Lobby Group Calls On ACC To Comply With Act

ACC is exiting blue-collar workers from the scheme at a faster rate than white-collar workers. Figures from ACC’s own injury statistics for 2005 provide the following information.

Occupation New weekly compensation claims in 2005 Ongoing (long-term) weekly comp Percentage long-term v new claims
Clerks 1091 560 51%
Legislators and Admin 814 389 48%
Professionals 1242 511 41%
Technicians 1368 483 35%
Unknown 703 222 32%
Sales and Service 2694 824 31%
Elementary 4553 1408 31%
Trades 4478 1357 30%
Ag and Fish 4408 1167 26%
Plant and Mach. Operators 7390 1864 25%

A Plant and Machinery Operator is twice as likely to be exited from the scheme as a Clerk or Administrator. We find blue-collar workers are less equipped in dealing with ACC when planning their rehabilitation than their white-collar counterparts. Similar statistics can also be seen for Maori compared to non-Maori claimants.

The intention of the 2001 Act is to provide a level playing-field for claimants. It requires ACC to tell claimants about their right to have a representative involved in planning their rehabilitation [refer to clause 7, Schedule 1 of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2001]. However, from the information we have obtained from ACC under the Official Information Act, ACC does not have a policy to tell claimants of this right nor how claimants can access the representation.

We call upon ACC to immediately comply with the Act rather than continuing to keep claimants in the dark.

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