Medicare supplants APRA on compassionate early release
The Federal Government has again turned to Medicare to deliver a superannuation service – this time the administration of the compassionate early release of superannuation entitlements.
The Government earlier turned to Medicare to provide the administrative arrangements around its free superannuation clearing house facility for small employers.
The move has been welcomed by the superannuation industry with Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) chief executive, Pauline Vamos (pictured), saying the use of Medicare would make things easier for people suffering hardship and requiring compassion early release of super entitlements.
“It is a commonsense solution for early release to be administered by a body that already has a customer service operation in place as well as the appropriate systems to assess and deal with claims on compassionate grounds,” Vamos said.
Announcing the changes yesterday, the Assistance Treasurer, Bill Shorten, said Medicare had been managing the claims for almost six months under delegation from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
He said that while APRA was responsible for administering the early release arrangements, the function did not fit well with the regulator’s role.
Shorten said the Government believed the function would be administered more cost-effectively following formal transfer to an agency which had an efficient customer support infrastructure.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
Multiple industry organisations have shared their thoughts on AFCA’s proposed rules amendment, supporting the idea of firms being named publicly when they fail to comply with determinations.
Channel Capital has appointed a head of investment oversight who joins from 14 years at asset consulting firm JANA Investment Advisers.
Licensee Centrepoint Alliance has completed the acquisition of Brighter Super’s annual review service advice book, via Financial Advice Matters.
ASIC has launched court proceedings against the responsible entity of three managed investment schemes with around 600 retail investors.
