SCT inefficient, says lawyer

A financial services lawyer has defended the increasing early involvement of plaintiff law firms in superannuation disputes, claiming the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) often took longer than many court proceedings.

Maurice Blackburn superannuation specialist Michael Bates responded to comments from a recent Super Review roundtable about potential detrimental effects that early involvement of lawyers could have on super fund members during disputes.

Australian Administration Services chief information officer Tim Buskens said lawyers would usually get involved in the mid-to-latter stages of the process, but they were now emerging from the outset.

The panel agreed this undermined the ability of the SCT to resolve the matters.

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However, Bates said early or earlier engagement of lawyers in superannuation disputes sped up the process, criticising the SCT for the length of time it takes to resolve a case.

"The SCT has, certainly in more recent times, become a tribunal that's very slow to deal with matters," Bates said.

"Even in cases where we've taken to the SCT, the delay has been so significant that we now have to advise our clients that taking the matter to court is in fact going to result in a quicker resolution."

From his experience, Bates said the Tribunal would usually take 12-18 months — sometimes even up to two years — to deal with a matter.

"If you put that into context, that is a period of time after the claim has been lodged, considered and presumably rejected, which in itself is another 12 months," Bates said.

"So you have somebody who has an insurance entitlement under superannuation that they've worked hard for all their life, they then suffered an injury or illness, they've stopped working, they've got bills to pay and a family to look after," he said.

After the claim is lodged, it usually takes the superannuation fund or their insurance company six to 12 months to get a decision. If that decision is to reject the claim, they can either ask for the decision to be reviewed or they can go to the SCT.

"That means you're putting another two years on top of that, which is a significant period of time for somebody who has a disability to be waiting to receive what really should be theirs."

Bates added superannuation disputes are often complex and require a legal expert.