Reporting period: July-December 2023

Independent Assessor: Melissa Dwyer

Key messages

• I received 126 complaints during the six months to 31 December 2023, 3 more compared to the previous six months.
• A total of 127 complaints were closed during the period, 31 of which were closed upon the issue of an assessment. The other 96 were closed because:
  • they were specifically excluded from my jurisdiction by the Independent Assessor’s Terms of Reference
  • the complainant failed to respond to correspondence, or
  • the complainant withdrew the complaint.
• I substantiated 47 issues, of which 41 (87.2%) had not been appropriately dealt with by AFCA prior to being raised with me. Of the 41 issues, five related to delays in dealing with the Independent Assessor complaints and the remaining were mainly issues relating to inadequate responses to calls or correspondence (14), delays in AFCA’s financial firm complaint handling/ lack of updates (13) and poor-quality information provided (four).
• During the period I recommended:
  • apologies be made to 16 complainants
  • a total of $4,650 non-financial compensation be paid
  • seven other actions be taken.
• Some examples of complaints that were substantiated are:
• In relation to Communication:
  • An AFCA assessment incorrectly stated the complainant had failed to provide requested information when, in fact, AFCA had not requested the information. This error was exacerbated by AFCA’s Service Complaints Team considering but not substantiating the error.
  • AFCA failed to respond to the complainant’s correspondence and, after advising the due date for responding to the determination was on hold pending AFCA’s response to her service complaint, AFCA held her to the original date to accept or reject the determination (despite the service complaint not having been addressed).
• In relation to Fairness and Impartiality:
  • AFCA failed to advise the complainant it would not be relying upon information he provided (perhaps misunderstanding why the information had been provided) prior to issuing an expedited determination. After the determination, the complainant explained why he thought the information was relevant, but AFCA did not refer his submission to the decision maker.
• In relation to Efficiency and Effectiveness:
  • Complaints relating to delays in the financial firm complaint process were substantiated. Delays occurred most frequently at the point of allocation to a caseworker or decision maker. One complainant experienced a two and a half month wait before their complaint was allocated to a caseworker, during which time, they received no status updates from AFCA.

Analysis

Complaints to the Independent Assessor

Assessments Issued

Snapshot of Outstanding Assessments (By Age)

Complaints about AFCA’s service July - December 2023

• AFCA received 616 complaints about its service in the six months to 31 December 2023. 621 service complaints were investigated, responded to and finalised during the period.
• The average age of service complaints closed in the six-month period was 22 days.
• Service complaints received between July and December 2023 represented 1.2% of financial firm complaints that AFCA received in the period.
• 84% of issues raised in service complaints finalised during the period were not substantiated (1,167 issues). 16% of issues raised in finalised service complaints were substantiated (219 issues).
• Of the service complaint issues that were substantiated, most related to standard of services issues, with the three most common issues substantiated being delay (103), failing to reply to calls or correspondence (30) and failure to keep parties informed of progress (23). 10 service issues relating to determinations issued were substantiated, with the predominant issues being a lack of procedural fairness (5) and an error made in a determination (4).
• Providing an apology or clarification of our process or a decision we issued for any service related issues upheld were the most common outcomes for services complaints finalised in the period. Re-allocating a complaint to another staff member was also an outcome we provided.

Summary of service complaints received and closed July – December 2023

Service issue outcome summary July – December 2023

Some service complaints have more than one issue raised. This means that the number of complaint issues are greater than the number of complaints received or closed.