Super roundtable summons Jones to address operations streamlining

Profit-to-member super funds, serving more than 10 million Australians, and the newly formed Super Members Council (SMC) have met with the Australian government to discuss initiatives to streamline and strengthen customer service.

In a recent roundtable, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones joined the SMC to identify further actions the government can take to enhance the claims process for insurance and death benefits.

“The entire super industry is deeply committed to ensuring the highest possible standards of customer service – that’s what Australians with their retirement savings in super rightly expect,” SMC chief executive Misha Schubert said.

“But we know that, on occasion, the super sector has fallen short of meeting those expectations – and that’s not good enough. This meeting is a clear signal of the sector’s shared resolve to do better – with profit-to-member funds determined to lead the way.”

Looking at insurance and death benefit claims, Schubert said these are oftentimes straightforward to resolve and, in such cases, should be an easy process so as to not further distress members at an already traumatic time.

However, in complex claims – including cases with multiple death benefit claimants, cases where a person has a complex relationship history, or when someone leaves no binding death nominations – stricter conditions require trustees to undertake a much more meticulous process.

According to the SMC, the average death benefit payment is made in just over a month.

“Consumer research shows most super fund members report high satisfaction rates with their super fund’s service,” the industry body said.

“But the sector must continuously strive to meet members’ expectations – and further significant work to improve customer service is already underway.”

Jones was also briefed on initiatives some funds have taken to further strengthen its customer service delivery, including the creation of a team of in-house claims assessors, and reviewing customer service systems to identify “points of friction” in claims processes.

Other funds are also implementing better visibility of claim status so members can track what stage their claim is at and are speeding up processes through digitising, automation, and other tech-enabled initiatives, according to the SMC.

Moreover, the roundtable passed on regulatory barriers that the Australian government could remove that would help ensure streamlined processing and higher standards of service.

Namely, the SMC pointed to the enhancement of several digital processes, including the creation of a simple and digital binding death nominations form, eliminating the need for submitting hard copy forms that require dual signatures from two witnesses.

In addition to suggesting that Indigenous kinship arrangements and culturally adopted children be recognised as death beneficiaries, the industry body highlighted the importance of strengthened integration between the Australian Tax Office (ATO), Services Australia, and super funds.

“This could enable a super fund member’s eligibility for financial hardship payments to be confirmed quickly (by the ATO) and enable details to be shared (with the consent of super fund members) of their eligibility for the age pension or other government payments so super funds can help their members plan even more effectively for retirement,” the SMC concluded.