Office of the Pension Fund Adjudicator scorecard to hold funds to account
The Pension Fund Adjudicator (PFA) has launched a scorecard that will keep pension funds and administrators in check by tracking the number of complaints each fund processes, and the time taken to process these complaints. The scorecard will address industry inefficiencies and will help alleviate the current backlog being experienced by the Office of the Pension Fund Adjudicator (OPFA).
The expediency of complaints is at the core of the OPFA’s mandate and with several pension funds dragging their heels, there was a need for the adoption of stringent measures to enforce compliance. Mamodupi Mohlala the Pension Fund Adjudicator said “The need to conclude complaints as quickly as possible is paramount for members, and the scorecard will not only measure the fund’s performance, but will also add pressure to the funds to resolve complaints timeously. The Scorecard will further serve to drive investment decisions based on the ratings that funds receive from the OPFA” Mohlala added.
The scorecard provides a framework for the pension funds industry to address challenges faced by its members and to enhance the capacity of the industry to provide adequate services. It will detail the number of complaints lodged against each pension fund and the time taken by these funds to resolve complaints. The scorecard will expose funds that do not comply with industry regulation to this end will monitor pension funds against the following criteria:
* Their response times to complaints lodged against the fund
* The quality of their responses
* Default determinations if any granted against the fund
* The number of dismissals granted in complaints against the fund and the relief granted to complainants
* The type and nature of the complaints lodged
* Whether there were any attempts made to resolve a complaint prior to lodgement with the office of the Adjudicator
The OPFA has been put in place to dispose of complaints in terms of the Pension Funds Act by increasing access to services, investigating complaints and reaching a just resolution of complaints expeditiously by application of the law. The OPFA’s current workload stands at over 10,000 open complaint files, and receives 400 new complaints every month. This is a 96% increase from 2007 figures. The most common complaints received by the OPFA are delays in the payment of withdrawal benefits by the funds, and the non-payment by funds of both withdrawal and death benefits due to employer’s failure to contribute. Divorce benefit complaints are also up as a result of amended legislation. Said Mohlala “Many of these complaints could have been resolved by the funds and their administrators before reaching the OPFA, and we are currently engaging with the funds to see how we can work together to improve efficiencies within the industry” she added.
The Scorecard will hold pension funds to account, and in addition will serve as a means for members to appraise funds based on their delivery. “We are committed to ensuring that all pension funds conform to best practise policies and this rating will give us a barometer to measure their performance and take firm action against funds that are not performing” Mohlala concluded.
