Helen Hewett, executive officer of the industry fund CEO lobby group Industry Funds Forum (IFF), made the case at the AIST Superannuation Symposium in Sydney this week.
Superannuation members are unnecessarily hiring lawyers for insurance claims, she said, which makes it harder for trustees to pay out claims as well as slowing down the claims process.
“We need to deal with this issue, and that is why it is IFF’s view the only way to deal with it – so there are no disadvantages for funds – is for it to be done through regulation through the [Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993],” Ms Hewett said.
“We will be campaigning for there to be a change for members to first deal with their trustee in respect to a claim, and then we have no problem if the member decides they don’t like the decision and if they want to go to court, by all means,” she said.
Ms Hewett also said super trustees need to ensure they “better inform” members about the claims process and whether a lawyer is actually needed when making a claim.
“[The claims process] needs some better governance around it so that members are not ripped off. I am not saying that all lawyers rip them off but you do hear some frightening stories,” Ms Hewett said.
“We think it is well and truly time for the industry to re-engineer the claims process to make it a bit smoother, take advantage of technology, try to improve the efficiency, but most of all, to try and improve the member’s experience,” she said.
