Voluntary industry funding model for financial counselling services
Design of the model
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (2017) prompted a review of the coordination and funding for financial counselling services across Australia. Following this, the Sylvan Review recommended a voluntary industry funding model for financial counselling services (the model), because:
- industries contribute to demand for financial counselling services
- they also benefit from their customers accessing these services
- this model can contribute funding to improve access to these services.
The Government response to the Sylvan Review was released in 2020. The Government response provided full or in principle support for all of the Sylvan Review’s recommendations. This includes the establishment of the model.
Consultation
Consultation was an important part of developing the model. We consulted with the financial counselling sector and industry sectors including:
- banking and finance
- energy
- insurance
- telecommunications
- gambling.
A public Discussion Paper(Opens external website) was shared and provided details for the design of a voluntary model. The design also included creating an independent body to oversee the administration of the funding.
We received 54 discussion paper submissions(Opens external website). These provided insights from the financial counselling sector, industry and government.
We also held consultation roundtables. This helped us understand how the proposed model could work and gain feedback to help shape the final design.
This was the first time a public process assessed an entire proposed industry funding model.
Establishment of the model
The Australian Government announced(Opens external website) the establishment of the model on 21 November 2023.
To date, we have secured 3-year voluntary funding commitments from industry stakeholders. This equates to a total of more than $36 million over 3 years. The Australian Government also contributes over $50 million per year. State and territory governments also provide around $30 million per year.