COVID-19 Early Release Scheme - Issue 1
This report includes applications received between 20 April - 26 April 2020.
$1.30 billion | Total value of early release payments made to members |
1.6 business days | Average number of business days between receipt by the superannuation fund of application and member payment* |
162,879 | Number of early release applications paid |
$8,002 | Average value of early release applications paid to each member |
80** | Number of superannuation funds that have made an early release payment |
665,310 | Total number of early release applications received by superannuation funds |
* Receipt of the application by the superannuation fund to member payment does not capture the time between the receipt of the application by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and when the ATO provides it to the superannuation fund.
** Figure revised on 04/05/2020
Additional commentary
APRA has received early release initiative data submissions from 167 funds and these have been submitted on a best endeavours basis. Some of these funds received no applications from the ATO to make early release payments and provided nil value submissions.
On average, trustees took 1.6 days to make payments to eligible members after receiving applications from the ATO. Given it is the first week of the early release initiative, trustees had no applications that were more than five business days old.
There were 80 funds that made early release payments in the first week, with more expected to follow in the weeks to come.
Total applications to 26 April
Do you have questions about your personal application?
APRA has set out a five day guidance period for payments after receipt of applications from the ATO by funds, but also acknowledges that these timeframes may extend slightly where a Registered Superannuation Entity (RSE) licensee experiences a high volume of applications at any particular time. Delays can also occur in exceptional circumstances – such as where the RSE licensee’s automated checking has identified that additional fraud or other verification steps are required, or where the payment is being made from interests held in defined benefit funds.
If you do not believe you have received the funds you have applied for within a reasonable timeframe it is recommended that you contact your trustee directly to determine if there is a specific reason for the delay.