13 February 2024
Anon
[FYI request #25055 email]
Kia ora Anon
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-030289
Thank you for your email of 25 January 2024, asking for the fol owing information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Please provide me with the reference to the case law that states ACC has 4 months to investigate
and make a decision on a complicated claim. Section 57 of the Act clearly states ACC has 2 months
to make it's first decision.
ACC cannot make a decision to extend the time-frame before first commencing an investigation. I
also reference ACC's internal documents which are available through ACC's website, cover-
timeframes-policy-request-response-gov-006562, which include:
- Timeframes to Determine Cover Policy
- Extend Cover Decision Timeframe Policy
- Deemed Cover Decisions When Timeframes Not Met Policy
Which all state that a decision must be made within 2 months, and only after "you’ve made a
genuine attempt to investigate the claim within the original timeframe". [See Extend Cover Decision
Timeframe Policy at 1(a)].
Thus, please provide me with the reference to the higher authority that allowed ACC to circumvent
the requirements under section 57 of the Act, which requires ACC to conduct an investigation prior
to extending the legislative time frame, and effectively rewrite the law.
As advised in our 15 December 2023 response (ref: GOV-029412), ACC has two months to investigate a
claim
However, section 57(2)(b)(i ) of the Accident Compensation Act 2001 (the AC Act) also states that if ACC
cannot make its decision on the claim without additional information, we may tell the person of an
extension, which must not exceed two months.
To determine that an extension is needed, staff would first need to review and investigate what
information is available on the claim. This means that step 1(a) of ‘Extend Cover Decision Timeframe Policy’
is followed. If it is quickly determined that more information is needed, we may advise of this extension
within the first two months (and let the client know that we wil require a total of four months to make the
decision). This allows for the time it requires to receive additional medical notes, complete assessments,
and review new information.
To further clarify, the four-month (total) timeframe comes strictly from section 57 of the AC Act, and there
is no case law to refer to.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public
ACC may publish a copy of this response on ACC’s website. Al requester data, including your name and
contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released response will be made available
www.acc.co.nz/resources/#/category/12.
GOV-030289 Page 1 of 2
If you have any questions about this response, please get in touch
You can email me a
t [email address].
Ngā mihi
Christopher Johnston
Manager Official Information Act Services
Government Engagement
GOV-030289 Page 2 of 2
Document Outline
