| "Our pledge is to prevent injury, to provide the best treatment and care if injury occurs, and to quickly rehabilitate people back to work or independence at a price that offers high value to levy payers and all New Zealanders." |
| The Accident Compensation Corporation pledge |
Features
ACC is the sole and compulsory provider of accident insurance for all work and non-work injuries. The ACC Scheme is administered on a no-fault basis, so that anyone, regardless of the way in which they incurred an injury, is eligible for cover under the Scheme. Due to the Scheme's no-fault basis, people who have suffered personal injury do not have the right to sue an at-fault party, except for exemplary damages.The ACC Scheme provides a range of entitlements to injured people, from contribution towards the cost of treatment, to weekly compensation for lost earnings (paid at a rate of 80% of a person's pre-injury earnings), and even home or vehicle modifications for the seriously injured. The entitlements offered by the Scheme are subject to various eligibility criteria. ACC, as a Crown Entity, is responsible to a Cabinet Minister via its Board of Directors. The current Minister responsible for ACC is Hon Maryan Street.
History
ACC is rooted in the 1900 "Worker's Compensation Act", which established a limited compensation scheme for workers who had suffered injuries where there was no directly responsible party.In 1967, a Royal Commission report ('The Woodhouse Report') recommended that this compensation should be extended to all injuries on a no-fault basis. Following this report, on 1 April 1974 the Accident Compensation Commission was established, to operate the 1972 Accident Compensation Act, and the 1973 Amendments.
The Annual Report (1989/90) of the Accident Compensation Commission proposed that the distinction between "accidents" (which is covered) and "illness" (which is not) should be dropped. But this proposal was not taken up. In 1992 the Accident Compensation Commission changed its name to the "Accident Compensation Corporation".
From 1 July 1999 the Fourth National government allowed private insurance operators to provide work-related accident insurance, and ACC was briefly exposed to competition. Due the election of the Fifth Labour government, this change was repealed, and as of 1 July 2000, ACC was re-instated as the sole provider of accident insurance cover.
See also
Notes
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Thursday September 11, 2008 at 03:39:39 PDT (GMT -0700)
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