Retirement funds and administrators have been put on notice by the Pension Funds Adjudicator (PFA) on the back of concerns about a failure to respond to complaints by members.

Adjudicator Lebogang Mogashoa says there remains a high number of incidents of retirement funds and administrators not cooperating with the office’s investigation processes.

This includes not responding to complaints lodged (timeously or at all), requesting many extensions to respond, and filing responses that don’t comprehensively address the substance of the complaint.

After seeking legal opinion on the application of Section 30J of the Pension Funds Act, in a bid to compel cooperation with investigation processes, Mogashoa says he’s now empowered to issue summons and subpoenas against funds and administrators that fail to file responses to ensure that investigations proceed smoothly.

The summons would be directed at the principal officer and chairperson of the board of the offending fund, ensuring accountability at the highest level.

“Defying the summons or subpoena issued by the Adjudicator is a criminal offence, and compliance may be enforced through the criminal justice system and through civil contempt proceedings,” Mogashoa warns.

“Work will begin on ensuring that the office sets up the infrastructure required for these processes as advised by Senior Counsel.”

According to the adjudicator, 51% of complaints finalised in the recently concluded financial year relate to Section 13A, which obliges employers to pay employee pension contributions to funds.

“Too many employers are failing to comply,” he says.

Once largely confined to the security industry, Section 13A complaints are now surfacing in umbrella funds and municipal funds.

The PFA says increasingly, funds themselves are lodging complaints on behalf of members, though some delay submissions, leading to time-barred claims.

Others avoid requesting Section 13A orders against responsible persons to protect client relationships, a conduct Mogashoa described as a conflict of interest, given funds’ fiduciary duty to members.

On Section 37C, which governs the distribution of death benefits, the PFA has flagged delays caused by funds “simply sitting back and waiting” for information instead of actively investigating and seeking information. This includes a case unresolved since a member’s death in 2000.

Given that the measures to deal with non-responsive funds and administrators have only recently been communicated to the industry, the PFA has opted not name the specific funds and administrators on its radar at this stage.

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