The Accident Compensation Corporation has reported a surplus of $2.5 billion for the year to June following annual deficits for the previous two years of $2.4 billion and $4.8 billion.That brings the $12.8 billion net liability down to $10.3 billion, ACC
The Accident Compensation Corporation has reported a surplus of $2.5 billion for the year to June following annual deficits for the previous two years of $2.4 billion and $4.8 billion.
That brings the $12.8 billion net liability down to $10.3 billion, ACC chair John Judge said.
“My view was that it would take three years for the major change programme to show a significant result and 10 years for the ACC scheme to become financially sound,” Mr Judge said, in his introduction to the ACC report tabled in parliament today.
In the House this afternoon Minister for Accident Compensation Nick Smith said the result, although promising, did not go far enough.
“I stress ACC has a long way to go…ACC is still not fully on track to meet the balance of assets and liabilities that is required by the ACC Act by 2019.”
The corporation had an income from levies of just under $4.6 billion, broadly in line with expectations.
The real boost in income came from its investments, which made just over $1.4 billion, after last year’s $358.5 million return.
New claims fell 5% lower than the previous year, following an average 5% increase in claims a year over the past five years.
Some of this seems to be recession-influenced – the biggest drop was in motor vehicle accident claims, probably at least in part because people are not driving as much. (Claims for vehicle accidents fell 8% last year and 7% the previous year.)
The other large drop was in the “earners account” which covers non-work injuries.
Intriguingly there was a slight increase in the number of workplace accidents - somewhat unexpected in a recession.
The number of long-term weekly claims – i.e. for more than a year – dropped by 1260 during the year. The total numbers on long-term claims is 13,157.
