Victorians who cannot manage their own money due to disability, dementia or mental illness rely on State Trustees if they have no one else. If State Trustees does not claim their Centrelink benefits or pay their rent on time these people may run out of
money or be left homeless. Changes to the law in 2019 require State Trustees to make decisions based on what clients with disability actually want, rather than what it considers to be in their best interests. This audit was conducted to see if State Trustees is supporting the rights and interests of vulnerable Victorians. 

State Trustees manage 9,007 clients, 71% of whom receive the Disability Support Pension and 21% of whom are in residential aged care facilities. 

Key findings

• State Trustees' financial administration services support the rights and interests of clients with disability, dementia and/or mental illness.
• It has updated its procedures and operations since the legislative changes requiring State Trustees to find out its clients' will and preferences and follow them as far as possible, unless there is a risk of serious harm.
• It increased its effort to identify clients’ will and preferences in 2023 and 2024.
• Following a funding boost in 2022, it visited more clients and strengthened its complaints processes.
• It is not always clear how State Trustees’ reasons for declining clients’ requests for extra money match the legislative requirements.

Recommendations

1. Continue increasing efforts to visit existing clients to update their will and preferences and understand their financial administration needs.
2. Review the reasons (such as ‘unaffordable to budget’) for declining clients’ requests for extra money and ensure that staff apply them consistently and in line with legislative requirements.
3. Provide more detailed reasons why it declines clients’ requests for extra money and/or introduce an option for clients to check their account balance before making a request.