Privacy Policy

Privacy Statement

Legal Super Pty Ltd (the Trustee) of legalsuper, the Fund recognises the importance of protecting and securing your personal information. This Privacy Statement is made for the purposes of the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and addresses the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and explains how legalsuper manages personal and sensitive information. 

legalsuper is a registered superannuation fund that manages, administers and provides for accumulation and pension retirement benefits. legalsuper takes the collection and storage of your personal details seriously. We will not request personal or financial details from you by unsolicited email or text. If you receive an email or text message claiming to be from legalsuper requesting personal or financial details, call us on 1800 060 312 (8am to 8pm [AEST] Monday to Friday).

Who collects your personal information?

We collect your personal information directly from you or from your employer, adviser, previous superannuation fund or other representative authorised by you.  Personal information may also be collected and disclosed to us by our administrator, insurer, Super Clearing House Online (which is a financial product issued by Pacific Custodians Pty Limited and operated by The Superannuation Clearing House Pty Limited) (SCH Online) and/or our Direct Investment option online platform provider, FNZ (Australia) Pty Limited (ABN 67 138 819 119) (FNZ (Australia), in order to provide you with legalsuper’s products and services.

The Trustee has appointed Australian Administration Services Pty Ltd[1] N 62 003 429 114 (AAS) as administrator of legalsuper. In conjunction with AAS, legalsuper provides MemberAccess, an online service which allows you to manage many aspects of your legalsuper account. No information provided via MemberAccess is stored overseas and all records and back up records are retained in Australia. AAS may use overseas service providers located in other countries for aspects of fund administration. AAS has its own Privacy Statement and is responsible for the information it collects. The AAS Privacy Statement can be accessed via www.linkgroup.com and www.aas.com.au.

SCH Online, a related body corporate of AAS, is a web-based, electronic payment facility that enables employers to make one or more bulk superannuation payments (accompanied by electronic contribution data), which is then broken up and distributed to superannuation funds, such as legalsuper.  If your employer uses SCH Online to make your superannuation contributions into legalsuper, SCH Online will collect and disclose your personal information to legalsuper. SCH Online has its own Privacy Statement, which can be accessed via www.sch-online.com.au, and is responsible for the information it collects.

The Trustee holds an insurance policy with Zurich Australia Limited ABN 92 000 010 195 (Zurich). legalsuper and AAS will disclose information to Zurich so that Zurich can determine whether to accept applications for insurance above automatic acceptance limits and for the assessment of insurance claims. Zurich also provides an online insurance application service to members. This service allows you to provide information directly to Zurich for its assessment of your application for additional insurance. Zurich retains this information and may be requested to provide this information to legalsuper if this information is required by legalsuper for the purposes of its activities. Zurich has its own Privacy Statement, which can be accessed via www.zurich.com.au, and is responsible for the information it collects.

If you apply for insurance using MemberAccess you will be transferred to a secure website maintained by Zurich. Information that you provide to Zurich is retained by it and is not disclosed to AAS. AAS is informed of the acceptance or otherwise of your insurance application by Zurich.

You may choose to invest in legalsuper’s Direct Investment option (DIO). If you choose to register for a DIO account, the registration requires personal information to be sent to FNZ (Australia), our DIO online platform provider, including contact and identification information, details about your superannuation and pension accounts held by legalsuper (including your investments and balance) and certain instructions you provide to legalsuper about your legalsuper accounts (including instructions on investment options). FNZ (Australia) will provide details of your DIO account to AAS so that it can maintain your membership records. Details of individual investments that you make are maintained by FNZ (Australia) and summaries are provided to AAS for the purposes of record keeping and reporting to you. FNZ (Australia) has its own Privacy Statement, which can be located at https://www.fnz.com/privacy-policy and is responsible for information it collects.

legalsuper can provide scaled personal advice to you and prospective members. legalsuper is required to collect personal information that is relevant to the provision of that advice.  Information collected for the purpose of providing personal advice is only used for that purpose and is retained as a record of the basis on which advice is given.  Personal information collected for the purpose of providing advice does not form part of legalsuper’s fund records and is not used for fund administration purposes.

_{[1] AAS is a business owned by Link Group.}

What personal information may legalsuper collect?

legalsuper may collect personal information for each member which includes:

• full name; 
• date of birth; 
• nominated address/preference for communications; 
• gender; 
• phone number(s);
• email address; 
• Tax File Number;
• bank account details;
• personal information of dependants (or potential dependants) of members including marital status, health and financial information;
• annual salary, including where this is advised by your employer or yourself; 
• date of commencement of employment; 
• superannuation benefit, including amount, contributions and rollovers paid to SCH Online and/or legalsuper by you or on your behalf; 
• nominated beneficiaries, if provided to us;
• evidence of health including medical reports;
• when registering for the DIO online platform as a ‘Free Access User’ or a ‘Full Access User’, details about the superannuation and/or pension account(s) you hold with legalsuper, including the balance of such account(s);
• whether you are a ‘Free Access User’ of the DIO online platform or a ‘Full Access User’ of the DIO online platform; and
• any instructions provided to SCH Online and/or legalsuper with regard to your account(s) with legalsuper, including orders to buy or sell listed securities and/or Term Deposits, all instructions regarding dividend reinvestment and corporate action elections, switching or re-weighting investment options, or establishing or changing investment options and all other instructions relating to your account(s).

