Speaking to media today, she said the Cabinet had yet to consider potential changes to ACC, so any savings wouldn’t be booked in this year’s Budget, to be announced next Thursday.
Changes to pay equity legislation, rushed through Parliament under urgency last week, will improve the look of the books come Budget Day.
The changes limit the pay rises for which allegedly underpaid people in female-dominated sectors could be eligible.
Coming back to ACC, Simpson assured the Herald that people who needed support would still receive it.
The question was whether other government agencies were better placed to support those who fell under ACC’s jurisdiction.
The pinch is, the compensation people could receive from ACC for being unable to work due to injury, including sexual abuse, could be greater than the welfare payments they received via the Ministry of Social Development.
Beatrix Woodhouse – the lawyer who represented the woman at the centre of the precedent-setting 2023 ruling – was disappointed the Government was considering a law change.
She believed ACC hadn’t been particularly proactive, promoting the fact that victims who weren’t previously eligible for cover could now be compensated.
She said she had struggled to get ACC to properly backpay claimants.
Last year, ACC estimated there were about 100,000 abuse victims who would become eligible under the new interpretation of the law. It said it was gearing up to manage a flurry of these sensitive claims.
On Friday, ACC’s deputy chief executive for service delivery, Michael Frampton, said the agency was still working through the details of how it would “fully operationalise” the 2023 ruling.
“When it was announced, we reached out to relevant professional bodies so they could let their members know and providers could advise their clients of this ruling.”
He said ACC staff had also been given “interim guidelines” on responding to the claims, and ACC’s “recovery partners have been responding to requests from existing sensitive claims clients and discussing financial entitlements with new clients”.
The Herald has lodged a request under the Official Information Act to try to ascertain the number and value of claims that have been settled as a result of the 2023 ruling.
While the judgment was a massive win for victims, the woman who took the court case told the Herald she was worried it could expose ACC to fraudulent claims.
A conviction is not required for a claimant to prove they were abused.
Simpson said ACC’s scope had grown considerably beyond its original purpose, which was “to replace the ability to sue for damages for injuries”.
“This has not only placed a huge financial strain on tax and levy payers, but it also threatens the future of the scheme and its ability to provide the support that people need.
“My focus is on ensuring the scheme’s long-term sustainability …
“It is reasonable to ask questions about ACC’s place in New Zealand’s broader health and welfare system, to ensure people get the right support from the right agency.
“I want to be clear that there is no question that injured or unwell people should be able to get the support they are eligible for, whether that is from ACC or another part of the social support system.”
Simpson’s comments come after his predecessor commissioned external reviews of the way ACC manages both its claims and its investments.
Final reports from the reviews are yet to be published.
Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald’s Wellington business editor, based in the parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.
