QLD Police medical retirement
section 8.3, QSuper and your options

Queensland police super runs through QSuper, now part of Australian Retirement Trust. Almost every serving officer is in the QSuper Accumulation account, with 18% employer super and automatic insurance. A smaller group of long-serving officers are still in the closed Police account, a defined benefit arrangement with its own disability pension.

QSuper Accumulation account

Who's in it

Current officers (default fund)

Medical retirement benefit

Account balance plus automatic TPD cover and income protection

QSuper Police account (defined benefit)

Who's in it

Members who joined before it closed on 1 January 1993

Medical retirement benefit

Permanent disability pension for life, or a lump sum; insurance at no premium

QSuper Defined Benefit account (State)

Who's in it

Closed 12 November 2008; separate from the Police account

Medical retirement benefit

Benefits under that account's own rules

Arrangement	Who's in it	Medical retirement benefit
QSuper Accumulation account	Current officers (default fund)	Account balance plus automatic TPD cover and income protection
QSuper Police account (defined benefit)	Members who joined before it closed on 1 January 1993	Permanent disability pension for life, or a lump sum; insurance at no premium
QSuper Defined Benefit account (State)	Closed 12 November 2008; separate from the Police account	Benefits under that account's own rules

From our Queensland data, the QSuper Police Account Guide (issued 1 July 2026) and the Superannuation (State Public Sector) Regulation 2023 explanatory notes.

Police account members also have an Accumulation account, because the employer's 3% award contribution is paid there. Part of it is deducted if you take a disability benefit, as explained below.

The legal process is in section 8.3 of the Police Service Administration Act 1990, headed "Unfitness for duty on medical grounds". Section 8.2 also sets the compulsory retirement age for most officers at 60.

1. 1

   The Commissioner tells you in writing

   s 8.3(1)

   If the Commissioner suspects on reasonable grounds that an infirmity or health condition makes you incapable of, or unfit for, your duties or other duties you could reasonably be directed to do, they must advise you in writing.

2. 2

   You accept it, or medical opinion is obtained

   s 8.3(1)-(2)

   If you don't accept the suspicion, the Commissioner must obtain medical opinion and can direct you to see nominated practitioners. You can supply your own medical opinions too.

3. 3

   Attend the examination

   s 8.3(2A)

   If you fail without reasonable cause to comply with a direction to be examined, the suspicion is conclusively presumed to be true.

4. 4

   The decision

   s 8.3(3)

   If satisfied, on all the medical opinions including yours, that you shouldn't continue, the prescribed authority can call on you to retire within a set time.

5. 5

   Retirement, dismissal or a staff role

   s 8.3(4)-(5)

   If you don't retire in time, you can be dismissed. Or, if you're fit for civilian work, the Commissioner can appoint you as a staff member at no lower salary.

Never ignore a direction to attend a medical examination. Under s 8.3(2A), not attending can decide the case against you.

The staff member option deserves careful thought. It keeps an income, but you stop being a sworn officer and become a public service employee under the Public Sector Act 2022. That changes your super rate, your insurance and your claim position. Talk to the QPU before you accept or refuse it.

Work-related injuries run through WorkCover Queensland under the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003. Under the 2025 certified agreement, the Operational Shift Allowance keeps being paid while you're on workers' compensation leave (cl 43.4). That's a meaningful protection, because the OSA is a large part of a frontline officer's pay.

The OSA stops once you're medically retired, and so does your salary. So the income change at retirement is from full pay plus OSA down to whatever your WorkCover entitlements, insurance and super pay. Plan for that drop before the retirement date.

Queensland is reported to presume that PTSD diagnosed by a psychiatrist in a first responder, including police and recruits, is work-related. We've seen this in public summaries rather than the Act, so check it with WorkCover Queensland. For more on claims, see police workers compensation and QPS leave, including the Sick Leave Bank.

QPS police in the QSuper Accumulation account get automatic death and TPD cover from age 16, regardless of balance or age. That's unusual: the general super rules switch off default cover for some young or low-balance members, but QPS police are covered from the start.

Death and TPD

What it pays

A lump sum if you meet the TPD definition

Key terms

Automatic from 16; amount depends on age and the scheme terms

Income protection

What it pays

87.75% of insured salary (75% to you plus 12.75% contribution replacement)

Key terms

Up to 2 years, to age 59, capped at $20,000 a month

IP waiting period

What it pays

Payments start after the waiting period

Key terms

90 days in your first 12 months, then 180 days or accrued sick leave plus approved Sick Leave Bank, whichever is greater

Cover	What it pays	Key terms
Death and TPD	A lump sum if you meet the TPD definition	Automatic from 16; amount depends on age and the scheme terms
Income protection	87.75% of insured salary (75% to you plus 12.75% contribution replacement)	Up to 2 years, to age 59, capped at $20,000 a month
IP waiting period	Payments start after the waiting period	90 days in your first 12 months, then 180 days or accrued sick leave plus approved Sick Leave Bank, whichever is greater

From our Queensland data (Superannuation (State Public Sector) Regulation 2023 and QSuper material). Check your statement for your own cover amounts.

A worked example

Say your insured salary is $118,127, a top senior constable. Income protection at 87.75% would be about $103,656 a year, or $8,638 a month, well under the cap. Of that, $88,595 a year is the 75% income benefit and $15,061 is the contribution replacement.

Timing your leave and the waiting period

Because the waiting period after your first year is the greater of 180 days or your accrued sick leave plus approved Sick Leave Bank, an officer with a large sick leave balance may be on full pay for months before income protection starts. That's fine while the leave lasts, but check the date payments will start before you agree to a retirement date, so you're not left with neither.

