The general manager of the Labor Union Co-operative Retirement Fund (LUCRF), Paula Allen, has abruptly left the fund.

Her departure was understood to have occurred yesterday. In the morning, the home page of lucrf.com.au contained a message from Allen and a photo, but by afternoon this had been replaced by a text-only message from LUCRF chairman, Greg Sword. Sword refused to comment on Allen’s departure, pending a media announcement, but he said the board “wished her the best”. A source close to LUCRF said Allen might be “collateral damage” from member administration “turmoil” at the fund, which is understood to be close to replacing its Atune platform. Sword admitted the fund was reviewing the platform and alternative providers, due to the pending sale of Atune partner, Australian Administration Services. “We’ve had constructive talks with [AAS vendor] Kaz, but it is good governance to have other options. We want to make sure we always have great support from whichever platform we use,” he said. Despite reported administrative headaches, the near-$2 billion LUCRF has regularly topped super fund performance surveys of late.