Comment on the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman new Terms of Reference
Draft Guidance: Compensation for non-financial loss and systemic issues
This submission is made jointly by Consumer Action Law Centre and WEstJustice.
We welcome the opportunity to comment on the development of draft guidance to support the implementation of the new Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) new Terms of Reference (TOR) by 1 January 2022.
Compensation for non-financial loss
We recognise that the compensation limits in the draft guidance reflects the limits set out in the TOR (and thus may not be in the scope of consultation), however we wish to reiterate our view that we consider the $1,500 non-financial compensation loss for complaints other than those about privacy is set too low.
We note that other redress schemes have a compensation limit that is substantially higher. For example, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is able to make an award for non-financial loss up to a limit of $5,000. Furthermore, AFCA has proposed in its submission to the 2021 Independent Review of AFCA that its non-financial loss compensation limit is increased. We ask the TIO board to reconsider this issue in light of meeting best practice.
Read our recommendations in the full submission (PDF).
211021 FINAL CALC WJ Joint Submission – TIO gudance