It's not easy. The Government wants to ensure the money is used for our retirement and so much of our super is "preserved" meaning it has to stay in the fund until we retire. The Government has legislated preservation ages of 55 for those born before July 1, 1960, 60 for those born after June 30, 1964, and a scaled age in between for those born between these two dates.

Since July 1999, it has also been required that all contributions to funds, and earnings within the funds, must be preserved.

But your fund statement may also refer to "unpreserved" and "restricted non-preserved benefits". Unpreserved benefits can be withdrawn from the fund at any time (as long as the fund's rules let you). Restricted non-preserved benefits can be withdrawn if you meet certain conditions.

Does that mean I can't touch my preserved benefits at all?
No. There are a limited range of circumstances in which you can get access to your super before retirement, and a report earlier this year by the Senate Select Committee on Superannuation and Financial Services recommended that these be extended.

What do I have to do?
According to the committee, there are several ways you can go. First, you can apply to the trustees of the fund to get access by arguing that you're suffering severe financial hardship. You can also apply to the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority on compassionate grounds. There are also a number of special conditions for release of your super, such as permanent incapacity, permanently leaving Australia and being temporarily unable to work.

Does that mean I can use my super to help pay the bills if I'm out of work?
It's not that simple. To qualify as being in severe financial hardship, you must have been receiving Government income support for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks and must show you're unable to meet reasonable and immediate living expenses. In simple terms, that means you must be unable to meet your daily living expenses and your assets (excluding the family home) could not reasonably be sold to meet the gap. It's a tough test and one of the problems is that it puts the responsibility on the trustees of your fund to make the decision. If you've already reached preservation age you don't have to meet the expenses test, but you do have to have received income support payments for a cumulative (but not continuous) period of 39 weeks to qualify.

Do I have a right of appeal if the trustees say no?
You can take the case to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal for review.

What do you mean by compassionate grounds?
It means you must be able to show you can't afford to pay for prescribed expenses such as medical treatment or transport for you or a dependant, palliative care for yourself or a dependant, expenses associated with a dependant's death, funeral or burial, or expenses to modify your (or your dependant's) home or car if seriously disabled. Another prescribed expense is payment on your mortgage to prevent the lender from foreclosing on your home. APRA has some discretion to approve payments to people who don't strictly meet these criteria.

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