SCT supports increases for trustee decisions

Trustees found more favour with the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) over the April-June quarter as the tribunal was faced with less inquiries.

The SCT affirmed 91.1 per cent of trustees' decisions - up from 83.3 per cent the January-March quarter.
Cases resolved at review stage also increased from 1.9 per cent to 7 per cent, while the tribunal was able to increase its completion of written complaints, closing 643 in the June quarter - an increase of 4.2 per cent.

But the overall number of queries contracted in the June quarter as telephone inquiries decreased 16 per cent from 3,342 to 2,809, with only two extra written complaints recorded.

The SCT said 32.4 per cent of inquiries were complaint-related (the most popular), followed by questions about the tribunal at 29.4 per cent.

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Of the complaints, administration complaints were the largest category resolved at review stage, at 37.8 per cent.
Administration complaints also took the largest chunk of the SCT's time, but decreased 1 per cent from the April quarter from 46.7 per cent to 45.7 per cent. Death complaints were 36.6 per cent, followed by disability at 11.8 per cent.

Although administration complaints topped the list, resolutions lagged behind death benefit cases - 74 per cent of which were settled compared to 63.9 per cent of administration cases. Half of disability cases were able to be settled.

The SCT's overall settlement rate was 64.5 per cent, representing 80 of 124 cases.

Almost half of the complaints for the quarter were finalised at the inquiry and reconciliation stage, while 43.2 per cent were deemed outside jurisdiction.

The tribunal mediated 144 cases during the quarter - an increase of 6.5 per cent.

At the end of the quarter, the SCT still had 13.9 per cent or 20 cases pending - a 1 per cent decrease on the end of the January-March quarter.