With 409 complaints, death distributions was the most complained about category made to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT), according to its annual report.
As in previous years, jurisdiction wise, administration complaints topped with 49.2 per cent, followed by death at 28.7 per cent, and disability at 22.1 per cent.
This reporting year, from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015, there was an increase of written complaints of 9.1 per cent to 1,739. Of those, 1,582 were resolved at inquiry, conciliation or review, and 157 were withdrawn without resolution.
Compared to last year, the number of complaints received per million members increased by 8.8 per cent for corporate funds, 28.1 per cent for public sector funds, 22.5 per cent for retail funds, and 10.9 per cent for industry funds.
Industry fund complaints came to 741, followed by retail funds (582), public sector funds (218), corporate fund (29), and other (six).
However, ratio wise, the report found members form corporate funds were far more likely to lodge complaints with the tribunal than any other members.
The categories of note in the year according to the report were:
- Death benefits — 306 (40.4 per cent) conciliations. Of the 293 concluded cases, 209 (71.3 per cent) were settled.
- Disability — 198 (26.2 per cent) conciliations. Of the 188 concluded cases, 64 (34 per cent) were settled.
- Administration — 115 (15.2 per cent) conciliations. Of the 106 concluded cases, 48 (45.3 per cent) were settled.
- Disclosure/Fees — 71 (9.4 per cent) conciliations. Of the 69 concluded cases, 37 (53.6 per cent) were settled.
- Payments — 67 (8.8 per cent) conciliations. Of the 61 concluded cases, 31 (50.8 per cent ) were settled.
The report said misconceptions about super death benefits could have resulted in unexpected outcomes for the beneficiaries of the death benefit, and may have resulted in a complaint being made to the tribunal.
“The most common misconception, arguably, relates to the purpose of superannuation. Broadly speaking, the purpose of superannuation is to provide income in retirement to members and their dependants; it does not form part of a person’s estate,” the report said.
“Accordingly, a superannuation death benefit should be paid to dependants and those who had a legal or moral right to look to the deceased member for financial support had they not died.”
