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Fees and charges reform for key services – public consultation

Queensland Public Trustee is proposing to reform its fees and charges for the following key services:

  • financial management
  • deceased estates
  • trust administration

The objectives of Queensland Public Trustee’s proposed fees and charges reform are to:

  • Take all practical steps to ensure that customers pay no more in fees than what it costs the Queensland Public Trustee to provide the service.
  • Ensure any fee increases consider both social implications, including cost-of-living challenges, and Queensland Public Trustee’s long-term financial sustainability.
  • Increase cost recovery from deceased estate administration, while ensuring that any transition to higher fees occurs gradually to prevent a significant restriction of access for vulnerable customers.
  • Simplify Queensland Public Trustee’s fee structures to make them easier to understand.
  • Ensure that any subsidy provided to customers is a deliberate government decision that balances the public interest and the cost of community service obligation commitments.

To inform public discussion and feedback, the Queensland Public Trustee: Fees and charges for key services – public consultation paper provides detailed fee reform options for key services.

The paper also includes discussion about fee rebates and the free Will-making service, and welcomes feedback for future consideration.

Have your say

State-wide consultation is occurring, and input and feedback is being sought from all Queenslanders, customers, and government and non-government stakeholders. The consultation paper is now available for review and comment.

To help with quickly and easily understanding the proposed changes, we've developed short explanation fact sheets for each of the three key services and an Easy English fact sheet for financial management services. These resources are available alongside the consultation paper for your review.

For easier access, we have provided a tagged PDF version of the consultation paper. This format helps people who use screen readers or other assistive technologies. 

If you require a translation service please contact us at 1300 360 044 or clientenq@pt.qld.gov.au (email).

You can provide feedback by sending a written submission to:

Public consultation on the Queensland Public Trustee’s fees and charges reform for key services is open for comment closing on Wednesday 8 May 2024. Results of the consultation will inform the government’s decision on Queensland Public Trustee’s fees and charges framework.

We encourage all stakeholders to provide their feedback in a written submission where possible. However, we understand that some customers may find it more convenient to provide feedback verbally. In such cases, customers can simply call us at 1300 360 044, and our friendly welcome desk staff will gladly capture your comments and create a written submission on your behalf.

Alternatively, customers can call our Office of the Customer Advocate at 07 3858 9805 to create a written submission on their behalf.

We have compiled a consolidated list of questions from the consultation paper. These questions are designed to guide your written submission and ensure we capture a comprehensive range of perspectives. For the full context of each question, please refer to the corresponding section reference provided alongside each question.

About the proposed reform

The proposed fees and charges reform represents a significant step forward in the Queensland Public Trustee’s reform journey, aimed at transforming the organisation into a contemporary, inclusive, and people-inspired provider of state trustee services. It seeks to build on many of positive changes to the Queensland Public Trustee’s governance framework, policies, practices, and fees and charges implemented over the past four years, starting with the Customers First Strategy.

Queensland Public Trustee’s proposed fees and charges reform incorporates the findings and recommendations from:

  • The Public Advocate’s report, Preserving the financial futures of vulnerable Queenslanders: A review of the Public Trustee fees, charges, and practices, March 2021; and
  • The first major external review of the Queensland Public Trustee’s fees and charges framework in 20 years, released in October 2022.  The external review, which was commissioned following the release of the Public Advocate report, included extensive consultation with stakeholders.

More information

The following resources have been developed to further understand the proposed fees and charges reform and what it could mean for customers.

Consultation paper

Fact sheets

Frequently asked questions

Next steps

Consultation feedback will be considered before decisions are made about any fee changes. All current customers will be notified in advance of any changes to the fees and charges.

 

Last published: 1/04/2024 8:30:42 PM