Sensitive information

Where the collection of information relates to sensitive information (such as information about your health, race or ethnicity, political opinions, criminal records, religious beliefs or affiliations, trade union or professional memberships), consent to the collection of this information will be obtained unless the collection is permitted or authorised by Australian law.

legalsuper collects personal information primarily to:

• establish membership, including arranging any insurance cover (if applicable);
• invest and administer superannuation entitlements;
• calculate and pay superannuation benefits including any insurance component; 
• provide general and scaled personal advice to members and prospective members of legalsuper;
• provide the DIO (through the DIO online platform provided by FNZ (Australia)) to eligible members;
• communicate to members on legalsuper, superannuation and legal community matters in general; 
• understand a member’s financial goals, needs and preferences;
• comply with legalsuper’s taxation payment and reporting obligations; 
• rollover or transfer benefits to another superannuation entity; 
• handle enquiries and complaints; 
• inform members of relevant products and services provided by reputable organisations; and comply with any legal obligation.

Incomplete information and proof of identity

legalsuper only collects information that it requires to provide services to you.  If you choose not to provide all of the information requested, including not providing your correct identity, legalsuper may not be able or allowed to provide you with the services that you require.  Generally, the only service that can be provided in such circumstances is the provision of factual information.

Tax File Numbers are collected:

• to allow the location/identification of your benefits; 
• to deduct tax from payments, for reporting to the Australian Taxation Office in relation to surcharge (if applicable) and for making reports to the unclaimed money register; 
• to report to other regulated superannuation entities, when the benefits are rolled over or transferred to the other entity; and
• to allow legalsuper to accept personal contributions.

legalsuper does not use Tax File Numbers or any other Government identifier as a record of fund membership.

Evidence of health – insurance

Health information and evidence is required if you have elected more than a certain level of insurance cover or you request an increase to your existing level of insurance cover. 

Claims information

If you die, legalsuper will request a copy of the death certificate.  legalsuper must obtain personal information about each of your dependants in order to determine to whom the death benefit should be paid.  This information may include financial information, to enable legalsuper to assess the financial needs of each dependant.

If you claim a total and permanent disablement benefit, an invalidity benefit or salary continuation benefit, legalsuper will need to obtain your personal information, including health information such as medical reports so that your claim can be assessed.  If your claim is for an insured benefit, this information will be provided to Zurich for its assessment.

If you apply for early release of a benefit on grounds of financial hardship, legalsuper will need to obtain personal information about you and your spouse (if any) and may require additional information from members of your family.  This information may include financial or health information.  The information is required to assess whether your application should be granted.

How legalsuper collects personal information

Most of the personal information held by legalsuper is collected either from your employer or from you directly.  Employers provide this information under the employee records exemption.  This exemption allows each employer to pass employees’ details on to legalsuper so that they can meet their obligations under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (Cth).

legalsuper also collects personal information from you:

• in written form; 
• electronically, by email;
• electronically via MemberAccess; and 
• orally by the fund administrator or legalsuper staff.

Where appropriate, personal information provided orally or electronically is confirmed by way of a confirmation letter, sent to you as soon as practicable after receipt of the information by legalsuper either electronically or by post.

If you send an email to legalsuper, we will record the email address but will only use it for the purposes recorded in this Policy.

All personal information collected will be:

• collected by lawful and fair means; 
• used for a lawful purpose; 
• collected with your consent or as permitted by law; and 
• collected for a clear and explicit purpose.

Personal information about you may also be collected from you by our administrator (on our behalf), insurer, SCH Online and/or FNZ (Australia) in order to provide you with legalsuper’s products and services.

Collection of browsing information

legalsuper uses technology to track the patterns of behaviour of visitors to the legalsuper website. This may include using a “cookie”, which would be stored on your browser. Cookies can record information about your visit to our website and allows us to optimise your website experience and provide you with relevant information after you leave the site. If you do not want this information to be collected, you can prevent this by modifying your browser settings.

When you browse the legalsuper website, our service providers log the following information:

• your server address; 
• top-level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, etc.); 
• the date and time of your website visit; 
• the pages you looked at; 
• the documents you downloaded; 
• the previous site you visited;  and
• the type of browser you used.

If you do not wish to receive communications that we are not legally required to send to you, you can opt out via the unsubscribe link in the emails we send you, via MemberAccess, when completing a membership application form or at any time by contacting us on 1800 060 312 (8am to 8pm [AEST] Monday to Friday).

How legalsuper stores and secures personal information

Personal information is held by legalsuper, AAS, Zurich and FNZ (Australia) on computer systems and files.  Staff of each organisation have varying levels of security related to accessing personal information.  All computer systems are firewall and password protected to prevent, to the extent possible, access by unauthorised personnel.

