Annual Report: ACC supports 2 million new claims in 50th year
Our Annual Report shows we accepted 2.04 million new injury claims in 2023/24, supported injured people with over $4 billion of treatment and rehabilitation services, and paid almost $3 billion of compensation payments.
The ACC scheme, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in April, continued to grow in 2024, with new injury claims increasing by 3.6 per cent on the previous year and new weekly compensation claims up by 3.9 per cent to 165,000.
ACC is a no-fault scheme designed to cover the cost of accidents in New Zealand as well as local support for New Zealanders injured in accidents overseas, making it unique internationally, with the cost funded through a mixture of government appropriations, levies and investment fund returns.
ACC recorded a deficit of $7.2 billion in 2023/24, mainly driven by significant increases in the Outstanding Claims Liability (OCL) calculation, which is the expected lifetime costs of supporting accidents which have already occurred.
The recorded deficit does not affect ACC’s ability to cover the cost of providing all its services to New Zealanders. However, higher than expected OCL increases indicate the costs to support clients are rising faster than expected, which could result in shifting higher costs onto future generations.
“The hard work and dedication of our people embodies ACC’s commitment to improving lives every day. It’s why we’ve been around for 50 years and why we will be here in the future,” ACC Board Chair Dr Tracey Batten says.
“We’re focused on being as efficient and effective as possible. This year, that included delivering savings in our operating budget and re-investing in 250 additional frontline roles to help our clients get better faster.”
Focused on improving rehabilitation
In 2023/24, the Outstanding Claims Liability (OCL) calculation increased by $8.7 billion to $60.2 billion, as a result of court decisions which have expanded scheme boundaries, expected increases in claim volumes and costs of claims, and ACC’s declining rehabilitation performance, which was partly offset by the impact of discount rates and inflation.
At the same time, ACC’s Investment Fund grew to $51.6 billion, up from $47.4 billion last year, driven by a 7.6 percent return (before costs). With some serious injuries requiring support for decades, the investment fund is designed to help cover the lifetime cost of injuries that have already happened and ensure levies aren’t higher than they need to be.
While economic factors and court decisions are beyond ACC’s control, Chief Executive Megan Main says ACC is focused on improving rehabilitation performance and controlling costs it can influence.
Megan says a higher proportion of injuries are requiring time off work during recovery and the length of time injured workers are unable to work has been growing. The cost of services ACC provides to support recovery have also increased significantly over the past three years.
These factors have combined to increase the average cost of claims.
“In line with international trends, short-term client rehabilitation performance has been declining for over a decade,” Megan says.
“We’ve worked to more deeply understand drivers of our client rehabilitation performance and have a three-year Investment Plan in place that targets short-term improvements as well as systemic longer-term changes.”
Key elements of the Investment Plan underway in 2023/24 included introducing a one-to-one case management approach for all new and low-complexity weekly compensation claims, establishing a new team to enhance the support for some of our long-term clients and helping them back to independence where possible, and looking at how we commission services to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the ACC scheme.
“Improving rehabilitation performance is a priority for ACC and a considerable amount of work has gone into addressing this challenge,” Megan says.
“I’m confident the work in place will have a positive impact and we’re already starting to see signs of improvement in our short-term client recovery rates.”
Supporting a thriving motu
The ACC direction is guided by our strategy, Huakina Te Rā, which was launched in July 2023. The strategy focuses on supporting a thriving Aotearoa New Zealand into the future through the dual-framed goals of equity, guardianship of the scheme and building safe and resilient communities.
We invested $80 million into injury prevention in 2023/24, helping keep New Zealanders safe through programmes such as RugbySmart, NetballSmart, Farmstrong, Ride Forever and Live Stronger for Longer.
ACC research shows most injuries are predictable and therefore preventable if we all take the time to slow down and assess the risks.
“Preventing injuries through our range of programmes and partnerships is an important focus for ACC,” Megan says.
“With the ongoing number of serious work and road injuries, there’s a collective role for everyone in New Zealand to play to help prevent harm that impacts friends, families, workmates and communities.”
Annual Report 2024
Our Annual Report and Climate Report for 2024 are both available to view on the ACC website.
ACC Annual Report 2024
