Getting someone to talk to us on your behalf

Who you can give authority to

You can authorise any person you trust to act on your behalf, including: 

• a friend 
• a family member 
• a neighbour 
• your kaumātua 
• someone with legal or advocacy experience 
• your minister or church elder. 

Give temporary authority

As an injured person you can give another person authority to talk to us on your behalf for a specific interaction, for example, a phone call with us. As soon as the interaction has ended, the authority for the person to act or speak on your behalf ends. For long term support you can give a person or multiple people long term authority.  

Contact us by phone or email to give someone temporary authority to talk to us on your behalf.

Give long-term authority

If you want to give someone long-term authority to act on your behalf, we’ll ask for something in writing. This can be:

• a completed ACC5937 Authority to act form
• a signed letter from you 
• an email sent by you from a verified email address 
• a legally-binding advice such as a Work and Income New Zealand welfare guardianship order, power of attorney document or personal property order. 

Both the form and letter must have: 

• the full name of the person you want to act on your behalf 
• their full address 
• their contact number 
• if this authority is for a single claim or all your existing claims. 

You can only give authority to someone for your existing claims. You'll need to give authority again for any new claims.  

Contact us and we can send you an Authority to act form, or you can download the form below and return it by email, post it to us, or take in to your local ACC site.

Authority to act (ACC5937)

Authority by power of attorney

If you give someone the authority to look after your welfare or affairs under a general power of attorney or an enduring power of attorney, email us a copy of the legal document.

Once we receive this, we’ll confirm the request has been made as soon as possible.

Cancel or change someone’s authority

If you give someone authority to talk to us about a single claim, they can do so for the life of that claim. If they have authority for all of your existing claims, they will keep it until you cancel or change it.  

To cancel or change the type or level of authority you’ve given, contact us and have your claim number ready.

If you’re giving authority to a different person, we'll need a new authority to act form.

Give support as an advocate

Find out how to become an advocate and give informal advice on a claim, based on your own experiences or expertise.

Be an advocate