ACC builds strong foundation for the future

ACC has achieved a significant milestone with the Scheme reaching full funding in 2014/15, ACC Board Chair Paula Rebstock says.

ACC’s annual report, released today, shows a net surplus of $1.6 billion – $743 million ahead of budget – largely due to stronger investment earnings in international markets. Any surplus ACC makes is not a profit. It’s reinvested back into the scheme to ensure New Zealanders pay less in levies.

“The surplus means there is now no gap between the scheme’s financial assets and claims liabilities. This means the Scheme has achieved full funding – it has sufficient funds to meet the future costs of injuries that have already occurred. This is a significant achievement,” Ms Rebstock says.

“In the past ACC has required a surplus to bring the scheme to a point of being fully funded. Now that we have achieved this, under a proposed new funding policy we expect to set levies to allow us to only meet the cost of current claims. In the future this will mean that we do not expect to see large surpluses.

“Our strong financial performance is one of the reasons why we’re consulting on levy cuts for New Zealanders in 2016/17. It follows on from substantial levy cuts – particularly for vehicles levies – in 2015/16. New Zealanders can continue to have confidence in the financial sustainability of the Scheme.

“The investments team had another outstanding year beating market benchmarks for the 20th year in a row. This is a remarkable accomplishment by global standards. Every $100 that ACC invested 23 years ago has grown to be worth $934 today. ACC invests to make sure Kiwis pay less for accident cover.

“We’re also continuing to make improvements focused on our customers and their needs by looking closely at our people, processes, technology and information.

“The changes, from the redesign of our sensitive claims service to working with national sports organisations to develop concussion guidelines, are starting to make a positive difference.

“These all demonstrate a renewed commitment to working in partnership with our customers – injured people, levy payers and treatment providers – to deliver better results to them.”

In 2014/15 public trust and confidence increased and the number of privacy breaches continued to fall.

The number of breaches has dropped to an average of 13 per month – down from 68 in 2012, reflecting the effort being put into protecting client information. To put this into perspective, ACC sends out around 750,000 letters and one million emails a month.

ACC accepted 1.84 million new claims, an increase of 2.8 per cent on the previous year. This increase was consistent with improvements in the New Zealand economy with more people in work, sport and recreation.

“The Corporation is putting a concerted effort and focus on rehabilitation performance to ensure we assist people to return to work and independence as soon as possible,” Ms Rebstock says.

“We also recognise we have more work to do in injury prevention to reduce the cost of claims. That’s why we’ve implemented a new strategy to ensure we develop stronger partnerships with stakeholders to reduce the number and severity of injuries.”

The annual report is available at www.acc.co.nz/2015ANNUALREPORT

ACC’s 2015 Annual Report by numbers

Finance and Investments

• The first time that all three levied accounts (Work, Earners’, Motor Vehicle) have been fully funded.

• ACC’s current financial assets and investments $31.8b ($27.6b in 2014)

• Outstanding claims liability was $30.3b ($27.7b in 2014)

• ACC’s net yearly surplus was $1.6b ($0.7b above budget)

• ACC’s funding ratio was 105.0% against target of 103.4% (99.6% in 2014)

• Total levy revenue was $4.3b (down from $4.7b in 2014) – 1.8% of GDP

• Income from investments = $4.0 b ($2.5b above budget and up from $1.6 billion in 2014)

• Investment returns were 14.55% over the year

• Investment returns exceeded market benchmark for 20th consecutive year

• ACC spent $3.22b on claims ($2.96b in 2014). This was $125m above budget

• Return on investment in injury prevention programmes was at $1.34:$1, compared to a budgeted ROI of $1:$1. (this is a new measure)

Claims management and rehabilitation

• 1.84 million new claims accepted (1.79m new claims in 2014)

• Number of new entitlement claims per 1,000 population was 27 against target of 25 (24 in 2014)

• Percentage of population who receive compensation or rehabilitation services was 30.5% against target of 30.0% (30.0% in 2014)

• Cover decision timeliness was 1.2 days against target of 1.3 days (no change from 2014)

• 67.3% of clients returned to work within 10 weeks against target of 70.3% (67.8% in 2014)

• 93.2% of clients returned to work within nine months against target of 93.9% (93.3 % in 2014)

• ACC helped pay for more than 989,000 people to visit their GP (more than 954,000 in 2014)

• More than 37,000 people received ACC-funded surgery (more than 35,000 in 2014)

• More than 472,000 people received ACC funded physiotherapy (more than 445,000 in 2014)

• More than 41,000 people received vocational rehabilitation services (more than 32,000 in 2014)

• More than 103,000 people received rehabilitation services, including more than 4,600 serious injury clients (more than 91,000 in 2014, including more than 4,400 serious injury clients)

• Number of clients receiving weekly compensation for more than one year was 11,483 against target of 11,021 (10,763 in 2014)

• Number of long-term clients returned to independence was 2,467 against target of 2,424 (2,272 in 2014)

• Durable return-to-work rate has grown to 80% (77% in 2014)

• Formal reviews as a percentage of entitlement claims was 2.7% against target of 2.9% (3.3% in 2014)

• Percentage of ACC reviews upheld 84.0% against target of 84.0% (84.5% in 2014)

• Average time to resolution for claims with reviews was 92 days against target of 87 days (91 days in 2014)

Privacy

• Rolling three month average number of privacy breaches was 13 against target of 12 (improved from 68 in 2012; 36 in 2013; 19 in 2014.)

Customer satisfaction/trust and confidence

• Public trust and confidence was 60% against target of 60% (up from 47% in 2013; 54% in 2014)

• Customer satisfaction (clients) was 76% against target of 76% (up from 75% in 2014)

• Customer satisfaction (levy payers) was 69% against target of 60% (up from 59% in 2014)

ENDS

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