Attention Protect Fire Rescue members

The Protect Injury and Sickness Policy issued by ATC Insurance Solutions (Protect Policy) has been the preferred income protection policy for the past four years and currently covers over 3,700 firefighters across Victoria.

Since October 2018, we have accepted more than 700 claims and maintained a high acceptance rate of 96%.

We have received an abundance of positive feedback from those of you who have used our services or made a claim under the Policy.

The UFU have elected not to renew the Protect Policy. We are not aware at this point in time whether or not the UFU has executed an agreement for another policy.

Your Protect Policy is due to expire 1 January 2023 at 4pm.

We are however, pleased to confirm that Protect/ATC have established a new Protect/ATC policy which will be effective from 1 January 2023.

We are also pleased to confirm the following improvements will be introduced in the new Protect/ATC Policy:

• Increasing the weekly benefit rate from $2,100 to $2,200
• Increasing the weekly benefit period for amateur / extreme sports and off road motorcycling from 13 weeks to 26 weeks
• Introducing a new lump sum benefit of $10,000 payable in the event of a stroke or heart attack

We invite you to consider whether the new policy is right for you in light of your own objectives, financial situation and needs, and provide a link to the product disclosure statement (PDS).

We recommend you review the PDS of any other income protection policy you are considering to ensure it is right for you.

Your income protection allowance

On 21 October 2022, the Fair Work Commission issued a Decision and Order in response to a dispute lodged by the UFU concerning firefighters’ entitlements to the income protection insurance allowance in the current enterprise agreement.

We understand that the UFU argue that the effect of the Order is that Fire Rescue Victoria employees will not be entitled to a reimbursement from the FRV for income protection insurance unless the policy an employee chooses is one that has been agreed to by the UFU and FRV.

In our opinion, this is not the correct interpretation of the Order. Further, a representative of FRV has confirmed to Protect that FRV does not interpret the Order in the same way as the UFU and that employees will be reimbursed by FRV for the income protection policy of their choice or direct the allowance to the insurer of choice, as long as proof of payment is provided to FRV.

What do I need to do? 

Sign the authority form

If you wish to be insured by ATC through Protect from 1 January 2023, please complete the online declaration form linked here:

ONLINE AUTHORITY AND DECLARATION FORM

We are happy to answer any questions you may have, so please feel free to contact us on the details below.