Minister for ACC
| Te Kaporeihana Āwhina Hunga Whara | |
Logo of Accident Compensation Corporation
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| Agency overview | |
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| Jurisdiction | Government of New Zealand |
| Headquarters |
Wellington, New Zealand 41°16′30″S 174°46′40″E / 41.274876°S 174.777701°E |
| Minister responsible |
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| Agency executive |
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| Website | www |
The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) (Māori: Te Kaporeihana Āwhina Hunga Whara) is a New Zealand Crown entity responsible for administering the country's universal no-fault accidental injury scheme. The scheme provides financial compensation and support to citizens, residents, and temporary visitors who have suffered personal injuries.
The corporation was founded as the Accident Compensation Commission on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Accident Compensation Act 1972. Its principal governing act today is the Accident Compensation Act 2001. As a Crown entity, ACC is responsible to a Cabinet Minister via its Board of Directors. Unlike most other Crown entities, it has its own dedicated ministerial portfolio, which since December 2016 has been held by Michael Woodhouse.
ACC is the sole and compulsory provider of accident insurance in New Zealand for all work and non-work injuries. The corporation administers the ACC Scheme on a no-fault basis, so that anyone – regardless of the way in which they incurred an injury – has coverage 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, however 93.5 percent of new claims in 2011–12 were for treatment costs only. Other entitlements include weekly compensation for lost earnings (paid at a rate of 80% of a person's pre-injury earnings) and the cost of home or vehicle modifications for the seriously injured. The scheme offers entitlements subject to various eligibility criteria.
Initially ACC was not available to New Zealand's war veterans, as the scheme was not introduced until 1974 and was not retrospective. However, ACC law specialist John Miller claims that a 1992 law change did make the scheme retrospective. Full funding of historic claims was due to come into effect in 2014.
ACC plays a role in workplace safety through (for example) Workplace Safety Management Practices (WSMP).
ACC has its origins in the 1900 "Workers' Compensation Act" (Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act (1900)), which established a limited compensation scheme for workers who had suffered injuries where there was no directly responsible party. In 1967 a New Zealand Royal Commission, chaired by High Court judge Owen Woodhouse, recommended extending this compensation to cover all injuries on a no-fault basis. Following this report, on 1 April 1974 the New Zealand Government established the Accident Compensation Commission to implement the requirements of the 1972 Accident Compensation Act and the 1973 Amendments. The Act was later replaced by the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2001, which was renamed the "Accident Compensation Act 2001" in 2010. The Annual Report (1989/90) of the Accident Compensation Commission proposed that the distinction between "accidents" (which are covered) and "illness" (which is not) should be dropped. But this proposal was not taken up by the government. In 1992, the government renamed the Accident Compensation Commission as the "Accident Compensation Corporation".
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Wikipedia