Superannuation complaints fall, but service issues rise

The complaints authority has reported a decline in superannuation complaints driven by fewer claim delays, but service quality concerns have grown across funds.

Superannuation complaints to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) have fallen over the past year, even as service issues have become more prominent.

According to AFCA’s annual report for 2024–25, it received 6,164 superannuation complaints in 2024–25, a decline of 16 per cent from the previous year (down from 7,325).

However, superannuation complaints still represented 6 per cent of all complaints lodged. This figure remains 17 per cent higher than levels recorded in 2020–21 and 2021–22.

While overall volumes have eased, complaints about superannuation services have increased 21 per cent, rising from 602 to 727.

Conversely, claim-handling delay complaints have dropped by 39 per cent and account administration error complaints by 47 per cent. Death-benefit complaints have also declined 32 per cent, largely due to fewer claim delays.

According to the report, 40 per cent of superannuation disputes have been resolved at the referral stage, consistent with early-resolution trends in previous years.

However, the number of older complaints rose over this period, with 461 cases closed after more than a year, up 74 per cent on 2023–24.

These represent about 7 per cent of all superannuation complaints, with some delays linked to legislative clarification about AFCA’s jurisdiction.

Additionally, AFCA noted that funds have increasingly focused on improving member service, particularly around claims handling and payment of death benefits.

“Complaints in both areas have decreased, suggesting fund initiatives are having an impact,” the report stated.

It urged trustees to broaden their efforts to ensure that end-to-end service meets member expectations.

Although scam-related superannuation complaints have not risen significantly, AFCA has warned funds to strengthen their defences against fraud.

“We saw one complaint where a bad actor was able to identify and take advantage of a security weakness in an administration system,” the authority said. “We also received complaints that stolen member identification details were used to withdraw money from accounts”.

The average time to close a superannuation complaint was 116 days over the period, with 6,152 cases finalised during the year. Forty per cent of matters were resolved at the referral stage, followed by case management (3,040 cases), rules review (328), and final decisions (327).