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. 

What someone with authority can do

Giving authority will allow a trusted person (for example, a family member or lawyer) to:

• contact us on your behalf by telephone, email and letter
• access your personal information (for example, your health and payment information)
• change your personal information (for example, your bank account number and your address)
• make decisions and act on your behalf. 

You can choose whether this is for specific claims or all your existing claims. You can give this person temporary or long-term authority.

ACC will act on the instructions of your authorised person. ACC is not responsible for any actions of your authorised person. The authority will come into effect from the date ACC receives it.

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 

Both the form, letter and email must have: 

• the full name of the person you want to act on your behalf 
• their full address 
• their contact number 
• their date of birth
• their relationship with you
• whether this authority is for specific claims or all your existing claims. If the authority is for specific claims, please include the claim number(s).

You can only give authority to someone for your existing claims. You'll need to give authority again for any new claims. The person you authorise will be able to act on your behalf and access your information until you or your authorised person requests that the authority is removed.

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 it in to your local ACC site.

Authority to act (ACC5937)

When an injured person cannot grant authority

Sometimes an injured person isn’t able to make decisions or grant authority themselves. When this happens, authority to access their information and make decisions on their behalf can come from legal documents like an enduring power of attorney or an order under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988.

If you have the authority to look after the welfare or affairs of an injured person and want to exercise it, please contact us with a copy of the relevant legal document. If you are relying on an enduring power of attorney, we will also require evidence from a medical professional that the injured person is unable to make decisions.

What you are able to access and decide on behalf of the injured person will depend on the authority you’ve been given. For example, if you are a welfare guardian under the Protection of Personal and Rights Act 1998, you will be able to access health information and make decisions about the injured person’s treatment and rehabilitation. However, you might not have a property order, which means you won’t be able to make decisions about the injured person’s financial entitlements.

Once we receive this, we’ll confirm whether your request for authority 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 unless the authority is cancelled. If they have authority for all your existing claims, they will keep it unless the authority is cancelled or changed.  

You or your authorised person can write to or call ACC at any time to cancel or change an authority. Cancellation will not be effective until received by ACC. Please have your claim number(s) ready when you contact us.

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