Older Australians drive majority of super complaints: ASIC

Older Australians between the ages of 55 to 75 accounted for half of the internal complaints made to super funds in 2025, according to ASIC's Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) data dashboard.

Out of the 221,623 complaints super funds received from individuals and couples, the highest number from complaints came from the 55 to 64 age cohort, accounting for 25% of the total complaints. This was followed by the 65 to 74 age cohort, accounting for 21% of the total complaints.

In its latest update, ASIC introduced a complainant demographics page, allowing users to explore complaint trends by age group, gender and location.

"These enhancements aim to improve the transparency, accessibility and usability of IDR data, supporting ASIC's objective to strengthen accountability and drive improved complaint handling across the financial system," the regulator said.

The number of complaints made by Australians to their super funds progressively goes up as they age, moving up from just 322 complaints made by individuals under the age of 18 to around 34,893 complaints made by individuals in their 40s and 50s.

This trend peaks with the 55 to 64 age cohort and then declines for older Australians, falling to around 15,042 complaints for individuals who are 75 and over.

Super funds provided a total monetary remedy of $12.1 million to members in 2025.

Complaints related to super accounts resulted in $5.8 million in remediation - with general service delay, delay in following instructions and service-related issues the top issues members faced.

Total and permanent disability (TPD) was the second highest reason super funds provided remediation at $2.9 million. The major issue in this category was that of delay in claims handling resulting in $1.9 million in remediation.