Page 5722 - Week 15 - Thursday, 10 December 2009
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The Workers Compensation Act was significantly amended in 2002 to create a workers compensation scheme based upon the principles of early rehabilitation and return to safe and durable work for injured workers. The 2002 reforms reshaped workers compensation in the ACT into a beneficiary scheme that protects the rights and interests of workers. Those amendments brought greater fairness to the determination of the weekly compensation paid to injured workers; clarity around who is a worker; provisions for diseases of gradual onset; and incentives for employers to report injuries early.
This bill introduces amendments that build upon the earlier and successful 2002 reform and, when combined with further planned improvements, will deliver an affordable scheme for employers, improved outcomes for workers, improved performance of the scheme providers and an effective governance and management regime for the scheme.
The improvements outlined in this bill are intended to be the first step to achieving the objectives of the 2007 government-initiated independent review of the scheme. In particular, the bill will amend the Workers Compensation Act to reduce red tape for ACT employers, it will improve the compliance framework and it will implement a new national framework for the approval of workplace rehabilitation providers.
The bill gives effect to the government’s intention to reduce administrative barriers to workers compensation compliance and improve the affordability of behaviour that upholds the purpose, intent and operation of the workers compensation scheme.
This bill eliminates the requirement for employers to provide both a statutory declaration and a certificate from a recognised auditor when providing wage-related information to insurers. Instead, employers will be liable if the information they supply to insurers is false or misleading.
It is estimated that these changes will save ACT employers over $4 million annually.
The bill further reduces administration costs by refocusing rehabilitation services to ensure a more targeted and effective use of resources. Insurers will no longer be required to involve the services of a rehabilitation provider in the development of an injured worker’s personal injury plan. Rather, the bill refocuses the use of the rehabilitation providers to ensure a timely and appropriate use of their workplace rehabilitation skills and experience.
In the event that an injured worker’s return to work is not progressing as expected, insurers will appoint a rehabilitation provider to assist the worker; the extent of the provider’s involvement in the claim will depend on the individual facts of each case. These provisions will not preclude an insurer from appointing a rehabilitation provider earlier in the life of the claim if the worker has moved beyond the acute injury phase and has capacity for rehabilitation and return to work.
The amendment ensures that the assistance of a third party is available if a claim is not progressing as expected. It injects a degree of transparency around the provision of rehabilitation services to injured workers and will complement the innovation and skilled case management that insurers already offer injured workers.
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