Evolutionary Awards – ICTS Connect: Death Benefit Services

Category: Evolution in improving member outcomes

Describe your evolution:

ICTS Connect – for Death Benefit Services

When a loved one passes away, it’s a difficult time for everyone involved. In addition to the grief and sadness, there are often many practical matters to take care of, including funeral arrangements and settling the estate. In particular, when families are financially dependent on the deceased, the timeous payment of death benefits is so important and should not cause further stress for those concerned.

Avoiding unnecessary paper work and the fast resolution of the disbursement of retirement fund death benefits is vitally important, especially when dependants are financially reliant on those benefits . ICTS Death Benefit Services provides a full, outsourced death benefit service to retirement funds in terms of Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act.

ICTS Recently implemented its own proprietary software development which guides the user through the systematic, regulated process required by section 37C. The program has a built-in actuarial calculator and the capturing of information results in a system generated report and trustee resolution. As an important risk mitigation tool, the software has a well-coordinated document storage system providing a full audit trail should this be required at a future date. This software is used in the ICTS Death Benefit Services’ day-to-day activities, and it can be licensed by retirement fund administrators for their own use.

With the software programme as a framework, the ICTS case administrator enters various inputs such as life expectancy, the number of dependants and the various types of marriages, amongst others, whilst at the same time ensuring any special rule provisions of the fund are taken into account. From this inputted information and any relevant Adjudicator determinations, the custom-built actuarial calculator assists the administrator in ensuring any recommendations are compliant with prevailing legislation and case law.

The document storage allows for a historic record to always be available and then automated trustee resolutions, helps speed up the process of trustee approvals for benefits to be paid.

In addition, the system uses a two-fold PIN and password system, along with integrated controls thus allowing pre-determined access to authorised users. This enables authorised personnel to log onto the system 24/7 and view the progress of specific case files for a fund.

Describe the impact your evolution has had in response to its identified challenges and targeted outcomes.

The automated processes of ICTS Connect result in expediency in settling death benefit claims, ensuring benefits reach dependants timeously and that trustees are protected through maintenance of historical records and case details.

Supporting Documentation >