Hoher manueller Bearbeitungsaufwand bei Todesfallmeldungen

Definition

Superannuation death benefit claims require beneficiaries to lodge death claim forms and attach certified documentation such as the deceased’s death certificate, birth certificate and proofs of relationship or dependency.[3][4] Trustees and their administrators must then manually review this information, identify all potential dependants and legal personal representatives, and determine an appropriate distribution in line with SIS Regulations and the fund’s trust deed.[2][3] Guidance from funds such as Resolution Life and Catholic Super reveals that case managers often request further information and must write to all potential claimants, who in turn have **28 days** to object to proposed decisions, adding repeated correspondence cycles.[2][4][8] ASFA’s Service Standard emphasises that trustees should communicate regularly (for example by email or phone) with claimants and potential beneficiaries about documentation requirements and claim status, implying ongoing contact centre and back‑office involvement over months.[2] For a medium‑sized fund with **2,000–5,000** death claims per year, and an estimated manual effort of **6–10 staff hours per claim** across case management, administration and call centre interactions, this translates to **12,000–50,000 staff hours annually**. At a conservative fully‑loaded employment cost of **AUD 50/hour**, that is **AUD 0.6–2.5 million per year** spent on labour for death benefit handling alone. With modern digital intake, OCR/IDV tools for document capture, rules engines to pre‑assess eligibility and standardised communication templates, a 30–50% reduction in manual hours per claim (saving **2–5 hours** per case) is realistic, equating to **AUD 0.3–1.25 million** in recoverable capacity for a fund of this size. The loss manifests not only as direct labour cost but also in opportunity cost: claims specialists who are absorbed by low‑value chasing of documents and status queries cannot focus on complex dispute resolution, vulnerable members or broader process improvement.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Australian 🇦🇺 super funds burn thousands of staff hours per year on manual retiree death notification triage, document chasing and status updates. Automating intake, document validation and status communication can free 30–50% of claims handling capacity and redeploy it to higher‑value member services.

Affected Stakeholders

Claims Case Managers, Benefits Administration Teams, Member Services / Contact Centre Staff, Operations Managers, IT and Digital Transformation Leads, Outsourced administrators (registry providers)

Related Business Risks