21 September 2016

ACC wants community input to the levy setting process for 2017-19

ACC is asking Kiwis to share their thoughts and ideas about levy setting for the 2017 to 2019 period, as part of a consultation process running from 21 September to 19 October 2016 at www.shapeyouracc.co.nz.

ACC Board Chair, Dame Paula Rebstock, says, “ACC belongs to every New Zealander and the levy consultation process provides everyone with an opportunity to tell us what they think.”

ACC is now reviewing and proposing new levy rates for a two-year period, rather than every year.

“This feedback is important as it helps us to form our proposals as well as challenge our thinking on levies.”

There will be changes to some levies in the coming year and ACC is working to ensure levies are fair, to help its customers understand the levy-setting process, the part it plays and the value they receive in return, says Dame Paula.

“While we will be making every effort to reduce levies where possible, as more New Zealanders benefit from the support we provide, we will continue to experience increases in medical and compensation costs. ACC has also achieved healthy investment returns over the last few years, which reduces the total levies we need to collect. For two of the three levies, this means we’ll see a reduction.”

Levy proposals for the coming year, in brief:

• For businesses there will be a 10 percent reduction in the work levy, while there will be major changes to workplace safety incentive programmes
• For employees, due to an increase in claims costs, it is proposed to increase the earners’ levy by 3 percent
• For car owners it is proposed to reduce the petrol levy by 13 percent and the registration levy by an average of 13 percent
• For motorcyclists the proposal is to maintain current motorcycle levies of the motorcycle safety levy and reduce the petrol levy by 13 percent.
ACC encourages anyone to make a submission on any aspect of the levy structures in any of the categories to provide their insight into where ACC should be focusing its future efforts, says Dame Paula.
In 2015 ACC introduced the online platform www.shapeyouracc.co.nz to host conversations with its customers, says Dame Paula.

“This proved to be a very successful forum for people to make their submissions, see other people’s ideas and comments. We encourage people to take advantage of this opportunity to submit and discuss their ideas. We will be listening.”

ENDS

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