Overview

Commissioner’s Report

Leo Bator, Commissioner for Superannuation and Chief Executive Officer of ComSuper

I am pleased to report that this year we made significant improvements to the delivery of our annual member statements and benefit payment processes. We also increased overall productivity, performance and efficiency.

We successfully met 88% of our total service standards and continued to achieve high levels of member satisfaction according to independent survey data.

A new Service Level Agreement was signed with ARIA in June and is now in place.

In October 2008 the Australian Government announced a scoping study to explore options for improving the administration and governance arrangements of the schemes we administer. A Government decision is expected in the latter half of 2009.

Highlights and Challenges

We provided our Australian Public Service (APS) members with an improved level of service through reducing the average turnaround time for processing CSS and PSS benefit applications from 12 to four days.

We also improved our efficiency for military scheme members, with 87% of benefit applications being processed in four days, despite the higher volume of military benefit applications received last year.

Although processing times have improved substantially, there was an increase in the number of complaints and compensation claims relating to processing times. These complaints relate mainly to the period where market turbulence due to the global financial crisis was at its peak.

The market turbulence resulted in wide variations in fund returns and therefore benefits payable. In these circumstances, both slow or speedy processing on our behalf resulted in a claim for loss.

A key challenge in consistently processing benefit applications in a short timeframe is the quality of data both received in applications and held in our systems.

It can take a number of weeks to verify or obtain additional information from either the member, the employer or both. Poor data slows down our processing times and increases our costs.

As a Financial Management Authority (FMA) agency, my priority is to pay accurate benefits and my secondary priority is to do it as quickly as possible.

Over recent years we have identified the need to improve our administration systems. This remains a significant issue.

We have already implemented a better data capture system and over the past twelve months we have worked on improving the quality of our data holdings. An ongoing challenge is for employer agencies and our scheme members to take greater responsibility in ensuring the information provided to us at the time of a benefit request is complete and accurate.

It is a particularly good time for members to verify their information and report any inaccuracies to ComSuper when they receive their annual member statements.

Our communication with members was a key improvement area, with our average response times to emails and other written correspondence reducing from 15 to five days.

All member statements were delivered by the legislated deadline of 31 December 2008 and almost all of our PSSap statements were mailed out by mid-September 2008.

Independent member satisfaction survey data again confirmed high levels of member satisfaction with our services.

We altered our IT systems to meet the requirements of legislative changes that removed the differential treatment of same-sex couples and their children. Our implementation of the final stages of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation was successful and included the introduction of active transaction monitoring.

We met all external reporting obligations and provided substantial information to the scoping study team. Our governance arrangements were further strengthened through the implementation of the best practice Guidance Statement 007 (GS 007) control assurance framework.

Strong stakeholder relationships continued to prove productive for us in 2008–09. We worked closely with our employer agencies and provided a dedicated employer help desk service in response to their feedback.

We created a new information management capability to drive data quality improvements, both in our own holdings and in the data collected from employers. Working collaboratively with stakeholders, including the Department of Defence, we corrected the records of over 2700 military scheme members.

Our specific focus on improving our data holdings helped us to identify a number of errors in our records. One issue was the deduction of incorrect insurance premiums from some PSSap members’ accounts because of incorrect data held on the PSSap administration system. Affected members have been informed and the errors will be corrected in the latter half of 2009.

By consolidating our IT infrastructure and improving the efficiency of IT resources, we generated significant cost savings, allowing us to comply with the information and communications technology (ICT) Gershon Review recommendations.

We continued to participate in and progress recommendations from the Inter-Departmental Working Group for current and former Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and their families, including enhanced and streamlined invalidity assessment processes. We are piloting a new invalidity classification process which is less intrusive on members and more cost effective by utilising medical reports and expert opinion from the participating agencies.

Our financial performance

Our focus has been on strengthening our commitment to service delivery, meeting obligations to our various stakeholders and identifying efficiency savings.

We reported a positive financial outcome and a moderate level of cash reserves. Our financial results are consistent with our budget forecasts, as reported to Government.

We continued to strengthen our contract and procurement management processes, leading to greater efficiencies in our business processes and dealings with the marketplace. We initiated, led and finalised a procurement process to establish a panel of providers to undertake valuation and asset disposal services on behalf of all government agencies. Thirteen government agencies have joined this process.

We also finalised our Strategic Finance Plan which integrates into our existing Capital Management Plan.

To keep within our operating budget, we actively reduced our overall staffing levels by approximately 40 people, largely through natural attrition.

Our people

Throughout 2008–09, we undertook a range of activities and initiatives to support our people and to create a positive working environment.

The ComSuper Collective Agreement 2008–2010 extended our commitment to work-life balance and includes purchased leave, paid parenting leave and mid-year school holiday childcare support. Pay increases are linked to managers and employees having formal monthly ‘conversations’ to help drive performance gains.

As a response to findings from our staff survey conducted in August, we have had a strong focus on leadership development. The ‘Leading ComSuper 2009–10’ training was launched in April for all senior executives, executive levels and APS6 level staff with team leader responsibilities.

We continued to promote a range of initiatives aimed at encouraging staff to pursue healthy lifestyles, with a view to reducing unplanned leave, improving productivity and enhancing work-life balance. Some of the initiatives included a ‘Get Active…Together’ team based campaign, health assessments, subsidised influenza vaccinations and modest bonuses for undertaking health improvement programs.

According to the 2008–09 State of the Service Employee Survey, we ranked 13th out of 47 APS agencies, with staff stating that ComSuper is a good place to work, they are motivated to do the best possible work and would recommend working here to others.

We are proud of our involvement in the community. We provided assistance at the Victorian Bushfires, with five of our staff working with Centrelink staff in Melbourne for three weeks. In addition, staff were involved in numerous fundraising events for charities over the year with over $5,500 raised in donations.

The year ahead

2009–10 looks to be an important year for us, particularly in regards to the potential outcomes of the scoping study. The preparation for provision of services to the new merged Trustee Board (which comes into operation in July 2010) will be a significant priority, along with a continued focus on benefits and statements underpinned by our commitment to customer service and data quality.

While our future ICT needs are expected to be addressed by the scoping study, our challenge will be to maintain our services with ageing IT systems, especially as the number of complex member records requiring manual intervention continues to grow.

We expect to finalise negotiations on the Service Level and Pricing Agreement (SLPA) 2009–11 with the Department of Defence and the Military Superannuation and Benefits Board early in 2009–10. This will define the new standards for services that we provide to military scheme members and other stakeholders going forward.

We are also planning system upgrades such as a desktop refresh, disaster recovery upgrade, a new telephone system and automating our procurement processes.

Thank you

I would like to thank the staff of ComSuper and my fellow Executives for their commitment and achievements over the past year.

I would also like to thank our former minister, Senator Sherry, Minister Tanner, the Trustee Boards and their executive staff, DFRDB Authority members, the external members of our Executive Board and Audit Committee and officers in the Departments of Finance and Deregulation and Defence for their assistance and collaboration during the year.

Leo Bator
Commissioner for Superannuation and
Chief Executive Officer ComSuper