"Insured salary" is defined in the scheme terms and may not match your full pay with OSA. Ask QSuper what figure it will use. Remember too that the two-year limit means income protection is a bridge, not a permanent income.

Free tool

Check what your QSuper balance could be

Project your super at the 18% police rate, so you know what a TPD claim and your balance together could look like.

Open the super calculator →

If you're a Police account member and you suffer a permanent mental or physical condition that prevents you from working, you may get a pension for life. Insurance in the Police account costs you no premiums and can't be cancelled.

The pension is your fortnightly final average salary × 3 × (the service you'd have had if you'd retired at 60) ÷ 160. Because the service runs to 60, not to the day you were hurt, an officer injured at 50 is treated almost as well as one who served the full term.

QSuper's own example

QSuper's guide gives the example of Jim, aged 52, who retires through incapacity with a final average salary of $4,387 a fortnight. Had he retired at 60 he'd have 40 years' service, so his pension is $3,290.25 a fortnight.

Our illustration

Take an officer who joined in 1990 at 22 and is medically retired at 52, with service to 60 of 38 years. The pension would be 71.25% of final average salary. On a final average salary equal to today's top sergeant rate of $133,671, that's about $95,241 a year, calculated by us.

The 3% award contribution in your Accumulation account, with its earnings, is deducted because it forms part of the disability benefit.

You can convert your Police account disability pension to a lump sum at any time in the first six months after you become entitled. Pension payments made in the meantime are deducted from the lump sum. Unlike a normal retirement benefit, you can't take part pension and part lump sum.

If you were under 55 when you became permanently disabled, the lump sum is the fortnightly pension × an age-based factor × (service to 60 − 5) ÷ service to 60. In QSuper's example, Jim's age-based factor is 233, so his lump sum would be $670,799.72.

A lump sum does give you control: you can clear debt, and QSuper lets you move it into a Retirement Income account or, over 60, a Lifetime Pension. This is a decision to make with a licensed financial adviser and your family. Once the six months pass, the choice is gone.

QSuper's Police Account Guide includes a tax table for 2026-27. For a pension, if you're under 60 you pay your marginal rate on the taxable component with a 15% tax offset. It says permanent disability pensioners under preservation age get that same 15% offset.

For a lump sum taken on disability, the tax-free component is increased by the formula the ATO applies to disability super benefits: benefit × days to retirement ÷ (service days + days to retirement). To qualify, two medical practitioners must certify that you're unlikely ever to work in a job you're reasonably qualified for.

Officer's age at disability

Figure

42

Eligible service

Figure

18 years (6,575 days)

Days to retirement (to 65)

Figure

8,401

Share added to tax-free component

Figure

56.1%

On a $400,000 disability lump sum

Figure

$224,386 added to the tax-free component

Illustration	Figure
Officer's age at disability	42
Eligible service	18 years (6,575 days)
Days to retirement (to 65)	8,401
Share added to tax-free component	56.1%
On a $400,000 disability lump sum	$224,386 added to the tax-free component

Calculated by us from the formula in ITAA 1997 s 307-145 as the ATO describes it. Your fund calculates the real components; the rest of the benefit is taxed under the normal rules for your age.

Income protection payments, whether from QSuper or a private policy, are taxed as ordinary income. WorkCover weekly payments are also taxable.

To claim a Police account disability benefit, you complete the forms at the back of QSuper's Total and Permanent Disability Benefit Guide. You and the QPS each complete sections, and QSuper needs at least one detailed report from your current doctor or specialist. QSuper may ask you to see a specific doctor, at its cost.

If approved, QSuper sends a quote and a claim form so you can choose pension or lump sum. For Accumulation members, the TPD and income protection claim processes are set out in QSuper's insurance documents.

Section 8.3 itself doesn't set out an appeal from a decision to call on you to retire. Your strongest moment is before the decision, when the Commissioner must consider all the medical opinions, including those you supply. Get the QPU involved as soon as you receive a written advice under s 8.3(1).

Medical unfitness and retirement

Who makes it

Commissioner / prescribed authority (PSAA s 8.3)

First step to challenge it

Supply your own medical opinions; get QPU and legal advice on review options

WorkCover claim

Who makes it

WorkCover Queensland

First step to challenge it

Seek a review of the decision; a WorkCover lawyer can advise on time limits

QSuper TPD, IP or disability pension

Who makes it

QSuper / Australian Retirement Trust

First step to challenge it

Internal complaint, then the Australian Financial Complaints Authority

Decision	Who makes it	First step to challenge it
Medical unfitness and retirement	Commissioner / prescribed authority (PSAA s 8.3)	Supply your own medical opinions; get QPU and legal advice on review options
WorkCover claim	WorkCover Queensland	Seek a review of the decision; a WorkCover lawyer can advise on time limits
QSuper TPD, IP or disability pension	QSuper / Australian Retirement Trust	Internal complaint, then the Australian Financial Complaints Authority

Review routes beyond the first step weren't confirmed in the sources we read; ask your union or a lawyer.

See police associations and unions for what QPU membership can do for you.

For many Queensland officers, the injury behind a medical retirement is psychological. The process can feel like losing an identity as well as a job. You don't have to work through it alone.

Our guide to PTSD and mental health support for police covers treatment and psychological injury claims.

Medical retirement in other forces

For the national comparison, read our police medical retirement guide, or see the Queensland Police Service profile.