New Zealanders value the reliability and universality of the ACC system and UnitedFuture is committed to the maintenance of this system.
It is UnitedFuture policy to:
- Support the continuation of the ‘no-fault’ regime and mandatory workplace accident insurance, but support competition in the provision of accident compensation services;
- Continue ACC’s focus on injury prevention as the best long term solution to reducing levies and claims;
- Introduce more significant discounts on employer levies for those who undertake workplace safety regimes, and give more responsibility to industry sector groups to ensure safe practices (such as the independent forestry safety review panel);
- Prioritise measures to improve worker safety in those industries with the highest rates of serious harm, such as forestry and mining, through pro-active enforcement by Worksafe NZ;
- Ensure that ACC genuinely attempts to rehabilitate long-term claimants before they exit the scheme;
- Establish a truly independent process to review appeals against ACC decisions. This process would also have the power to make recommendations to the government on potential changes to ACC legislation should it find flaws that regularly lead to unfair decisions;
- Make it easier for businesses to assess their levies once they have been set for the coming year, increasing certainty as to what their obligations will be;
- Support the statutory requirement of achieving full funding for all residual (pre-1999) claims by 2019, or earlier if possible.