Most computer records and back-up records are maintained within Australia.  Where possible the Trustee will only enter into agreements with service providers that may hold personal information that are domiciled in Australia.  It is possible that in the future service providers outside of Australia may offer superior and more secure services in which case we will update this policy with details of the systems utilised and the country of domicile.  AAS may use overseas service providers located in other countries for aspects of fund administration.  These include New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United States of America, Papua New Guinea, China (Hong Kong), India, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Canada and the Philippines. AAS has its own Privacy Statement and is responsible for information it collects.  The AAS Privacy Statement can be accessed via www.linkgroup.com.

legalsuper’s service providers are responsible for maintaining and securing all personal information that is provided to them or collected directly from you.

Any personal information that is held in a written format is held in a secure location and manner in order to minimise, to the extent reasonably possible, the risk of access by unauthorised personnel.

legalsuper uses offsite archive facilities to store member and fund information that is more than two years old.  Member records are retained by legalsuper for a period of 10 years at which point they are reviewed and if deemed to be no longer required are destroyed in a secure manner having regard to their sensitivity.

Management of personal information

legalsuper will on request by you provide you with access to personal membership information that has been collected about you. You can make that request by calling us on 1800 060 312 (8am to 8pm [AEST] Monday to Friday) or by emailing us at mail@legalsuper.com.au.

legalsuper relies on you to notify us of all relevant information on a timely basis so that your information held by legalsuper is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

If you notify legalsuper that your information held is inaccurate, incomplete or not up-to-date, your request to change personal information will be actioned as soon as practicable and a letter confirming the change sent to you either electronically or via the post.

Where permitted by law, legalsuper will utilise technology, data bases and enact other policies such as the transfer of lost, uncontactable and/or certain inactive members to the ATO to ensure the quality of personal member information held, the correct allocation of benefits and the continued ability of lost, uncontactable and/or certain inactive members to identify their benefits via the ATO.

Access to, or disclosure of, personal information

Personal information held by legalsuper can be accessed by or may be disclosed to:

• you;
• your spouse (under certain conditions);
• AAS, Zurich, SCH Online and FNZ (Australia);
• employees of legalsuper, AAS, Zurich, SCH Online and FNZ (Australia); 
• the Trustee directors; 
• employees of other service providers to legalsuper including consultant(s), auditors and legal advisers; 
• archiving companies who are contracted to ensure that all documents are held in a secure environment;
• digital communication and distribution organisations who are contracted to electronically communicate and distribute legalsuper communication material including direct marketing;
• the mailing house used to distribute communication material to you; 
• service providers who are contracted to provide consulting services including address matching organisations which cross match personal details with information from superannuation funds and other sources to help keep your contact details accurate and to locate any other superannuation accounts you may have;
• medical practitioners and other service providers requested by legalsuper to assist in the underwriting and assessment of claims;
• IT service providers who maintain legalsuper’s information technology systems and providing information technology services; and
• marketing and communication researchers, agencies and analytics providers who have been contracted by legalsuper to provide survey, research, analytics, and marketing services relating to legalsuper.

legalsuper does not provide any third party with any personal information about members for the purpose of that third party making unsolicited offers of products or services to you.

You may appoint an agent to act on your behalf or to receive information about your benefits.  Any agent including accountants, financial planners, attorneys under powers of attorney and legal representatives must be authorised by you (in writing) to receive your information.

In some circumstances, we are required by law to disclose your personal information which include:

• Government regulators, including the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC); 
• the Courts and our other law enforcement agencies; 
• your Spouse, in accordance with the Family Law requirements;
• the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT); 
• the Australian Taxation Office (ATO); and 
• other superannuation funds for the purpose of transfer/rollover of your benefit to or from another fund.

The personal information held by legalsuper will not be released in any other circumstances unless the law permits it, or your written permission is obtained.

Information will not be disclosed if it is:

• an internal working document; 
• personal information of another person where it would be unreasonable to disclose this; 
• information having a commercial value that would be destroyed or reduced by the disclosure; or 
• information in relation to which the Trustee owes a duty of non-disclosure to another person.

The APPs do not require legalsuper to provide you with access to your personal information in certain circumstances.

Where access to personal information is denied, legalsuper will give you an explanation for the denial of access in writing.

Data Breaches

legalsuper takes the security of your personal information very seriously and takes reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, interference and unauthorised access. If an unforeseen event were to occur and legalsuper’s data, including members’ personal information was interfered with or accessed by unauthorised persons legalsuper has in place a number of mechanisms to contain the breach and assess the impact.

If your personal information were to be accessed or interfered with by unauthorised persons, we would comply with any applicable legal obligations to notify you.

Complaints and Enquiries

legalsuper manages complaints and enquiries in accordance with our Internal Dispute Resolution policy. To make an enquiry or complaint regarding a privacy matter you can contact us at:

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your privacy complaint, you can refer the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at:

By agreeing to participate in legalsuper, you agree to legalsuper collecting, using, storing and disclosing personal and sensitive information about you in accordance with this Privacy Statement.

1 December 2022
_{Legal Super Pty Ltd ABN 37 004 455 789 AFSL 246315 is the Trustee of legalsuper ABN 60 346 078 879}