Consultation on ACC’s Accredited Employers Programme

Introduction

On behalf of the Minister for ACC, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is consulting on a suite of proposals to improve the Accredited Employers Programme (AEP). The proposed changes to AEP include:

• Introducing a Performance Monitoring model to better measure the performance of Accredited Employers (AEs)
• Strengthening entry and ongoing participation requirements for AEs by:
  • Requiring external health and safety assessments
  • Strengthening the assessment of claims and injury management processes
• Providing more tailored pricing options for AEs.

We are also consulting on the preliminary proposal to require full and final claims liability settlement for all AEs in the Full Self Cover (FSC) plan. If there is support for this preliminary proposal, we intend to undertake a further, more targeted, consultation on a fully developed version of the proposal in 2023.

The proposed changes are based on a culmination of the feedback that ACC received from workers, employers, health and safety experts and other interested parties during several rounds of co-design. These changes are aimed at improving AEP so that it:

• puts worker wellbeing at the centre of AEP
• achieves better outcomes by improving the oversight and guidance ACC provides to AEs
• incentivises AEs to continually improve their performance.

These changes are proposed to be phased in with a transition year in 2023 and changes formally starting to apply from 1 April 2024. More detail on the implementation timing is given in Appendix One.

Tell us what you think

On behalf of the Minister for ACC, MBIE seeks written submissions on the changes proposed in this document by 6 November 2022.

Please read through the proposed changes. At the end of each section there are questions relating to each proposal.

Your submission may respond to any or all of the questions. Where possible, please include evidence to support your views, for example, references to independent research, facts and figures, or relevant examples.

Please also include your name and (if applicable) the name of your organisation in your submission, and include your contact details in the cover letter or email accompanying your submission.

Submissions process

Make a submission on the Have your say page

Release of information

A summary of submissions will be made publicly available on MBIE’s website following the consultation period. Please clearly indicate in your submission if you do not want your name to be included in this summary.

If your submission contains any information that is confidential, commercially sensitive, or you otherwise wish us not to publish, please:

• indicate this on the front of the submission, with any confidential information clearly marked within the text
• provide a separate version excluding the relevant information for publication on our website.

Submissions remain subject to request under the Official Information Act 1982. Please set out clearly in the cover letter or e-mail accompanying your submission if you have any objection to the release of any information in the submission, and in particular, which parts you consider should be withheld, together with the reasons for withholding the information. MBIE will take such objections into account and will consult with submitters when responding to requests under the Official Information Act 1982.

Private information

The Privacy Act 2020 establishes certain principles regarding the collection, use and disclosure of information about individuals by various agencies, including MBIE. Any personal information you supply to MBIE in the course of making a submission will only be used for the purpose of assisting in the development of policy advice in relation to this review. Please clearly indicate in the cover letter or email accompanying your submission if you do not wish your name, or any other personal information, to be included in any summary of submissions that MBIE may publish.