% x income for that month of Partial Disability.

If you are receiving Monthly Benefits, we will waive the Disability Income Insurance premium for the period the claim payments relate to.

If you return to work for less than 6 months after receiving your most recent Total Disablement or Partial Disablement benefit, and suffer a recurrence from the same or related cause, the claim will be treated as a continuation of the original claim. No Waiting Period will apply for this benefit.

If you are receiving income protection claim payments from NobleOak, we may approve certain additional expenses to help you return to work. If your healthcare provider recommends a rehabilitation or retraining plan, and NobleOak pre-approves the costs, we will reimburse you for these expenses to help you get back on your feet.

After receiving a benefit for Total or Partial Disablement for 12 consecutive months, your Monthly Benefit will automatically increase each year in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

When payments cease, the benefit will revert to the Monthly Benefit shown on your Benefit Notice at the time of Total or Partial Disablement.

If you become unemployed or need to take extended leave from employment because of full time study, maternity/paternity leave or compassionate leave, then you can write to us and ask us to pause your income protection premiums for up to 12 months.

The premium pause is available once your cover has been in place for more than 2 years. We will not pay for any Sickness or injury, which occurs during the premium pause or within 90 days of restarting your premium payments.